Don't Let Go
by CarlaPeterLove
Summary: "Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect." After an unexpected night of babysitting, Carla and Simon begin to spend more and more time together but as Simon's birthday looms and Peter returns, can he and Carla make it as "friends" for Simon's sake?
1. Pizza & Monopoly

**_This fic is set from June onwards, Deirdre has passed away but everything else on the street is the same as it is now._**

* * *

It was almost three in the afternoon when Leanne got the call that told her, her Step mum Janice had fallen ill and had been rushed into hospital. She needed to get there quick but her Janice didn't live local and Leanne wasn't sure what time she would be back. She couldn't find Simon's granddad Ken or his aunt Tracy. She had then asked Sophie, who usually looked after him but she was out with her girlfriend. Kal was out with his family for the night and Leanne was beginning to feel desperate. She felt like she must have been very desperate because when pacing the street, wondering who else she could call, She saw Carla come out of the corner shop, It wasn't long before she found herself asking Carla if she would sit with him.

"Look Carla I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate" Leanne said practically begging her "He's not a kid anymore, I just don't want him left alone late at night that's all. It's a Friday night, he can stay up as late as he wants and there's plenty of food" Leanne begged and Carla eventually nodded reluctantly.

Simon was pretty used to being at home on his own for a little bit after school especially as his Mum was now working at the bistro again. She called ahead to let Simon know what was going to happen and he made it clear that he was not impressed with this babysitter idea at all.

Carla gulped as she knocked on the door of Leanne and Simon's flat. Simon opened the door and glared at her, He went straight over to the table and started on his homework, leaving Carla just standing there at the door. She closed it behind her and rolled her eyes wishing she didn't have to deal with a moody pre teen all night.

Carla sat down on the sofa and flipped through the glossy magazines she had bought in the shop on her way around and she then went through all the apps on her phone just to kill time.

She glanced over at Simon who was busy writing something in one of his schoolbooks, he was biting his lip because he was concentrating to hard. She watched him and wondered when it was that he began to look so grown up. Carla felt like it was just yesterday that he was running circles around her and Peter, back in their old flat. She was forever stepping on his toys and cleaning up after him and now he was almost twelve. He had one elbow on the table resting his head in his free hand, every so often he would look up at Carla and then back down again. She gulped down the last bit of coffee that she had made for herself earlier and she decided that it was time to end the silence between them.

"Are you doing homework?" she asked getting off of the sofa and walking over to the table where Simon was sitting. He stopped writing for a moment, almost looking like he was about to answer her but then he continued to write in his book. She continued to try and make small talk with Simon but he still ignored her. Carla rolled her eyes and looked around the living room, she knew Leanne wasn't about to come back anytime soon and as her tummy rumbled, She did not like the thought of attempting to cook something.

"Have you eaten Simon?" Carla asked she was fully expecting him to ignore her and he did. "Only I was thinking of ordering a Pizza…" Carla started watching Simon "But if you're not going to talk to me then I won't know what to order for you." She said with her head tilted to one side, wondering if he would take her bribe. Simon put down his pen

"I'm not a little kid you know, You can't bribe me" he said Carla smirked at him

"Got you talking though didn't I?" She said Simon couldn't help but smile slightly at Carla who sat on the chair opposite him. Simon looked down at his book again "Look I realise you think you're too old for a babysitter and all that but If we continue to sit in this horrendous silence, time is going to drag on even more. So what do you say we act like grown ups about this?" Carla said

"Fine" Simon said Carla wondered if he actually meant it and decided to test the waters

"Why you doing your homework on a Friday night, you've got the whole weekend to do it" Carla reached over and closed his book he looked at her and frowned

"Yeah but if I do it now then I've got the whole weekend to do what I like" he said opening the book again Carla nodded

"Okay… You got a point there. So are we gonna order a pizza or what? Because you and I both know that cooking isn't my strong suit" Simon laughed to himself remembering the meals that Carla had attempted to cook for him in the past

"You got that right" Simon smirked "I almost broke a tooth on one of your Pizzas" he had used air quotes on the word pizzas.

"Cheeky" Carla said back at him but she was smiling back at the eleven year old, relieved he was starting to warm up to her.

"You can order it on my laptop if you want?" he said passing it over to Carla she nodded and began to type in Pizza Hut's website

"Right what you having then?" she asked remembering how whenever they'd got pizzas together in the past, he always had pepperoni but this time he answered her with

"Ham and Pineapple please"

"Uh Pineapple on a Pizza is so un-natural" Carla shuddered, typing and trying not to think about exactly who Ham and Pineapple reminded her of "I thought you liked Pepperoni" she said Simon shrugged at her

"I do, I just want Ham and Pineapple, it reminds me of " he trailed off not wanting to bring his Dad up in front of Carla, although unbeknown to Simon Carla had been thinking about Peter since he mentioned the kind of pizza he wanted.

"Your Dad?" She watched his reaction "It's okay you can talk about him you know" he looked at Carla and she could tell that he wanted to say something "Simon?" she said waiting for his response

"I'm sorry" he said closing his books, Carla frowned not expecting him to say that as he stared down at the table in front of him

"Sorry for what" she asked rather confused

"I used to be really horrible to you." he said

"Yeah well I got in between your Dad and Leanne, You were allowed to be a little horrible to me" Carla said but Simon shook his head

"No… I'm sorry for what my Dad did with… Tina" he said "I was horrible to you and I really liked Tina" Carla sighed finally realising what Simon was getting at

"What? Do you think that if you had of been nicer to me that your Dad wouldn't have gone and… with Tina?" she said choosing her words carefully because Simon was only eleven after all.

"Maybe? Maybe he wouldn't have left me with her If I didn't like her so much and then maybe they wouldn't have spent time so much time alone together and stuff."

"No Simon you can't think like that. Your Dad went with Tina because she was young and beautiful and" Simon cut her off

"You're just as beautiful as she was" he said Carla smiled at the compliment she had just received but Simon was still looking down at the table, guiltily

"Not as young though eh" She joked and nudged him with her elbow, she began to look serious again when Simon didn't respond to her joke "Your dad made a gigantic mistake but I know he would never ever want you to feel like you have to apologise for the any of things that he has done" he looked up at her finally, his were eyes filling with tears

"I really hate him sometimes" He said quickly wiping a tear that had fallen from his eye

"Don't say that Simon"

"Why not? You should hate him too" He said bitterly Carla shook her head, leaning towards Simon some more

"You might hate the things that he's done but you and I both know that you don't hate your Dad. You're just angry at him. It's okay because I'm still angry at him too… We can be angry together... if you want" She offered Simon nodded not looking so grown up to her anymore as the tears continued to fall down his cheek.

"I just wish he had never done anything with Tina and that he was still here" Simon wiped another tear Carla swallowed back her own tears as she watched him

"Me too" She said softly.

They sat in silence for a while and it was Simon who broke the silence this time

"Are we still getting the pizza then?" he asked sniffing Carla nodded at him and then went back to ordering the Pizza on his laptop.

"All done Babe" Carla said once she had finished making the order

"Thank you" Simon said "You didn't have to get me anything though, I've been so horrible to you" he said ashamed

"Eh? We've been through all this" She said "Besides I can't let you starve can I?" Carla said smiling at him. He decided to finish his homework until the pizza arrived, he continued to glance over at Carla every so often, Only this time he actually gave her a small smile whenever he caught her eye. When the pizza finally arrived Carla jumped up off of the sofa

"About flaming time, I'm starving" She said sighing and she went to answer the door. She came back with three boxes in her hands she put them down on the kitchen worktop as Simon got up from the table.

"How many pizzas did you get there's only two of us?" Simon asked surprised at the amount of boxes that she had brought in. Carla opened a pizza box to check what was in there and then she handed it over to Simon

"I got us a whole pizza each" Carla said opening the other large box "They had a buy on get one free deal on and I didn't want any of your weird pineapple near my vegetable supreme" She poked her tongue out as Simon screwed up his face

"Vegetable supreme? Boring" he said opening the smaller box to find some garlic bread "Thanks Carla" Simon said as she carried her pizza box over to the sofa

"I'd forget the plates if I were you, Unless you wanna be doing the washing up." Carla said smirking with her Pizza box rested on her lap. Simon nodded and brought over his Pizza box and the garlic bread box to the sofa he put his Pizza on it next to Carla and then sat on the floor in front of it.

"Good thinking" he said as Carla bit into a huge slice of pizza, Simon then got back up and went into the fridge, he came back with two cans of Coke, one diet and one normal, he handed the diet coke to Carla and she smiled at him appreciatively, impressed that he had remembered she preferred diet coke.

"Thanks" she said opening the can as Simon flicked through the channels on the television

"Shall we watch a film?" Simon suggested after a few minutes, when he couldn't find anything else to watch, Carla raised an eyebrow

"That depends on what films you've got, I mean if your taste is anything like your dads" She said, Simon chuckled

"They are all in there" he said pointing to the cupboard the TV was on top of "You pick" he said, Carla got off of the sofa and went over to the cupboard she opened it and began looking through the DVDs on the shelves, she eventually pulled one out and then looked at it

"The Hunger Games? I've been hearing all about this, what's it actually like?" She asked Simon shrugged taking a bite of Pizza

"I don't know it's Auntie Eva's, she's obsessed with it" He said chomping through his slice of pizza "All I know is that there are three books and the last movie is coming out soon. I wanted to watch it, I just haven't got round to it yet" Carla read the back of the DVD intrigued

"Wanna give it a go now?" She said handing the DVD to Simon who took it and put it into their DVD player. He then sat down back on the floor in front of the sofa and his Pizza box. He used the remote and pressed play. Carla then received a text message on her phone. It was from Leanne, Carla found it weird to see that name pop up on her screen as they hadn't been in any sort of proper contact in years.

"_**Just checking in, hope Simon isn't being too moody with you. Janice is on a ward now. Visiting time is almost over so I'll make my way home soon. Leanne**_"

Carla looked down at the boy who was stuffing his face with Pizza and sipping coke she replied back with

** "Simon's fine. Honestly take your time. Carla" **

As the film began Carla leant forward and looked at the box

"One hundred and forty two minutes? This film better be good" She said Simon nodded his mouth full of Pizza unable to say anything Carla laughed at him and they began watching the film.

Around thirty minutes into the movie Simon had moved from the floor and he'd sat next to Carla on the sofa. She had kicked her shoes off and made her self comfortable with her legs bent and her feet tucked under her body. They were both silent during most of film. The room grew darker as the film went on and when the end credits rolled across the screen, Carla breathed out heavily and turned to Simon

"Well that were intense"

"That was awesome" Simon exclaimed Carla nodded along with him, not ashamed to admit she was actually blown away by the film they had just watched.

"I had no idea that was gonna be so good. I'm glad I chose it now." She said as Simon took a sip of coke

"Auntie Eva's got all the books I'm gonna ask her to borrow them" he said as Carla glanced at the clock. It was gone ten o clock now she was very relived that they'd found some common ground after the first hour had gone so slowly.

"Eh If the street were a district and we had to send two of you kids to fight for us who do you reckon we should send?" she asked nudging him

"Not me. I wouldn't win that's for sure" Carla frowned at Simon's lack of self-belief

"And why not?" He just shrugged at her and didn't say anything "You're stronger then you think you are Si" She said supportively "I think you'd be great in there, I know you wouldn't be keen on the whole killing part though."

"Amy wouldn't have a problem with hurting people she's evil" Simon said making Carla cackle out loud "No seriously she is evil you should here some of the stuff she says to me"

"Well what do you expect when she's got your Auntie Tracy as a mother" Carla said her elbow on the top of the sofa resting her hand on the side of her forehead

"She's not old enough anyway I think you have to be twelve" Simon added almost looking disappointed at the thought of his cousin not being able to enter the fictional arena he'd made up in his head

"What If the adults were allowed? Who do you reckon we should send then" She asked Simon raised his eyebrows

"I dunno" he pondered, the options for brave tributes were very slim "Maybe Nick" Carla raised her eyebrows this time at the mere thought of Nick fighting for their street "Kal or maybe Gary because they were in the army, so they might be better." He said, Carla nodded in agreement

"Good thinking… So what about the ladies then?" Simon thought for a moment

"I think you would do quite well in there" he said Carla looked back at him

"Me? And why is that eh?" Carla said thinking about her ruthless reputation on the street "Is because you think I'd be able to hurt everyone else and be done with it?" She thought about how cold blooded people thought she was sometimes, She was a little disappointed that Simon could think that way as well.

"No because you're smart, I mean you run a business all on your own. You need brains to win the hunger games you know" Simon said "and you can run super fast, you're always in and out of the gym" Carla was shocked by Simon's knowledge on her workouts.

"And how do you know I'm always at the gym?" she asked intrigued

"I always see you coming out of there, and Kal said to my mum that you're a really fast runner" Simon said

"So Kal and your Mum have been gossiping about me then?" she asked

"No they were just discussing all the people that go to the gym that's all." Simon shook his head defensively but Carla smiled at him letting him know she was just pulling his leg.

"It's fine, Simon" She said "Yeah I think I'd be pretty good in the arena, I'd ave to stay on me own though, There's no way I could make friends in there" Carla said, although she wasn't sure how many people would want to make friends with her anyway.

"Me neither" Simon said "It's like my worst nightmare. I hate confrontations and I'd be so scared all the time" he stopped talking and stayed silent whilst Carla picked up the pizza boxes and went to put them in the kitchen

"Good job it's just a movie eh" Carla said coming back and sitting next to him She observed Simon who was sat just watching the credits on the tv screen "There's another movie here right? Do you wanna start watching the next one now" She was desperate to find out what happened next and was hoping Simon was too but he shook his head at her slowly

"I don't know… What time do you think my mum is coming back?" he asked Carla shrugged at him

"I don't know babe but you can watch it another time if you want. I'll have to grab a copy of the books so I can read em as well"

"We should watch them though, you know like together?" Simon said looking at Carla his eyes wide "You can come over or I can come to yours and we can watch them so by the time next movie comes out to the cinema maybe we can go and watch it"

"Are you asking me on a date Simon Barlow?" Carla joked although inside she felt like crying because she'd never really bonded that well with Simon whilst her and Peter were together and now they weren't together it was like they were getting along like a house on fire.

"As if!" Simon said giving Carla a little push "You're still me step mum and anyways you're well old" Carla pushed him back

"Eh I'm not that old" She cried, Simon laughed at her reaction and then went quiet again.

"Carla?" He said after a few moments and he was looking quite serious again

"Yeah?" Carla said watching him cautiously

"Are you gonna divorce my dad?"

"Well I spose I'll ave to at some point" Carla said looking down at her nails "But you divorce husbands not kids so don't think I won't still be on your case" She tried to make a joke out of it but Simon was still looking solemn

"How come haven't you done it already?" He asked

"Well it's just not that easy when he's not actually here" She explained "There's a whole lot of boring paper work we both have to go through."

"Yeah I know, My mum had it all with Nick and Dad" He said, reminding Carla that he'd already been through way too much for someone his age. "How many times have you been married?" Simon asked even he'd heard his Mum talking to Kal about how Carla had been married plenty of times and how one more divorce probably wouldn't hurt.

"Too many" Carla answered, "I didn't think this one would end though I gotta be honest." She said regretfully as Simon watched her "I thought your Dad were a keeper" She said wishing they weren't back on the subject of Peter. Carla had thought she was beginning to get over him and now all of a sudden she was sitting there with his son and her heart was aching as she thought about him. She saw the look of pity on Simon's face as he sat there next to her.

"Don't look so sad Si, I bet you spent a lot of time wishing me and ya Dad would breakup." she said she hadn't meant it in a horrible way but Simon's face dropped even more

"I didn't." He protested

"Oh come on Si, You hated me." Carla said but Simon shook his head at her

"I didn't, I just pretended that I really didn't like you because I really wanted Dad to get back with me Mum but secretly I liked you... just a little bit"

"Just a little bit eh? Well that's better then I thought" Carla smiled

"I like you lots now though if that makes it better" Simon added and Carla put her arm around him lovingly

"Better late then never eh?" she smiled as he leant into her returning the embrace.

* * *

It was almost eleven when Leanne walked through her front door. She wasn't too sure about what she might find upon getting home. She thought that maybe Simon would have gone to bed but instead he and Carla were sitting at the table eating cold pizza and they were engrossed in a very competitive game of Monopoly. Carla had piles of money all organised in separate piles with a few properties lined up next to each other whilst Simon had properties scattered all over his side of the table and what little money he had was in one single pile.

Leanne blinked for a moment as Simon and Carla barley noticed her entrance, she cleared her throat which was when Simon looked up at her

"Hey" he said before looking back down at the monopoly board, Carla looked up as Simon acknowledged Leanne.

"Hi Leanne" she said smiling a proper smile, one that Leanne hadn't seen on Carla for the longest time "Just kicking your Simon's butt at Monopoly here" she said, Simon looked at her as Leanne made her way to the table

"You're so not" he said although judging by the amount of money he had in his pile compared to Carla's he could tell the game was almost over, Leanne looked down at his notes and then at Carla's

"Erm Si what happened?" She laughed as he rolled the dice, Simon shrugged and Carla shook her head at him

"I tell you what happened, he bought everything he landed on without thinking about whether he actually could afford it or not" Carla said smirking and looking at the dice which read six, Simon groaned when he realised what he had rolled

"Ahhh Yes" Carla cheered

She laughed as Simon moved his car counter to Mayfair where Carla had a collection of houses waiting for him to pay rent on

"That's one thousand seven hundred quid please Barlow" she said holding out her hand, Simon protested

"No way! It can't be that much" he said shocked but he still had a little smile on his face

"It's on the card if ya don't believe me" Carla laughed handing Simon the Mayfair card, he read the amount of rent that he needed to pay Carla, He raised both eyebrows in surprise as Leanne lent in an read it over his shoulder

"Ouch pay up Simon" she said and watched Simon count his pretend money out, he thought for a moment and then back looked at Carla who was still holding her hand out and wiggling her fingers

"Tell you what…" Simon started, Leanne and Carla both laughed at him

"Here we go" Leanne said waiting to see what kinda deal Simon was going to come up with

"I've only got five hundred and fifty pound" he said smiling at Carla trying to be a persuasive as possible "How about I give you five hundred and two of my train stations and we'll call it even?" He said Leanne laughed at his negotiating skills

"I wonder where he get's that from eh?" Leanne said to Carla shaking her head, Carla smirked and then looked at Simon

"Just two stations? They are four hundred each that barley makes it up to an even thousand?"

"Yeah but if I land on them then you get money as well" he said

"Sorry Si that's not gonna cut it I'm afraid" Carla said shaking her head as Leanne took off her jacket and then sat down next to Simon

"Okay what about three stations?" He said yawning, Carla caught his yawn and then looked at the clock

"It's getting late so what do you say we leave it here, call this one a practice game and we'll get together sometime and have an epic re-match okay" Carla suggested, Simon nodded at her as he was beginning to feel tired.

"You're on" he said getting up from the table

"You do look tired mate, I think you better get ready for bed if you wanna be up for footie in the morning" Leanne said Simon nodded at her

"Night" he said and he gave Leanne a cuddle, he was about to go into his bed room but then he turned back as Carla got up from her seat and wrapped his arms around her

"Bye Carla it was fun" he said smiling into her Carla smiled back a little stunned to be receiving a proper hug from him.

"Bye Simon" she said still rather touched that he had made the effort to hug her goodbye.

As Simon went into his room Carla and Leanne stood awkwardly for a moment before Carla picked up her leather jacket, she didn't quite know what to say at first which she found odd because at one point her and Leanne were practically best friends.

"I erm... Ordered a few pizzas" she eventually said putting her coat on at the same time as she spoke "I didn't think it were fair subjecting poor Simon to my cooking as well as me company" she said, Leanne grinned

"Well from the looks of it he seemed to really enjoy himself" she said "I mean he hasn't wanted to play monopoly for ages"

"Really?" Carla said shocked as it had been his idea to play it in the first place

"Yeah, I always ask him but he always says he only likes playing it with" She stopped

"Peter" Carla said sighing, Leanne nodded and Carla suddenly remembered why she was even round Leanne's in the first place

"God I'm sorry Leanne how's Janice?" she asked

"Oh she's fine they just want to keep her in for a few days observation just to be on the safe side" She said appreciating the fact that Carla had asked her,

"Good" Carla nodded and then she picked up her hand bag from the table

"Thanks Carla" Leanne said "You didn't have to do this"

"Hey it was my pleasure, I actually had a really good time" Carla looked down a little "I know it sounds mad, seeing as he pretty much used to hate me but I've really missed spending time with him." she said but she had spotted an old picture of Peter and Simon on the shelf next to her so she was now staring at that instead of Leanne "It feels like he's grown up so much since back then" Leanne nodded watching Carla and realising what she was looking at

"He really has, I think going to high school this year has actually helped him deal with Peter being gone in some way, all the new friends and new subjects are like a little distraction, Obviously he still misses him like mad though" She said Carla was still looking at the picture on the shelf

"Yeah..." Carla eventually replied still staring at the old photo, it was about four years old, Peter and Simon both looked so much younger. Peter didn't have his beard reminding her of when she first fell in love with him. She realised how long she had been staring at the picture and then cleared her throat sheepishly.

"Right I'll guess, I'll be off then" She said smiling awkwardly and she then made her way to the door, Leanne followed her

"Thanks again Carla" she said as Carla opened the door, They smiled at each other awkwardly before Carla closed the door behind her and went home.


	2. Detention & Promises

Simon was on his way home from school, it was only Tuesday afternoon but he was already fed up and couldn't wait for Saturday. He was frowning as he turned the corner on to the street where he lived. He was so busy thinking about what he was going to tell his Mum, when he bumped into right into someone who was walking the opposite way to him. It was Carla she was dressed all in black, in fact the only colour on her body, if you didn't include her hair and eyes was her red shiny nail polish.

"Eh watch it you" She said smiling down at him

"Sorry" Simon said still frowning, Carla read his expression

"What's up Si?" She asked him as they stood outside Audrey's hair salon, he shuffled on his feet with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Nothing" he lied because he didn't want to bother Carla with his silly problems especially as she looked as if she was on her way to work or something else important like that.

"Well it's not nothing is it? You got a right face on." Carla said as she began taking him by the shoulders and walking him over to the bench "Sit" she said sitting down on the bench herself, Simon took off his back pack and slumped down next to her. She expected him to talk first but when he didn't she rolled her eyes

"Come on then, coz I ain't got all night" Carla said sighing.

"I've got detention," he mumbled

"A detention… is that it?" Carla asked hoping that was all that was wrong and that there was nothing too serious causing Simon's bad mood.

"Me Mum's gonna kill me" He said, Carla shook her head

"I doubt it, I mean is it your first one since you started?" Simon nodded at her

"Yes"

"Right, well I'm sure she won't mind besides I doubt she was an angel whilst she were at school" Carla smirked because she'd heard plenty of stories about teenage Leanne and they were not pretty ones. "When is it?"

"For an hour after school on Friday" he groaned

"An hour? Carla asked wondering what Simon could have possibly done. He looked down at his feet ashamed "What on earth did ya do?"

"There's this boy in my P.E class and he was just saying some stupid stuff about me Dad, that's all" Carla looked confused

"How does this kid even know your Dad?" She asked, Simon rolled his eyes

"He went to my primary school," He said

"It's not that Graham kid that you had trouble with before is it?" Carla asked remembering how Simon had never got along with this particular boy whilst he was at primary school.

"Yep" Simon nodded

"Well what did he say?"

"He was just saying that my Dad's nothing but a useless drunk who's always in and out of prison"

"Well that's just ridiculous, I mean did you tell him your Dad's sober now and anyways both times he were in prison he were wrongly accused" Simon pulled at face at Carla and she had to admit that probably wouldn't have helped the situation at all.

"I just told him to shut up and he wouldn't" Simon said

"What did you do to him Si?" Carla asked deciding to cut to the chase

"I might have said something to about his Mum" Carla laughed a little but then Simon continued "And then when he still didn't stop… I might have hit him" She stopped laughing, stunned.

"Simon?" She said still so shocked because he wasn't usually the violent type, Simon looked at her

"I didn't mean to, I just got so angry." He said remorsefully, Carla nodded at him and sighed

"I understand Simon" She said sympathetically, although she couldn't help but think he had inherited that little trait from his father. Peter was often known for lashing out at others when he was angry, especially if they had hurt someone he loved "Did you explain to your teacher that this kid was aggravating you?" Carla asked him.

"Yeah I did but he said it's no excuse for violence" Simon said "What do you think me Mum's gonna say?" he asked, Carla was finding it hard to imagine Leanne taking the news of Simon punching someone lightly.

"Well… I reckon she'll be rather peeved about the punching part but if you explain it all to her properly and tell her how this boy has made you feel, I'm sure she'll understand" Simon nodded at Carla, already feeling a little better about the situation.

"So… other than that, how was school today?" she asked trying to change the subject a little

"Yeah, It was okay. I got so much homework though, English, Maths and R.E" he said "Plus I got French homework yesterday and I haven't even started that yet, it's due on Thursday and"

"You'd rather being playing the X box or something right" Carla said cutting him off

"No" he said looking down at his shoes Carla raised her eyebrows at him "I know this sounds silly but I'm still getting used to all this work and I don't want to get behind" he said

"It's not silly at all mate, I mean I think it's good that you care about it so much" Carla said he looked up at her

"What were you like in school?" he asked

"Me? I were a right goody goody" she lied looking straight ahead trying not to grin, Simon looked back at her unconvinced

"Don't believe that for one second" He said shaking his head and smiling, she laughed and turned to face him

"Okay. Honestly Si, when I were in school... I spent way too much time messing around with Michelle and her brothers" She said grinning

"You've been friends for that long?" he said admiringly Carla nodded at him

"Lucky for teachers we weren't in the same class or anything, just used to hang around together in the playground and after school, I don't think I did a stitch of homework an hour before it were due, Not until I were about fifteen that is."

"You've done alright for your self though" Simon said "You've got your own business" he looked rather impressed which made Carla frown, She shook her head at him

"Don't be fooled Simon, That factory kind of fell in to me hands" She said not wanting him to think that he could mess around in school and still be successful just because she did

"You're good at your job though right, Didn't you win that award?" he said remembering how she had been on her way to collect an award for being such a good business woman before there was that big bus crash.

"I am the best at my job." Carla said nodding proudly "But let me tell you it all came from a LOT of hard work and all that messing around in school got me were a lot of detentions and a bunch of letters sent home" She said

"What did your Mum say?" Simon asked her, Carla shrugged

"Oh She didn't care, She were too busy drinking or takin drugs to worry about what I was doing" She said. Simon watched her he was more than a little shocked to hear her talk about her mother like that, She'd never really talked about her childhood especially to him, Simon realised he didn't really know that much about Carla at all.

"What about your Dad?" He asked her, She shook her head at him

"He weren't around much and me Stepdad couldn't be all that bothered either to be honest with you." Carla sighed, "You should hear some of the stuff the kids at school used to say about my parents." She said,

"And what did you do about it?" He asked watching her. Carla raised an eyebrow

"Well let's just say I've had a fair few scraps in my time and most of em were in the school playground" She wishing she could be a better role model for Simon, He was staring at her and hanging on to her every word and there she was talking about how many fights she had at school. "Now I'm not making excuses for myself Simon but I think the way I acted during school was because of me home life… It weren't too great if I'm honest" She started, Simon listened intently

"You see the thing is Si, when there is no one at home who believes in ya, When there is no one pushing ya to do well, you end up thinking why bother? So I didn't bother with any of it." Simon nodded at Carla

"Wow" he said softly, trying to imagine what it must have been like for Carla growing up in a household like that.

"Anyways there was this one day in my last year at school, I stopped and I said to myself, I _can_ be better and I _can_ do better." Carla sighed a little and as Simon continued to look intrigued she continued "I did _not_ want to end up like my mother so from that moment on I made sure I did the very best that I could." She could tell Simon was a little shocked to hear all this about her childhood. He was always too young to know what it was like for her growing up and she still wasn't sure he was old enough to hear it now, She decided to wrap things up a little.

"Anyways Si, me point is that with a Mum like yours, you'll never feel the way I did. She'll always be proud of you no matter what you do" Carla said, Simon nodded at her in agreement as Leanne was always saying that he could be anything he wanted and all that mattered to her was that he was happy.

"Trust me. We used to be very good mates and you do not want her your case, so you just make sure you always pay attention and do your homework okay" Carla added firmly, making Simon smile at her again, He decided to find out some more about Carla because she was beginning to fascinate him.

"I've never heard you talk about your Mum before… Where is she?" he asked awkwardly

"She's dead Si" Carla said and she was the one looking down at her feet this time

"I'm sorry" Simon said, He hadn't been expecting that answer from her, She sighed deeply making him feel incredibly guilty for being so nosy.

"It's not your fault Si, You didn't know did ya?" He shook his head feeling foolish for asking such an awkward question. "I don't mind talking about it… with you I mean we've both been through it aven't we" Simon was quiet for a moment and then he asked

"When did she die?" he was watching her to see if he was making her more upset or not, he wasn't intending to be so intrusive it was just that he felt like he needed to hear more and she did say she didn't mind talking about it with him. Carla was staring into the space ahead of her and then she looked down again biting her lip. Simon decided that he was obviously pushing it a little "Sorry Carla, me Mum says I don't know when to keep it shut." He said regretfully

"No it's fine Si, I said I didn't mind didn't I?" Carla said "It were four years ago last week." She'd gone over to the grave on her own. She never ever visited her Mum's grave but she felt like she had to this year, especially since Rob wouldn't have been able to go, seeing as he was back in prison. That night once she'd got back to her flat, she just sat there on her own, with only a bottle of wine to keep her company and she had drunk the entire thing within the hour.

"That were before you were with my Dad weren't it" Simon said, as he had gotten older he was beginning to realise that Carla wasn't just some evil woman who swooped in and stole his dad away, he had spoken to Leanne about it all recently, She was actually really positive about Carla and Simon had realised that she had a lot of issues. Carla nodded at Simon

"Yeah, we were just friends then though, Nothing more" She said almost wondering why she was sitting there explaining herself to her almost twelve year old step son

"Do you believe in heaven Carla?" Simon asked rather out of the blue he looked at Carla who looked back at him confused "It's for my R.E homework" he said honestly because he was asked to ask various people what their thoughts on heaven were and to then write his own. Carla wasn't too sure what she believed in but she knew for sure that if there were a heaven her mother probably wouldn't be there, She shrugged at Simon

"I dunno" she said a little dryly "What about you?" She asked and Simon shrugged this time.

"I don't know either… but I bet if there is one, your Mum would be watching you right now and She would be really proud of you" Simon said trying to comfort Carla a little because she still looked saddened by the thought of her mother.

"I doubt that, you didn't know her Simon" Carla sniffed

"I know you though" he started "Well kind of and I know you're a really brave and strong woman… I would be proud of you." He said comfortingly. Although he'd not heard much but what he had heard about Carla's childhood made him admire how far she'd come in life. She smiled at him tearfully

"Thank you Simon" She sniffed wondering how was it that she'd sat him down to cheer him up yet she was now the one almost in floods of tears. They sat in silence for a moment and as Carla stopped feeling like she would burst into tears she nudged Simon in the side with her elbow

"Fancy you taking French though" She said rather impressed and in an attempt to lighten up the conversation

"Oh I didn't choose it they make us do it" he said Carla nodded at him

"Yeah we had to do it too, I still remember a bit of it actually, well..." She laughed again "I mainly remember all the bad words" Simon grinned at her she grinned back knowing what was coming "No I'm not gonna teach em to ya, for you to go an teach em to your whole class" She said

"Ohh go on" he said pleadingly, Carla shook her head at him

"Tell you what, your Dad can speak French, why don't you ask him to teach you the bad words." she said and Simon looked astonished

"Me Dad?"

"Yeah, he says he learnt it in the navy" Carla nodded, It was Simon who looked rather impressed this time

"I never knew that" he said amazed at all of the new things he was finding out today, he wondered what else he didn't know

"He always said we'd go to France together one day just so he could show it off in front of me" She said wistfully, Simon raised an eyebrow and grinned at her, She spotted his reaction to her mini day dream and laughed silently to herself.

"So yeah... why don't you get him to teach you all the bad stuff that way I can't get the blame for it" Carla smirked

"Good idea" he said chuckling

"Have you seen him recently?" Carla asked Simon, he shook his head

"No not really. Not since… the funeral." Simon said sadly "We Skype a lot though" he said

"You're telling me your Dad's actually worked out how to use Skype? Amazing" Carla said surprised, remembering how bad Peter was with new technology.

"Well, he were rubbish at first but he's alright now" Simon said

"How's... he's doing?" She asked almost hesitating but finishing her sentence all the same

"He's still got that job helping one of his friends in a betting shop. Whenever I talk to him he seems like he's really happy. He's coming down here for my birthday though I can't wait" he said watching Carla to see her reaction

"Good" She said smiling to herself, genuinely glad to hear that Peter was doing well for himself, She had to admit the thought of him being back on the street did make her slightly nervous, She just didn't know why though.

He had come to Deirdre's funeral, which was just a few months ago, but Carla couldn't quite remember just how much attention she had actually paid to Peter that day. She remembered seeing him arrive at the church with his family. She didn't want to bother them too much and had decided to stay away but then Ken asked Carla to sit with them all in the front row, So she reluctantly said yes just for his sake and made her way towards the front of the church. She had ended up being sat on the end of it right next to Simon who was sat next to Peter.

The service was rather short as Deirdre wasn't really the religious kind but it was heart breaking all the same, Ken and Tracy both said a few words each and then there were a few hymns followed by some of Deirdre's favourite songs. They then made their way outside for the burial, it was then that Peter first looked at Carla properly. He gave her a grateful nod to say thank you for being there and as they stood next to each other before Deirdre's grave, Carla absent-mindedly took Peters hand and gave it a little squeeze. They had had a minor conversation back at the Rovers that night but it was nothing big and Peter had spent most of his time consoling his Dad which was how Carla thought it should have been. She guessed she could speak to him properly another time but when she asked the next morning, it turned out Peter had left for Portsmouth already. Carla hadn't given it much thought at the time but she was a little disappointed that he'd gone so soon.

"Eh don't you dare tell him I asked about him. Okay" Carla said pointing at Simon fiercely

"I won't" He said grinning as Audrey came out of her beauty salon, She looked at Simon and Carla sitting on the bench together and smiled at them, as if she was pleased to seem them getting along so well

"Oh, Hello you two" She said, they both smiled back at her politely

"How's your Granddad doing?" She asked Simon

"Okay thanks." he said nodding although he wasn't too sure that was entirely true. Ken had good days, bad days and then some truly terrible days. Simon knew that he would never truly get over losing Deirdre and that his Granddad would probably never be the same again.

"Good" she said pleased "Tell him I expect him to come in for a trim very soon… Eh your hair's looking pretty long maybe you should come in for a trim as well." Audrey joked and she chuckled to herself as she walked away from them into the direction of the pub. Simon turned to Carla a little offended at Audrey's comment because he thought his hair looked quite cool.

"Do I really need a haircut? What do you think?" He asked her, She shook her head at him at first and then she started chuckling "What?" Simon asked wondering why Carla was almost in fits of laughter

"Remember when you wanted to grow your hair so that you could have Dreadlocks?" Simon instantly looked down sheepishly, shaking his head in denial

"Nope" Simon lied as Carla continued to laugh, he then looked back up at her smiling even though he was embarrassed.

"Yes you do" She said well aware that Simon was lying to her "You went on about it for months and your Dad was actually considering letting you ave em"

"What was I thinking?" He said as Carla ruffled his curly hair with her hand affectionately, he backed away from her a little but he smiled as he did it, so she didn't feel like she was annoying him too much

"Don't cut it, I bet the girls at school love it" She said watching Simon as he grinned and looked down again, "What ya grinning at ?" She asked him smiling

"Nothing" he insisted but Carla nudged him

"Ah come on, don't tell me you've gone and got yourself a girlfriend already?" She said wondering if Simon had also managed to inherit his fathers ways with the ladies

"I aven't" he said shaking his head and gazing back up at Carla who still looked intrigued "It's just me Dad said the same thing about me hair." Carla shook her head

"Course he did. Why am I not surprised eh?" she said grinning, She glanced down at her watch

"Right I better go back down the factory, I've just come from a meeting and I better let the girls know how it went." She stood up

"Yeah I better go too. I told me Granddad I'd be round at four he'll be getting worried" He said standing up and he began walking along side her as they were both heading in the same direction

"Carla"

"Yes" She said turning to look at him

"When are we gonna watch the next Hunger Games movie?" he asked he was desperate to watch the other sequels over the weekend but he had remembered the promise he'd made with Carla. If he was being truly honest with himself he had really enjoyed being with her on Friday night and he wanted to spend some more time with her.

"Erm" She said and scratched her head "Maybe your Mum would watch it with ya" she wasn't too sure what Leanne would think of her and Simon spending more time together. She seemed okay on Friday, it was almost like they were beginning to become good friends again but Leanne could change her mind at the drop of a hat and Carla could never be too sure what she was thinking.

"But I thought we said we'd watch them together" he said disappointed "Don't you want to watch it with me?" Carla shook her head

"No, honestly Simon it's not that at all it's just" They stopped outside of Ken's house and Simon stared at her waiting for an explanation "I just think you should ask your Mum, I don't want to get you into trouble" she said he shrugged

"Why would I get in trouble?" he said Carla raised her eyebrows, she knew Simon was aware of her rocky relationship with Leanne

"Oh I dunno, She might not like it that's all"

"It's just a movie? You are still my Step Mum after all." Simon said "I thought you said you divorce husbands not kids" he added smartly, remembering what Carla had said to him last week. She nodded realising he wasn't going to take no for an answer

"You know I think you've called me your Step Mum more times this week than you ever did when I were actually with your dad" She said Simon smiled at her pleadingly "Oh go on then, you twisted me arm" She said smiling at Simon, He grinned triumphantly as he knocked on the door of his granddad's house

"I'll get some popcorn in and maybe you could come round mine to watch it?" Carla suggested

"Cool" Simon said delightedly

"But you have to ask your mum first and you have to make sure you tell her about your little punch up at school. Deal?" Carla said firmly and she held a fist out in front of Simon, he bumped his first against hers as Ken opened the door

"Deal" Simon said, Ken smiled at the sight of his grandson and Carla bonding

"Hello Simon" he said cheerily "and Carla" he added, She nodded at him and smiled warmly

"Hi Granddad" Simon said "Bye Carla, I'll get me Mum to text you" he waved before going into the house. Ken looked at Carla intrigued

"Oh there's this movie he wants to watch round at mine" She began as Simon disappeared in the house behind Ken.

"Oh that's nice, You know I'm so glad you and Simon are getting along so well." he said thinking about how much Peter would love to hear what was going on between the two of them

"Yeah me too" She said watching Ken, He looked happier than he had done in recent times although Carla could definitely tell that he had been struggling with not having Deirdre around. "How are you doing Ken?" She asked, He nodded and gave her half a smile

"Not too bad today thank you Carla" he said "I really love having Simon round he's a real comfort you know… it's almost like having Peter here." Ken said softly, Carla nodded understandingly because if she was honest with her self she knew exactly what Ken meant.

"I bet… Listen I've gotta get back to the factory but Ken if you ever need anything you just let me know okay" Ken nodded at her appreciatively

"Thank you Carla" he said and she gave him a nod back before walking to the factory.


	3. Chinese Food & Tears

It was Friday night and Simon had got to Carla's flat at around seven pm. This was his second visit round Carla's, the first time he had been there was just the week before. Simon was rather excited to see inside her new home and he wasn't disappointed when he got there. It was a lot fancier than the old bookies flat where she used to live with Peter, She'd given him the tour and told him he was more than welcome to come over at anytime. He especially loved the balcony that she'd recently bought furniture for and they'd spent a good fifteen minutes peering down at the cobbles and seeing who they could spot from up high. It was that night they watched The Hunger Games Catching Fire, which was the second movie in the series, and it blew them both away just like the first one had done. The next day Simon was already on Carla's case about watching the third and most recent movie, Carla couldn't wait to watch it too of course and she'd even downloaded a copy of the first book to her iPad in the hope that she could read it whenever she had some spare time on her hands.

Simon knocked on her door, wearing his backpack on one shoulder. Carla opened it and said

"Come in" she was looking through a Chinese takeaway menu as Simon entered her flat.

"I'm thinking of getting some Chinese, do you fancy out?" she asked him, Simon loved Chinese food and he was starving hungry but he didn't want to seem too greedy so he politely said

"I'll just ave what your having" Carla looked at him

"Well I think I'm getting the salt and pepper squid, do you wanna share that?" she said smirking and knowing that Simon would recoil at the thought

"Squid?" He said, Carla chuckled as she went and sat down, Simon took his backpack off and joined her on the sofa

"Yeah it's delicious, you should try some?" she suggested knowing full that Simon would not be keen on this idea at all

"No thanks" He said still disgusted by the idea of eating squid, Carla handed him the menu

"Choose something and make it quick because I'm starving" She said, Simon had a good look at the menu and decided the best thing to do was go for his old favourite

"Can I have some chicken chow mien please" he said, Carla nodded

"Is that all?" she asked, Simon thought for a moment making Carla grin, She was used to him not deciding on anything right away. "Tell you what I'll just order some spring rolls and stuff, then you can just help your self okay?"

"Thanks Carla" Simon said happily. She picked up her phone off the table and began dialling the Chinese takeaway number.

"Y'know I don't know why I don't just keep their number saved in here to be honest" she said waiting for them to answer, Carla was a frequent customer to this particular restaurant. Simon watched her as she made their order but it was his own phone that soon distracted him. It started buzzing in his pocket, he pulled it out, looked at the screen and as picture of his Dad popped up. He glanced at Carla who was still browsing the menu of the takeaway and talking on the phone, before he answered

"Hi Dad" he said down the phone, he looked at Carla to see if she had noticed who he was talking to, She had noticed, the minute he had said the word Dad she felt a shiver run down her spine but she didn't let Simon know that as she continued to order their food, She spoke quietly as she ordered, as if Peter might here her from the other end of Simon's phone. "I'm good Dad, Glad it's Friday though, How about you?" Simon said into his phone as Carla hung up on hers. She kept quiet although there was a tiny part of her that wanted take the phone of Simon and have her own little conversation with Peter. "I'm just about to watch a movie" Simon said pointing down to his backpack that was on the floor, Carla reached over to it and gave it to Simon, He opened it and took out the DVD they were going to watch.

"The Hunger Games" Simon said, as Peter had obviously asked him which movie, Carla took the DVD off of Simon and went to put it into her telly. Simon wondered if he should tell his Dad he was at Carla's but he thought against it in the end. He still hadn't told his Dad about how much time he'd been spending with Carla recently, he wasn't exactly sure why? Maybe it was because his Dad always seemed so cheerful whilst they were skyping, they would talk about all sorts and it was always a really pleasant experience until that moment just before they would hang up and Peter would always ask Simon the same question.

"You seen Carla recently?" He asked it right there and then practically on cue. Simon could tell his Dad missed her like crazy and although she'd never admit it he knew that she missed him too. He looked over at her

"Yeah I saw her earlier" he said as Carla came and sat back on the sofa and watched Simon he couldn't help but grin at her as his Dad asked him how she was. "She's good" He said, Carla has spotted his grin and wondered what was so funny.

"What?" Carla mouthed, as Simon still looked amused he just shook his head and continued to talk to his Dad.

"Okay, I'll speak to you later then Dad" Simon said before saying bye and then hanging up. Carla pointed the remote at the television and asked

"What was so funny then?"

"Just something me Dad said that's all" Simon said putting his phone down on her coffee table.

"How is he?" Carla asked no longer hesitating when she asked that question because she knew Simon wouldn't judge her taking an interest

"Me Dad? He's good" Simon said he hesitated for a minute and then decided to let her in on a little secret "He asked about you, that's what I was smiling about" he said watching her, She looked back at him trying to act casual about Peter asking after her but these days it seemed Simon could read her like a book and it was obvious to him that she was intrigued. "He always mentions you to be honest" he said

"Does he now?" She asked slightly thrilled that it wasn't just her who was showing an interest "What does he say exactly?"

"He always asks if I've seen you and asks how you're doing" Simon said, he saw a little smile creep up onto Carla's face

"And what do you tell him?" she asked, Simon grinned

"Wouldn't you like to know" he teased, Carla laughed and decided it was probably better not to know what Simon had been telling Peter about her after all, She'd been thinking about Peter a lot recently and she had been trying to tell herself it was because Simon's birthday was coming up but deep down she knew it was because she was missing him... A lot.

"Does he tell you not to tell me that he's asked about me?" Carla asked because that's what she had been doing all this time, Simon shook his head

"Nope" he said

"And does he know that we've been hanging out?"

"Nope" Simon said again, Carla paused

"Well next time you speak to him you can tell him I asked about him ... If you want" She said making it out like she was doing Simon a favour. He smiled at her and nodded

"Okay, He's gonna call me later, he had to go because he was at the swimming pool" Simon said

"The swimming pool?" Carla raised an eyebrow and Simon nodded at her

"Yeah, It was like one day he just decided he was gonna be more healthy and he's actually stuck to it ever since." Simon said, Carla half frowned and half laughed at him

"Seriously?"

"Yeah he goes swimming a lot and there's a gym at the pool he goes to as well. " Simon said. Carla was a little surprised as the only physical activities Peter used to enjoy were the ones in the bedroom and playing football with Simon. He did a spot of jogging every so often whilst they were over in L.A but nothing too heavy.

"Wow. Well I'm glad he's keeping fit and healthy" She said intrigued to see what months of clean living and exercise would look like on Peter Barlow. Simon smirked at her as she sat silently like she always did whenever they spoke about his Dad, it was like she'd go off into her own little daydream just for a moment. He gave her a little nudge

"Carla… Shall we put the movie on then?"

* * *

They were about fifteen minutes into the film when Carla's buzzer went off and their Chinese food had been delivered. Carla paused the movie as she went to pay for it.

"I can't believe you eat squid" Simon said joining Carla in the kitchen as she pulled the foil takeaway boxes out of the bag.

"I know it sounds disgusting Si but it's so tasty" she said pulling the lid off of her food. Simon leant over to take a look at her food, He got ready to turn his nose up at it but it actually looked quite tempting.

"It looks like proper food" He said looking at the little pieces of battered squid, Carla laughed at him

"Well what did you think it would look like? Were you imagining a little squid squashed into this box?" Simon nodded and laughed "Try some, you know you want to" Carla teased putting a small amount onto the plate she'd set for him. He thought for a moment

"What does it taste like?" He asked not believing he was even considering trying it, Carla shrugged

"I don't know, it tastes like squid" she laughed "Some people might find the batter a little spicy and by some people I mean your Dad but It's not too bad" She said remembering Peter's distaste for anything too spicy. Simon picked up a fork and poked it into a piece of the squid, he took a deep breath

"Here goes" he said and he put the piece of squid into his mouth quickly, Carla watched him as he chewed the food with his eyes closed. He swallowed it down and opened his eyes

"Well..." Carla said, he shrugged

"I dunno if I like it or not" he said although he had to admit it wasn't entirely unpleasant

"I gotta say you handled that much better then your Dad, he downed about four glasses of water after just one taste" Carla said, Simon chuckled as she gave him his chow mien

"I'm surprised he even tried it" Simon said emptying the container of steaming noodles onto his plate

"Oh I can be very persuasive when I want to be, I got you trying it didn't I?" Carla said getting out some glasses from her cupboard for their drinks.

They made their way back to her sofa with their plates piled high and Simon pressed play so they could continue watching the film. It ended rather abruptly and Carla sighed heavily as she switched it off.

"So that's that until November then" she said, Simon frowned

"I can't wait that long" he moaned

"You're reading the books aren't you? We'll find out what happens next if we read them before the next movie" Carla said collecting their plates and cutlery. As she took it all into the kitchen she said

"I'll tell you what though, the name Peeta has been going right through me for the past three movies" Simon hadn't even made the connection between his Dad's name and the name of one of the main characters. "You'd think I'd ave got used to it after the first one though" Carla said coming back to the sofa after loading up her dishwasher. Simon smiled at her fondly

"I'm glad we've watched this together" he said, Carla smiled back at him

"Me too, eh imagine all that trouble she's caused just because she wanted to save her little sister" She said, Simon sighed

"I wish I had a little sister, You know someone to look after and protect like that" he said, Carla stopped smiling and suddenly memories of her miscarriage suddenly began to surface. Her eyes began to well up so she swallowed hard to try and stop herself from bursting into tears right in front of Simon.

"Well maybe you will ave one, one day" She said hoarsely Simon shook his head at her

"No" he said sadly Carla waited because it looked like he was going to continue, He swallowed

"Did you know me Mum lost a baby?" he asked sorrowfully, Carla nodded at him because she knew all too well that her and Leanne had more in common that just being one of Peter's ex wives.

"Yeah I knew" Carla said softly

"She told me a few weeks ago. She said she doesn't think she can have babies anymore" Simon said, He had asked Leanne casually if she might have a baby one day and She had decided that maybe it was the time to tell Simon about her miscarriage. Carla didn't know what to say, she just watched Simon as he continued to talk, trying her absolute hardest not to breakdown in front of him.

"She doesn't think Kal would want anymore children anyway and me Dad's so far away even if he did have another baby I'd never see it" Simon continued, He sounded like he had thought about this quite a lot, Carla felt a tear dribble down her cheek, she tried to wipe it away quickly but Simon spotted it

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned

"I'm sorry Si" she said as another tear fell down her face, now the first few had made it out Carla knew she wouldn't be able to hold the rest in.

"Carla" Simon said worried that he had upset her again like the time when he had mentioned her Mum. He watched her as She sniffed

"I wish I could have given you your little sister" she wiped her cheek as more tears escaped from her eyelids. "I" she tried to speak but she stopped because it was too hard to fight the tears and talk at the same time.

Simon knew something was wrong, at first he wondered what it was that had made Carla so upset. One minute she was fine, talking with him about wanting a sister and the next she was crying. He remembered how he'd sat with his Mum and how she had cried when she told him. He took a look at Carla as she sat there before him also crying. He thought for a moment as he began putting everything together and then he gulped before asking

"Did you lose a baby Carla?" he knew that Carla was in hospital for a bit last year, just before his Dad was arrested but no one had actually told him why. He'd guessed right and It all made sense to him now. Carla nodded at him. She didn't want to have this conversation with him, She still felt like he was too young for all this heartache. She then felt an arm go around her neck and another go around her waist as Simon hugged her tight

"I'm sorry" he said wishing he'd never said anything about having a sibling. He sniffed and Carla pulled away from him so she could get a proper look at him

"Eh don't get upset" she said as he wiped a tear from his cheek "You didn't know did ya?" she said tearfully, Simon shook his head

"No. I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you upset again"

"Its not your fault Si, I thought someone would have told you" Carla said, Simon frowned

"No one ever tells me anything" he said hating how much stuff he'd found out recently "Its like no one trusts me" he said, Carla shook her head at him

"That's not true at all Simon"

"So how come no one told me about My Mum loosing her baby?" He asked

"You just were a kid back then, You were too young to understand it all"

"No one told me about you either and it were only last year" he said, Carla rubbed him on the shoulder softly

"That's because you should've been out there enjoying what's left of your childhood not worrying about horrible things like that" She said, Simon sighed

"Well I was worried, I were worried about you lots and no one told me what was wrong" he said as another tear fell down his cheek "Everything makes a bit more sense now" he said sighing. Carla nodded at him tearfully

"I'm sorry Simon" She said rubbing his arm again "I'm sorry that no one told you, You know you've grown up so much over the past year so maybe it was for the best that you didn't know these things until now." he just sat there for a moment before saying

"Maybe" he thought for a moment thinking about how much more grown up he felt then he did last year. He wondered how he would have handled hearing that kind of news back then and he admitted to himself it was probably better that he didn't know that Carla was pregnant.

"Tell you what though, you would have been a fantastic big brother" She said softly, Simon nodded in agreement because he had always thought he would have been. There was something else he wanted to know, but he wasn't sure about asking it. He took a deep breath and swallowed

"Did you know"

"Know what?"

"If it was a boy or a girl" He asked Carla, She nodded and wiped a tear from her eye

"A little girl" She practically whispered it, She looked at Simon and bit her lip "Do you wanna see her?" She asked him. Simon nodded at her softly, she had wondered that it might upset him but seeing as he was already upset she thought why not. So she got up and went over to a little grey box that she had on a shelf by her television. She opened it and took something out. She brought it over to Simon and handed it to him. She had given him the photo of her first scan. He held it gingerly not wanting to touch the actual photo and ruin it. He looked at it trying to imagine how sad it must have been for Carla and His Dad to lose something so small and so precious

"I know you can't actually see much but it's all I've got" Carla sniffed more as the tears started streaming down her face as she watched Simon. He couldn't quite make out the shape of a baby, but he knew what he was looking at was actually a part of him and a part of Carla. He wished so much that she had been born safe and sound so he could look after her and be a great big brother. As Carla wiped her face he realised that she was even stronger that he had thought. She had been through so much and he was sure there was stuff he didn't know yet about Carla, and yet she was still standing. There was so many times in his life that he just wanted her to go away but he had recently realised he definitely needed someone like her in his life.

"Carla" Simon began, his eyes were still teary but he fought back the tears

"Yes"

"Promise me we'll still hang out together once we've finished The Hunger Games" he said,

"Of course we will Si, I bet there's plenty of books turned into movie franchises we can watch together" Carla said nodding

"And promise me that we'll tell each other stuff" he said, She looked at him almost smiling

"Stuff?" she said

"Just stuff, stuff that's happening to us and How we're feeling" Simon said still holding the scan picture, Carla nodded at him but he felt unsure that she knew what he meant

"You can trust me. I won't tell anyone your secrets, I promise... because you and me ... We're family" He said, Carla felt the tears well up once more as he said the word family. She pulled him in close for another hug and he clung onto her tight.

"I promise" she said feeling her voice crack, She was so overwhelmed that the boy who used to say he hated her all the time was now holding her so tightly that it felt like he'd never let go. Eventually he did though and when they caught eye contact he smiled at her sheepishly

"You're a right little sweetheart aren't ya" Carla said smiling at him, he shrugged still smiling

"Don't tell anyone, I've got my rep to watch" Simon joked wiping his nose. Carla looked at the clock on her wall as it struck half past nine.

"I reckon we should get you home eh" She said, Simon nodded and picked up his backpack off of her floor.

"Yeah me Mum's always on at me to have an early night before football" he said. Carla picked up her jacket and her bag so she could walk with him.

"So what you doing over the weekend then?" Carla asked as the walked down the cobbles

"I'm not sure yet what about you?" Simon shrugged

"Michelle's managed to talk me into helping out at one of her parties tomorrow night" Carla said, She was not looking forward to it at all but as it was her who had talked Michelle into doing this particular party in the first place, she felt like she had to help her out.

"What kind of party is it?" Simon asked knowing that Michelle had planned all sorts of parties recently and some of them had really cool themes.

"A nineties party"

"A what party?" Simon asked confused

"You know like the decade." Carla explained

"Oh I get it... Wow that really were ages ago" Simon laughed, Carla laughed with him although it really didn't seem that long ago to her.

"Yeah well the girl who's birthday it is was born in that decade so that's the theme" Carla said

"It's my birthday next week, Simon said grinning, Carla nodded at him

"How could I forget eh" She said nudging him as they crossed the road "When's your Dad coming down?"

"He's coming on the Sunday he said" They both stopped outside his Mum's flat

"Me Mum said we might be going out for it next Saturday... Would you come?" Simon asked hopefully,

"Well that depends" Carla said, She raised her eyebrows at Simon

"On what?"

"Well I know what you're like Simon Barlow and I distinctly remember you saying that you wanted to go camping for your birthday, Now I love you but there is no way you're getting me in the middle of some field in a tent" Carla said Simon smirked at her. The thought of Carla out camping made his smirk even wider

"No it's nothing like that, Maybe just Cinema or something to eat" he said, Carla pondered for a moment just to tease Simon but eventually she said

"Well in that case, I'll be there" she held up her fist in front of Simon, he grinned and bumped his fist against hers, this little gesture was becoming a little thing they always did.

"I'll text you and let you know what we're doing okay?" Simon said pulling his keys out of his pocket Carla nodded at him

"Make sure you do" She said as Simon opened the door to his flat.

"Bye Carla" he smiled and Carla said goodbye to him too and made her way back to her place.

* * *

**Thanks to all the reviewers so far and don't worry because a certain someone will be making an appearance in the next chapter :)**


	4. Cardboard Cut Outs & Surprises

Carla had regretted agreeing to help Michelle with this last minute party from the moment she had said yes. Michelle had received a call two weeks ago and was asked to organise a surprise nineties birthday party for a woman who was turning twenty-five. The woman's boyfriend was actually the one who had called Michelle and at the time she was round Carla's flat. Michelle had initially said no to him but Carla talked her into it saying that it would be good for business, if Michelle could show people that she could handle last minute parties as well as ones that were in advance. Michelle found her self saying yes but only if Carla agreed to help her.

So that was how Carla ended up was spending her Saturday night in a room full twenty something's and various cardboard cut outs. Michelle had got them specially made at a photo printing place and had them put all around the room, many of the party guests posed for pictures with them and they seemed to be a really big hit. There were cut outs of The Spice Girls, The cast of Friends, Will Smith, Britney Spears, Leonardo DiCaprio in his Titanic days (Which Carla said she wanted to take home at the end of the night) and many more icons from the nineties era.

The venue for the party was a pub function room in town and upon walking into the place Carla was far from impressed, but an hour or so later the room had looked much better, Michelle had hung up a black curtain around most of the room and then layered some fairy lights over that, Carla's job was to inflate some gold and silver balloons and then place around the room to finish it off, She moaned at first but she begun to enjoy helping Michelle out soon enough. The DJ came with his own set of disco lights and once they were set up, it was as if this standard pub back room had been transformed into a glamorous venue.

The music how ever was far from glamorous, The DJ had nineties music only policy and as Tragedy from Steps blared out of the speakers Carla rolled her eyes dramatically. She was sat at the bar whilst Michelle was off being introduced to various people who praised her on her efforts. Carla sighed as she sipped her wine and watched everyone around have fun. She had to admit she was beginning to feel jealous of the many happy couples that were at the party.

When the birthday girl walked into the venue and everyone popped out saying surprise, she jumped into her boyfriend's arms and burst into floods of happy tears. Carla couldn't think of anyone who would want to surprise her like that, well apart from Michelle and every time a slow song came on and people coupled up to dance she felt like starting to cry herself.

Carla had no idea why she was all of a sudden feeling so lonely but she'd woken up in the morning feeling like there was something missing in her life. She had told her self that it was down to the rather emotional evening she had spent with Simon last night but as the day went on and the more happy couples she had to endure kissing the more she lonely she began to feel.

Carla then began to think about the day she had planned on Monday, She was more than a little bit of nervous about it and she hadn't told anyone about what she was going to do, not even Michelle knew about these plans. Carla knew that keeping all these secrets to herself probably had a lot to do with why she was feeling so lonely but she just wasn't ready to tell Michelle about Monday yet. She turned her back onto the crowd and sighed as Michelle made her way towards her

"You were so right about doing this party" She said excitedly "I've just met three potential clients who all want parties planned too" Carla nodded, happy that her best friends business seemed to be booming.

"I'm happy for you Chelle I really am..." Michelle frowned because Carla didn't look happy at all

"Well it don't flaming look like you're happy, Are you not having fun?" she asked, Carla raised her eyebrows

"Well I would be its just ... I don't know anyone here babe and all these happy couples are making me feel like a right loner." She said "Oh and I'm probably the oldest person here which is making me even more depressed"

"Don't be ridiculous you are not the oldest person here" Michelle laughed, Carla was unconvinced "I reckon the DJ's in his early fifties at least" Michelle said pointing at the man who was doing the Tragedy dance routine to along with the crowd. Carla rolled her eyes and finished her glass of wine, Michelle looked back at Carla who was now fiddling with her silver sweetie bracelet "What's wrong?" Carla shrugged

"I just feel a little... I dunno" She hesitated as the woman whose birthday it was came running over and said she must introduce Michelle to her Mum and Dad.

"Go on" Carla said deciding that now defiantly wasn't the time for her to have a heart to heart with Michelle.

"No Carla" Michelle started but Carla shook her head at her

"Chelle we'll talk later okay?" She said pulling her phone out of her bag. Michelle looked apologetic and nodded at Carla as she was dragged off back into the crowd. Carla looked at her phone and saw she had a message from Simon, which said

**"We're all goin cinema and bowling for my birthday next Saturday I really hope you can come. x"**

Carla couldn't remember the last time she had been bowling and she wondered who this "we're all was" but she texted Simon back saying that she would be there as she really loved spending time with him and she really wanted him to have a fantastic birthday.

She was in deep feeling sorry for herself mode and set about ordering another large wine when she heard an extremely familiar voice say

"Hi can I just get an orange juice please?"

This voice... It was so familiar that it almost knocked Carla off of her stool, she spun around quickly to face the voice before it went away.

"Peter" She exclaimed, He stared back at her awestruck he was dressed in dark jeans and a white shirt. His hair was shorter then before but he still had his trademark beard.

"Carla?" He said not quite believing the sight in front him. She jumped off of the stool and for a moment he thought she was going to give him a hug, instead she just stood on the spot awkwardly in front of him. They both stared at each other some more as neither one of them had expected this to happen. Carla looked him up and down, She instantly remembered what Simon had told her last night about Peter's new fitness regime. After a few moments of staring in silence, She was the one to speak first

"What are you doing ere?" She asked because the last she knew he was still down in Portsmouth and he wasn't due back in Manchester until at least next Sunday.

"Erm I was invited" he said rather amused, He then looked Carla up and down a few times just so he could take her in properly.

When she was getting dressed earlier that night Carla had literally just picked the first thing she saw hanging up in her wardrobe, she'd gotten home from work late and she didn't have time to be fussy. She had put on a simple grey dress, it was quite short and tight but it had still had long sleeves, which still kept it slightly casual. It was nothing special but as Peter blatantly looked her up and down she was glad she'd picked something that made her look good. He eventually looked back up and caught Carla's gaze as the bar tender cleared his throat letting Peter know his drink was ready.

"I mean I thought you were in Portsmouth" Carla said as the bar tender handed Peter an orange juice, he then looked at Carla's empty glass of wine and asked her if she wanted another, She shook her head without even looking away from Peter for a second.

"I ave this mate James and he kept going on about how he hadn't seen me in ages and how he wanted me to come to his daughters birthday party" Peter explained "So as its Si's birthday next weekend I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and come down a bit early to surprise him" Peter looked around him at all the young people dancing to the Macarena enthusiastically and then back at Carla, She smirked knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"Michelle's got herself this party planning business So this delightful nineties fest is all down to her, I just came to help out and by help out I mean raid the free bar" Carla explained with a grin as he was obviously wondering why she was there. There was another awkward moment between them and they both stood there smiling at each other, Carla broke eye contact first and scanned the dance floor for Michelle but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Small world eh" Peter said Carla nodded at him slowly, wishing she'd of said yes to the wine top up now. She titled her head to one side

"So... How you doing?"

"I'm good" Peter said, He took a sip of orange juice without taking his gaze off of Carla, "Listen I err wanted to surprise Simon, so if you see him don't tell him you saw me okay?" He said

"My lips are sealed" Carla promised because she knew Simon would be delighted to see that his Dad was back almost a week earlier then he said he would be. She couldn't help but wonder what Peter would say if he knew she'd spent last night watching a movie with Simon and then crying with him about the loss of their baby. Carla began gazing around the room trying to find Michelle in the crowd, She was dying for Michelle to see the situation that she had suddenly found herself in. Bumping into an ex would usually just be a coincidence and something she would ignore but the fact that it was Peter that she had bumped into after feeling so depressed and lonely, almost made Carla as if some higher power was trying to mess with her or something. She finally spotted Michelle standing in the corner talking to the birthday girl. Carla jumped off of her stool suddenly, Peter watched her a little warily as she craned her neck to check Michelle was still in the same place

"You okay?" He asked,

"Just give me a minute" Carla said smiling at him and then dashing off in Michelle's direction.

She squeezed through the crowd and finally caught up to Michelle

"Carla" Michelle said grabbing her eagerly and pointing her towards the blonde birthday girl, She was in a neon pink dress the kind that which Carla would never be seen dead in.

"Susie this is my best mate Carla, she helped with tonight" Michelle said proudly

"Happy Birthday" Carla said with a false grin, She was desperate to get Michelle on her own, Luckily Susie had lots of people to entertain, she squealed obviously spotting someone from across the room and she ran over to them leaving the two best friends alone. Carla grabbed Michelle by the shoulders and turned her around hastily

"Carla what are you?" Carla pushed her forward slightly and pointed in Peter's direction

"Recognise anyone at the bar?" Carla asked, Michelle scanned past the crowds and eventually fixed her gaze on the bar, her jaw dropped when she saw Peter Barlow stood there sipping an orange juice.

"No way!" She said astonished, Carla nodded behind her "What's he doing here?" Michelle asked turning and facing Carla properly

"He knows that Susie's Dad" She said

"Hey well at least you know somebody here now" Michelle smirked

"Oh yeah ha ha" Carla said sarcastically "I think he's waiting for me to come back."

"Right?" Michelle said slowly as if she couldn't understand what Carla's problem was.

"I don't know what to say to him" Carla said anxiously "I thought I'd have time to prepare for this kinda thing y'know"

Michelle turned and took another long look at Peter, even though she was quite far away from him she could definitely tell that he'd made a few changes to his life.

"He looks good I'll give him that" Michelle said with an eyebrow raised

"That's not helpful at all Chelle" Carla said she took a deep breath

"Well it's true aint it? " Michelle said still eying him up and down, Carla frowned at her best friend, pretending like she hadn't been paying any attention to Peter's physical appearance herself. She had to admit to that he did look a lot healthier than the last time she had seen him. It wasn't that Peter was particularly unhealthy before it was just very noticeable that he had a new lifestyle.

"What should I do?" Carla asked her arms were now folded

"What d'ya mean?"

"Chelle what should I say to him?" She asked then she realised that she was starting to behave like some teenager with a silly crush rather than a grown woman who bumped into her ex.

"What do you mean? It's Peter." She said wondering why Carla was acting as if they had nothing they could possibly talk about. Carla tutted and stared at Peter from a far "Talk about Simon, Talk about how close you two ave become." Michelle suggested

"I dunno I don't think Simon's told him about that and I don't wanna step on his toes or anything" Carla said but then she shook her head and said "You know what, you're right, I'm just being stupid. This is Peter Barlow we're talking about, I'm married to the man for gods sake" And with that Carla made her way back through the crowds towards the bar.

Peter smiled contentedly as Carla returned and stood in front of him again.

"Found her" She said pointing Michelle out to Peter, he waved at Michelle and She waved back grinning at them both before being spoken to by one of the party goers.

"She looks well." Peter said awkwardly not knowing what else to say to Carla

"We were just saying the same thing about you to be honest" Carla said smirking, she didn't think she should mention that Simon had told her anything about Peter's new lifestyle but she couldn't help but tease him "What d'ya do? Get your self a personal trainer whilst you were down in Portsmouth?" He laughed sheepishly at her and put his empty glass down onto the bar.

"Not exactly, I've just been trying to get a bit more healthy that's all" He said feeling rather pleased that his new lifestyle was obviously noticeable "Me doctor reckons that exercise is addictive and it's supposed to help with any…cravings I might have"

"Well that makes sense I spose" Carla nodded rather impressed that Peter seemed to be getting on well with his new life, She could sense that Michelle was watching them from across the room, so she turned her self around slightly so her face wasn't so visible to Michelle.

"It does, I mean I always feel really good after a little workout and it can get quite addictive at times, Though I'm not gonna lie so does sitting at home on me sofa with a takeaway and Netflix" Carla laughed at him and sat back down a stool, She titled her head on one side watching Peter rather intensely "What?" he said beginning to get paranoid at the way she was looking at him

"Nothing, it's just…" She grinned, "It's good to see you Peter" She admitted a little self-consciously.

"You too" He nodded and they just stood together awkwardly for a while whilst the party continued in full swing, Eventually Michelle made her way over to the pair of them smugly

"Hiya Peter" She said her arms went straight around his neck and as she pulled him in close Carla raised her eyebrows at her.

"Hello Michelle" He said also rather surprised that Michelle was so forthcoming towards him

"How are you doing?" She asked him, moving back and standing next to him and opposite Carla so she could watch her behaviour closely.

"Yeah I'm good I can't complain, I was just saying to Carla… I really feel like things are going quite well at the moment" he said Michelle and Carla nodded at him both truly pleased to hear he was doing well "She told me about the buisness, Congratulations you've done an amazing job in ere, you wouldn't think it was the same place that I'd been chucked out of many a time." Peter said remembering the last time he had been there even though it was about five years ago. Michelle nodded at him

"Yeah all in a days work eh Carla" She looked at Carla who was now distracted by some girls that were crowding around the Titanic cardboard cut out that she had her eye on earlier

"Chelle you better be keeping an eye on that thing" She said pointing over at it as two girls knocked it over drunkenly, They picked it up clumsily and posed for some more pictures in front of it

"You're not seriously planning on taking that thing home are you Carla?" Michelle asked, Carla thanked the bartender as he handed her another glass of wine

"I sure am" She said smiling, Peter laughed

"Really" he said amused Carla nodded at him

"Oh you two think I'm joking, wait and see what happens when I leave this place, I'm taking it with me" Peter looked at Michelle

"She's still got a thing for old what's his face then" he chuckled remembering when he was told about how a twenty something year old Carla Connor saw Romeo and Juliet in the cinema and "fell in love" with Leonardo DiCaprio there and then. She gave Peter a small shove

"How can you pretend you don't know his name when you told me he was one of your favourite actors?" Carla said staring at him

"Did I?" Peter said grinning knowing he was winding Carla up, He was glad it wasn't as awkward between them anymore and that they were slowly getting their banter back.

"You did and I remember you saying how you thought that The Wolf Of Wall Street was a cinematic master piece" She said remembering when they'd gone to see it in the cinema and how Peter could not stop raving about it to everyone they spoke to that week.

"Really" Michelle said a little unenthusiastically, she had seen the movie also but she had not enjoyed it at all.

"Chelle it's a movie full of addiction and naked women of course he thought it were good" Carla said and smirked when Peter nodded at her in agreement. He was starting to think that coming back to the street would be rather simple as he and Carla seemed to be getting along okay. The Leonardo cardboard cut out was knocked over again causing Carla to tut and get off her stool. She marched through various party goers and picked it up off of the floor

"How's she been doing?" Peter asked Michelle knowing that she would tell him the truth. Michelle looked back at Carla as she was now saying something to the girls who had knocked Leo over.

"She's been… really good" Michelle began but she started laughing as she saw Leonardo's cardboard head float through the crowd and eventually Carla appeared clutching it tightly.

"Carla what are you doing?" She said shaking her head Carla waved the bartender over and handed him the life size cardboard cut out over the bar

"Do me a favour and keep this safe for the rest of the night" She said smiling charmingly at him, The bartender nodded although his eyebrows were slightly raised. Peter and Michelle both laughed as he stood the cardboard Leonardo against the back wall gingerly and then looked back at Carla, She gave him a thumbs up and then turned back to Peter and Michelle.

"Where you even gonna put that thing?" Michelle asked, trying to imagine a decent place in Carla's flat for it, Carla shrugged at her

"I don't know do I? I ain't thought that far ahead." She said

"What are you gonna do with the rest of em?" Peter asked looking around the room at the other famous faces.

"I dunno really? They'll probably all be battered by the end of the night might just leave em ere" Michelle shrugged "Unless you fancy taking one home that is." Peter shook his head

"Well as tempting as that sounds I think I'll pass, I might get some odd looks from the hotel staff if I get into the lift with one of them." he grinned

"Wait a minute why are you staying in a hotel and not your Dad's?" Carla asked,

"Oh I've got a few things I need to sort out before coming back to Weatherfield" Peter said rather vaguely in Carla's opinion but she didn't feel quite brave enough to ask more nosy questions. The DJ began waving Michelle over from a far,

"Chelle?" Carla said pointing him out to Michelle, She turned to look at him and then sighed

"Give me a moment." she said walking off into the direction of the speakers, a tall man suddenly approached Peter and patted him on the back

"You've not been back in Manchester for long and already you're already chatting up the most beautiful woman in the room." the man laughed,

Peter shook his head at him half-heartedly and cleared his throat

"Trust me, James that's not what I was doing" He said

"So you're the birthday girls Dad then" Carla said smiling politely although she could tell this situation could get very awkward very quickly.

"Yes" he held out his hand for Carla to shake "Nice to meet you I'm James" he said, Carla reached over and shook his hand, She glanced at Peter wondering if he'd ever mentioned her to James, before she could introduce her self properly James had already started talking again

"So how do you know my Susie then?" He asked, Carla shook her head

"Oh I don't I just heard there was a party and thought I'd crash" She joked and Peter laughed along with her but by the look on James' face she quickly withdrew her statement "I'm kidding" She said seriously and James looked rather relieved "I'm a mate of Michelle Connor's she's the one who organised the party" Carla explained

"Oh I see, Yes your friend really has done an amazing job here this place usually looks like a right dive doesn't it Peter" James chuckled obviously remembering some sort of memory of the building and how it had looked before.

"Yeah I was actually saying that earlier" Peter said, James stopped laughing and then looked back at Carla

"Sorry I didn't get your name love" he said. This was it the moment Carla had been waiting for, had Peter even mentioned her to his mates? Had he been talking about how much he missed her and how he had ruined everything.

"It's Carla." she said smiling uncomfortably and waiting for a reaction.

She got one. James looked absolutely stunned

"Wait... This is _the_ Carla?" He said staring at Peter with his eyes wide and then back at Carla who continued to smile uneasily at him.

"Yep" Peter said anxiously because James wasn't the type of guy who kept his mouth shut about anything.

"Wow… Well you said she was gorgeous but that was quite an understatement as far as I'm concerned Peter. Where were you thinking letting this one get away eh?" James said nudging Peter who looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up whole. Carla gulped down some more wine as there was a horrendous moment of silence between all of them and even James could see that he'd probably created a very uncomfortable situation. He cleared his throat eventually and made up an excuse to leave the two of them be. Peter looked at Carla apologetically

"Carla, I'm Sorry"

"Don't Peter, Don't make things more awkward then they already are" She said knowing their conversation was about to take a serious turn if she didn't do something stop it fast "We're meant to be ere avin fun, we don't need to drag up all that stuff from the past, not tonight, okay?" Peter nodded because the last thing he wanted to do was talk about how much he had hurt Carla.

"Okay" he agreed although he was sure that things weren't going to be as easy as he had thought earlier. Michelle practically came running over to them, Carla took a deep sigh of relief and put her empty glass down onto the bar.

"Right I'm done meeting all of Susie's friends and family now so come on" Michelle grabbed Carla's hand "We're going to hit dance floor, you coming Peter?" He shook his head

"I think not" He grinned and as Michelle pulled Carla away, She kept her eyes on Peter before she disappeared into the crowd. He watched them dance from a far glad to see that Carla seemed so happy. As the night went on he had spent some more time with James who apologised for making their conversation so awkward earlier and some more of his friends had turned up as well but he'd never really got to talk to Carla again as her and Michelle stayed pretty much on the dance floor.

* * *

It was about quarter to midnight when Peter decided that he wanted to leave so he said goodbye to his friends and made his way to the doors. He had wanted to say goodbye to Carla and Michelle but he wasn't too sure about how to go about it, luckily for him Carla and Michelle were on their way to the toilets as he was about to leave.

"You off then?" Michelle asked Peter nodded

"Yes. I guess I'll see you both sometime in the week" He said

"See ya then." Carla said casually although the thought of seeing Peter during the week made her start thinking about Monday's plans again.

"Bye" Peter said smiling, He was a little relived that he had bumped into Carla as that awkward part of his return was over and done with and he felt like he could relax a little more about coming back to Weatherfield next week.

When Carla and Michelle got in the toilets they were surprised to find them empty, Michelle went into one of the cubicles as Carla kept her self busy with looking in the mirror as she didn't actually need to use the toilets.

"Fancy running into Peter Barlow though" Michelle said from her cubicle

"I know right, that were the last thing I were expecting" Carla said sighing and examining her make up in the mirror

"Didn't you know he was coming back ere then?" Michelle asked because she remembered the way Carla had said she thought she would have had more time to prepare for Peter's return and it made her think that Carla might have known this was coming.

"Not tonight I didn't, he was meant to back for Simon's birthday but that's not until next week." Carla answered as Michelle flushed the loo and came out of the toilet. "It were just as much as a surprise for me and it was you"

"What did you talk about whilst I was gone, did it get awkward at all?" She asked as she washed her hands with soap

"Not until his mate came over and started asking Peter why he'd let me go" Carla said rolling her eyes

"Ouch" Michelle said wincing "What did Peter say?"

"Nowt it were well uncomfortable" Carla said hoping she'd never have to be in a situation like that again. Michelle dried her hands and looked at Carla

"So… how long's he staying for?" She asked, Carla shrugged at her

"I don't know, didn't ask" She said sighing, Michelle watched her for a moment

"Are you gonna be okay with him being back? I mean after all this time he's gonna be just across the road from ya." Carla nodded at her but she was looking down at the ground.

"I'll be fine, I can't expect him to stay away from his kid forever can I?" She said "Come on lets get back out there I was just starting to enjoy me self"

The party had turned about to be a huge success, more people kept arriving and it was a good thing that Carla had hidden her cardboard cut out because by the end of the night most of them had either been taken home or battered.

As they sat in the taxi on their way home, Michelle watched Carla as she gazed out of the window. It had begun to rain heavily as the cab made its way back to Weatherfield and they were as the rain splashed against the windows.

"It was a good night wasn't it?" Michelle said breaking the silence in the cab.

"Yeah it really was. You should be really proud of your self" Carla said smiling at Michelle and then going back to look out of the window. Michelle waited a few moments and then said

"You've been unusually quiet for a while now, are you sure you're okay" She'd asked this because Carla had literally been silent since they got in the cab.

"I'm fine Chelle" Carla said softly

"Is it Peter?"

"No…" Carla hesitated, she was about to tell Michelle about where she was going on Monday morning but she knew Michelle would say that it wasn't a good idea and she just wanted to get it over and done with before she had to hear everyone's opinion on the matter. "I've moved on from Peter" She eventually said Michelle raised an eyebrow wondering why it had taken so long for Carla to say that small sentence

"Okay then" She said clearly not convinced

"I know you don't believe me but I ave" Carla said grinning, Michelle shook her head tiredly and yawned

"Whatever you say Carla _Barlow_" she said making sure she had called her legal name and not Connor just to annoy her some more, Carla rolled her eyes in the dark and nudged Michelle in her side

"I'm serious Chelle, Yeah I still care about him and he's always gonna be a part of me life but I'm not interested in any sort of relationship with him… Okay" Carla said looking at Michelle

"Okay" Michelle nodded and they sat in silence one more until Michelle smirked and said "He looked well fit though and I don't care what you say, you were definitely checking him out the whole time you were talking to him"

"I was not" Carla protested but she had a grin on her face, She turned back to look out the window to hide it but Michelle had already seen it

"Oh give over Carla I've known ya since forever I know when you fancy someone" She said Carla just shook her head and chose not answer her. The cab turned onto Coronation Street and parked outside the rovers return. Michelle paid the cab driver as Carla got out of the cab. Luckily for Carla it had stopped raining because the cab driver got out and opened the boot of his car. Inside was the Leonardo Di Caprio cardboard cut out in almost perfect condition apart from the fact it had been bent at the legs so it could fit in the boot.

"Cheers" Carla said as the cab driver handed it to her with his eyebrows raised.

"I can't believe you actually took that thing home" Michelle said laughing as they went and stood on the pavement outside the rovers. Carla knew this would be her last moment to tell Michelle about Monday as Steve was whisking Michelle of for a romantic surprise tomorrow or today, as it was almost two am. She decided not to say anything in the end and said goodbye to Michelle. As she walked the short walk from the rovers to her building with Leonardo in her arms she almost began to feel excited about Monday… almost.


	5. Ross & Rachel

**I normally update every weekend but I just felt like publishing this chapter tonight... :)**

* * *

If someone had told Simon that his Dad would have been standing outside his school waiting for him on Monday, he wouldn't have believed them. Peter was due to arrive on Sunday as far as Simon was concerned so when he saw his Dad standing there outside his school's gates, he ran over to him as fast as he could.

"Dad!" He cried, he was carrying a football but he dropped it and threw his arms around Peter's waist so he could hug him tight, Peter held him close and breathed in deeply, taking in Simon's familiar scent.

"Hi Si" Peter beamed "It's so good to see you" he said and as he let go of Simon and took a proper look at him. Simon bent down to pick up the football he'd dropped. "How is it you've grown so much in only a few months?" he asked looking at him, he couldn't believe that he was nearly twelve, Simon smiled at him sheepishly and shrugged.

"What are you doing here? It's not me birthday until next Monday" he said waving goodbye to his friends proudly.

"Yeah well I thought I'd come down earlier and spend some more time with you" he said Simon's face lit up as they began walking home together.

"Really?" he said and Peter nodded at him

"Yes really"

As they walked down Coronation Street together, Simon was so pleased that everyone could see that his Dad was back, he smiled from ear to ear as various people stopped Peter to say hello.

"How long you staying for Dad?" He asked, Peter shrugged not knowing what to say to him.

"I'm not sure son, a few weeks maybe"

"A few weeks" Simon gasped as this was a lot more then he expected. Peter nodded at him as they continued to walk together, he smirked and grabbed the football off of Simon

"You still playing football then?" he said, Simon nodded as his Dad started playing keepy uppy with the ball.

"Yeah, I go on Saturday mornings and I'm on the year seven team at school." he said proudly, Peter smiled also proud

"That's my boy" he said "You obviously get your skills from me" Peter was showing off kicking the ball higher and higher.

"You sure about that?" Simon said raising an eyebrow as Peter over kicked the ball this time and it flew down the street towards Zeedan Nazir who was walking with some headphones in.

"Zeedan!" Simon cried he ran over to him, Zeedan's Dad was Simon's Mum's boyfriend, Even though Zeedan was still not a fan of Leanne he had to admit he'd grown very fond of Simon. He pulled out his head phones as Simon got closer to him

"Hi Simon" he said picking up the ball grinning "Cool football" he said admiring it and kicking it back to Simon, Simon kicked it back as Peter caught up with them.

"Zeedan this is my Dad" he said

"Nice to meet you" Peter said Zeedan nodded back at him, he'd heard plenty about Peter Barlow from Simon and many other people who lived on the street.

"You too" he said kicking the ball to him, they kicked the ball back and forth between them for a while as they walked down the road, they stopped outside the garage "You looking forward to bowling on Saturday then mate?" Zeedan asked, he had already made up an excuse not to go because he didn't want to spend anymore time with Leanne and his Dad than he had to.

"Bowling?" Peter said interested, Simon nodded

"Yeah are you coming Dad?" He said looking at his Dad and not at the ball that went flying into the doors of the factory "Mum's coming and Kal and Amy" Simon ran over to the factory steps and picked up the ball "Oh and Carla" he said reminded that he had invited her as he was now stood outside the factory. The door opened and stood there was Zeedan's sister Alya who worked at the factory, She'd come to see what the noise was about and she did not look pleased.

"Sorry that was your brothers fault." Simon said pointing at Zeedan and giving her an apologetic look, Alya rolled her eyes at her little brother

"What have you been told about hanging around here and winding me up?" She said, Zeedan just shrugged at her

"I don't know remind me again." He said smirking at Simon and then back at his sister.

"Just go away Zeedan" She scowled and then closed the door.

"Thanks for that Si" Zeedan said as Simon returned with the ball

"Did you say Carla was going bowling Si?" Peter said surprised, Simon nodded at his Dad with a grin.

"Yep" he said and then he kicked the ball to Peter, Peter's attention was diverted by the mention of Carla and the ball hit the factor door again, Zeedan ran to get it quickly but the door flew open before he could get back down to Simon and Peter.

"Zeedan!" His sister hissed when she saw him on the steps "Seriously you need to go and play football somewhere else, Carla is in a foul mood today and she's asked me to make sure she doesn't hear that noise again" Zeedan nodded at Alya sarcastically

"Has she now?" he said mischievously

"I'm serious Zeedan" She pleaded "Just go away"

"Okay" He sighed and he took the ball back to Simon and Peter as Alya closed the door behind her.

"What did she say?" Simon asked, Zeedan shrugged and smirked

"Oh she's gonna get in trouble if the noise doesn't stop" he said and he dropped the ball on the floor opposite the factory. Luke who worked in the garage had been watching the whole thing and had spotted what Zeedan was doing.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" he warned, Simon, Zeedan and Peter looked over at Luke "I'm serious, I saw Carla going in there about an hour and a half ago and she looked furious" he said knowing that she wasn't someone to be messed with even at the best of times.

"Maybe we should go and get something to eat now Simon" Peter suggested deciding it was probably best to avoid an angry Carla at all costs. Zeedan scoffed at them all, only interested in annoying his big Sister. He bent down to check his aim, took a few steps back and kicked the ball straight towards the factory, it smacked hard against the door making Simon and Peter both hold their breath.

Zeedan laughed as he imagined his sister getting a right earful from her boss, He couldn't wait to see her face but unfortunately for him the door flew open and instead of his sister being stood there it was Carla, She was dressed in a little black dress and black ankle boots. She took one furious look at Zeedan, then at Simon and when she finally looked at Peter he tried to smile at her but she only gave him quick glance before looking back a Simon.

"Is there some reason why you three feel like my factory door is a goal post?" She asked fiercely with her head on one side, the three of them looked at each other then at Luke who was still watching them, He nodded at them in an _I told you so_ type of way and got back to work. Carla waited for a response with her arms folded and eventually Simon spoke up and said

"Sorry Carla" deciding that he was probably the best person to apologise to her and that she might take it a little easier on him.

"Have you really nothing better to do with your afternoon than to stand out here and annoy me and my employees?" She said moving her hands to her hips. Peter watched her, she didn't look as cheerful as she had done on Saturday night, he couldn't quite tell if she had dark circles under her eyes or if it was just her make up but she looked exhausted.

"Not really" Zeedan grinned looking Carla up and down, She glared at him because she was used to him hanging around and trying to annoy his sister, She wasn't quite aware that he also liked to hang around because he had developed quite the crush on her. She turned to Simon again

"Simon you must have some homework you could be doing or summat?" He looked at his Dad and then back at Carla again

"Actually I was gonna ask if I can use your printer to print something off for school because ours isn't working." he said. This was news to Peter but he nodded along anyway as if this was part of the reason why they were outside the factory to begin with.

"Right well get in here then" She said pointing into the factory behind her, Simon was planning to come by later on but he did what he was told as he could tell winding Carla up some more was not a good idea.

"Shall I wait for you at your Granddad's Si" Peter called after him picking up the football that had made its way back towards them, Simon nodded as he went into the factory Carla went to close the door but before she did she said

"Peter" he turned to look at her hopefully

"If I see that ball again, I'll stick it where the sun don't shine" and she almost smirked at him before going back into the factory and slamming the door behind her.

"Uh she is so sexy when she is angry" Zeedan said still grinning at the factory door "I can't believe you cheated on her" he added now looking at Peter.

"Yeah neither can I mate" Peter said solemnly, Carla did look amazing stood there in front of them, even more beautiful that she had done on Saturday night but having known her as long as he had done Peter could tell that something was definitely wrong with her, It was almost as if he could see the hurt in her eyes. He said goodbye to Zeedan and headed towards home.

When Peter knocked on the door of his Dad's house, He was welcomed by his niece Amy who threw her arms around him the moment she saw him.

"Peter!" She cried, Peter was rather shocked by her reaction towards him as she'd never shown much affection for him before but as she clung onto him Peter held onto her closely.

"How are you Amy?" He asked as she let him in

"I'm good, wait till Grandad see's you're back?" she asked walking down the hallway behind him, he entered his family's back room to find his Dad sitting with the newspaper,

"Typical" he grinned as Ken had his head buried into the political section of the paper. Ken's head jerked up at the sound of Peter's voice "Alright Dad" Peter said smiling.

"Peter what a surprise" Ken cried delighted to see his son home early, He put his paper down and hugged his son tight, They both patted each other on the back affectionately.

"I thought I'd come and stay for a few weeks if that's okay with you." he said, Ken nodded and smiled as Tracy came in from the kitchen and hugged her brother tight.

"I've missed you so much." She said into his ear, Peter was surprised at the desperation in her voice and looked at her but she shook her head and nodded towards their Dad.

"Well it's a bit crowded here but of course you can stay son" Ken said and he then looked at Peter properly and saw that all he had been carrying was a football "Peter you don't have any luggage?" Peter grinned at his Dad

"Ahh but I do I dropped it off earlier, Tracy let me in and it seems she actually did a good job of keeping a secret for once, I was sure she would have spilled the beans by now."

"Oh cheers, thanks for the vote of confidence." Tracy said giving Peter a little push but she was smiling all the same. Ken laughed at them glad to see them stood in front of him together.

"Wait till Simon sees you" Ken said as they all sat down at the table.

"Oh he already has seen me. I met him outside his high school, I were a bit worried at first in case I embarrassed him in front of all his new mates but he seemed really happy to see me" Peter said

"Oh that's lovely, where is he now then?" Ken asked

"Oh I left him down at the factory he asked Carla if he could borrow her printer, I said I'll wait for him here because she wasn't in the best of moods and I didn't want to push me luck. I just hope Simon isn't too annoying for her that's all." Peter said a little worried but Ken shook his head at him.

"Oh Simon will be fine, He'll probably cheer Carla right up" Ken said with a knowing smile, Peter watched him for a moment

"Really?" he said and Tracy nodded

"Oh yeah they have been spending quite a lot of time together lately actually" Ken said a little surprised that Peter was unaware of all of this.

"He never said anything in our Skype conversations" Peter said surprised

"Oh she's so good with him, they've been watching movies together and the way he talks about her, you can really tell he adores her" Ken said

"Well were was this behaviour a few years ago eh?' Peter sighed remembering how hard Simon had made it for Carla when she first got with his Dad.

"Well you know what Simon was like back then, everything was confusing for him but they've really bonded now and I think it all started because they both missed you" Ken said, Peter nodded pleased to hear this news even if he hadn't seen it coming. Ken got up and said he was going to make his son a coffee leaving Peter and Tracy sat together at the table with Amy but she was watching television and wasn't really listening anyway.

"How's he been?" Peter said quietly leaning in a little to make sure Tracy could hear him.

"This week, fine but last week was rather difficult." Tracy said turning back and checking Ken was still in the kitchen. "I'm just so glad you're here." She said smiling at Peter lovingly.

"Me too, So what was he like last week then?" Peter asked

"He was just so down Peter and I really didn't want to leave him alone, Carla came over and sat with him for a few hours actually and it really seemed to ave done him some good" Tracy said

"Carla came and sat with Dad?" Peter said surprised again although by this point he wondered why because it was clear to him a lot had gone on that he didn't know about.

"Yeah she did" Tracy whispered "Don't tell her I said this to you but she's been a real rock for Simon and Dad recently, so don't you dare go and mess it all up for them both." Peter was astonished to hear Tracy talking about Carla in such a positive light and he was almost beginning to wonder if he had took a wrong turn on the way home and stumbled into some sort of alternate universe instead.

* * *

It got to five o clock and Simon was still not home, Peter wondered about going over to see if Simon was alright although it was more Carla he wanted to see. Eventually he got up and made his way across the road and back over to the factory.

"Have you seen our Simon come out of there yet?" Peter asked Luke who was still working on a car outside, He shook his head at Peter

"Nope not yet" he said, Peter hesitated for a moment before continuing on into the factory, He wasn't too sure about going in there uninvited but he decided he had every right to see what his son was up to, after all he said he just said he was printing off something and he'd been in there almost an hour.

Peter gingerly opened the door to the factory and a room of shocked faces welcomed him in as he closed it behind him. He'd guessed it was because they were surprised to see him back on the street. He nodded at them and smiled, most of them smiled back at him but they didn't dare to speak and continued to sew away on their machines in silence. Peter scanned the room looking for Simon as Alya came running over to him.

"Can I help you?" She asked smiling at him politely

"I'm Simon's Dad, I was just wondering if he was ready to come home yet?" he smiled back at her

"So you're Peter" she said, She didn't know too much about him but she knew that he was Carla's ex and that he'd cheated on her which is why they weren't together anymore.

"He's in the office with Carla" Alya said she wasn't sure if she should have let Peter walk past her but before she knew it he was knocking on the office door, Peter entered it to find Simon sitting on the computer and Carla standing next to him looking at the computer screen.

"Hi" he said awkwardly Carla looked over and sighed when she saw Peter stood in her doorway.

"Just let your self in won't you Peter" she said irritated as she hadn't actually welcomed him into her office.

"I just came to see if Simon was okay."

"Why what did ya think had happened? That I kidnapped him or something?" Normally Peter would have just passed this off as banter but not today, something wasn't right with her tone, he could tell something was wrong.

"No I just wondered if he still wanted to go and get something to eat" He said a little taken aback, Simon looked up at his Dad.

"Sorry Dad it's just taken ages for me to find what I was looking for." he said wondering if he should maybe give his Dad and Step mum some time alone but he didn't want to make it too obvious and then he had a mini brain wave.

"I need the toilet, Dad you wait here for my work to print and then we can go." Simon got up off of the chair and made his way to the toilet leaving Carla and his Dad alone.

"How you doing Carla?" Peter asked she rolled her eyes and sat down on the chair where Simon had been sitting.

"Bloody fantastic, I mean today has just been a real roller coaster ride." She said sarcastically as the printer got to work and printed out Simon's homework, Carla got up and collected it from the printer and handed it to Peter "There you go, Make sure you close the door on ya way out" She said bluntly, Peter frowned at her

"Okay what have I done?" He asked, Carla sighed as he took the homework off of her

"What?"

"Well you were alright with me on Saturday and now... I don't know you just seem kinda off with me"

"Of course" Carla nodded "because everything is always about you isn't it Peter" She said wishing Peter couldn't read her so well and could tell how upset she was.

"Look Carla I don't want to argue with you-"

"Then I suggest you leave right now" she interrupted him, Peter had considered doing as she had suggested but he felt like leaving it like this would only make things more awkward between them.

"Carla… I'm gonna be here for a few weeks and it would be great if we could be friends."

"Friends?" Carla said exasperated. Since she had got back to work this afternoon she had been trying very hard to keep it all together but as a tear escaped from one of her eyes, she knew that if Peter didn't go, she'd end up losing it. She bit her lip trying to keep herself under control. Peter moved a little closer to her

"What's wrong?" He asked concernedly, She shook her head at him and swallowed hard.

"Nothing I'm just tired that's all, I didn't sleep too well last night" Carla said, Peter didn't look like he believed her although it was true she didn't sleep well last night, she had been up half of it, thinking about the day she had planned ahead.

"You sure that's it?" Peter said putting Simon's homework down on the desk and moving even closer so that he was now stood directly in front of Carla. She nodded not daring to look at him properly.

Meanwhile Simon had finished in the toilet and was about to make his way back into the office when he took a look through the open blinds. He saw his Dad and Carla stood in front of each other as if they were having a moment. He didn't want to interrupt so he went to speak to Kirk who was busy packing boxes.

"Carla, We may not be together anymore and I may not have seen you for a while but I can still tell when something is not right" Peter said softly as Carla still tried to stare past him "It's your eyes that give it away." He said looking at her tearful expression. Carla loathed that Peter could so read her so easily and sniffed again. There was a small silence and then Carla gave in.

"I went to see Rob" She eventually said as another tear dribbled down her cheek, she wasn't even sure why she was telling Peter this but she knew there was no point trying to pretend that she wasn't on the verge of breaking down. "I been… trying to see him for ages now but he kept ignoring all my requests." She said "Then one day last week he finally agreed and put me on this special visitor list thing." Carla wiped at her tearstained cheek furiously and then continued.

"I drove all the way down there thinking this was it, that he'd talk to me, maybe even forgive me for what I did and that maybe we could have some sort of relationship again." She said, Peter nodded knowing how much Carla loved her little brother and that seeing him would mean the world to her. He guessed that it hadn't gone well as she was now stood in front of him sobbing.

"Anyways" Carla said "So I'm sat there like a right lemon watching all these guys come out and to see their visitors and Rob wasn't one of them. So I'm sitting there thinking that maybe he's ill or maybe he did something stupid and they wouldn't let me see him after all" Carla sniffed as a few more tears fell down her face.

"Then after a few minutes the guy sitting across from me says are you Carla? So I say yes and he goes I got a message from Rob" Carla's voice cracked as she said his name.

"Rob told him to tell me, now _you_ know what it's like to think that someone's gonna be there for you and then they just let you down." She started crying properly now putting her head in her hands as if she was trying to stop Peter from seeing her tears. He wondered about closing the blinds but Carla had her back to everyone in the factory anyway and he realised it would probably make it more obvious that something was going on if he just randomly closed them.

"I just wanted to see my baby brother" Carla said lifting her head and wiping her eyes "I was stupid to think he would forgive me wasn't I?" Peter shook his head at her

"No you're not stupid Carla" he said "Rob just needs time, he's probably still adjusting to being back inside"

"Yeah and it's my fault he's in there Peter, I've been trying so hard to not think about it but sometimes I get this horrible feeling of guilt and it just eats away at me"

"You did the right thing Carla and I'm not just saying it because I was the one who got out of prison because of it, I'm saying it because it's true" Peter said but Carla shook her head

"Yeah well me doing the right thing won't help this feeling I've got inside me." She said "All I've thought about for the past few hours is going home to down a bottle of brandy or something and hoping that I'll just pass out. At least then I won't have to deal with any of this" She cried, Peter shook his head at Carla sympathisingly but he couldn't help being reminded of when Carla had gotten so drunk and so upset once before that she ended up taking an overdose. She looked at him knowing exactly what he was thinking "I'm not gonna do out stupid, I just want to forget it all. Just for a little while" she said shaking her head quickly.

"Carla drinking your self into oblivion over this is so not worth it" Peter said as Carla let another tear fall down her cheek "Nothing I can say to you will make the guilt you feel go away but I do know for a fact that Rob still loves you"

"See I don't think he does, not anymore" Carla cried shaking her head at him again.

"Of course he does. Why else would he go to that much trouble to hurt you? He did that to you because you're somebody that he loves and you supposedly hurt him… he just wanted to hurt you right back so you'd know how it feels." Peter said trying to imagine being in Rob's position. Carla sniffed and took in what Peter was saying "Carla I'm telling you one day he will wake up, he'll realise that he's being so stupid and he'll want to see you again." Peter felt like just grabbing her and holding her close but he thought twice about it as he still wasn't sure what Carla would make of such a intimate action.

"I still want that bottle of brandy though." She mumbled knowing that Peter was right.

"Trust me. The pain will still be there in the morning and so will the hangover" he said "I know this all sounds ridiculous coming from me but I'm right and I think you know I am" He said. Carla nodded at him and wiped her nose, He smiled at her when she nodded

"You're so smug" She said looking at him. She had spent the first part of yesterday wondering if she might have over exaggerated Peter's appearance in her mind slightly, She thought that maybe it was the wine she had had on Saturday night talking but as he stood in front of her, he definitely looked the best he'd ever done before. "What time did you get back?" Carla asked him, trying to change the subject slightly.

"Is that you trying to change the subject?" Peter asked as if he could read her mind, She sniffed hard this time and wiped the rest of her tears away wishing she hadn't of broken down in front of Peter like that.

"I'm okay" she said quickly, Peter raised his eyebrows at her "Don't look at me like that" She said rather irritatedly because she knew Peter didn't believe her "I ave bad days sometimes and today is a very bad day that's all. I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow" Carla said however Peter was still looking at her like she was wounded "Honestly I'm not always like this, ask Simon if you don't believe me" She insisted as she knew that Simon was still out in the factory somewhere.

"Yeah me Dad's been telling me what great friends you two have become" Peter said sighing "How come neither of you told me that you were getting along so well?"

"Careful, you sound jealous Peter" Carla said, He nodded

"Well to be honest I am, I mean how come he gets to be your friend and I don't eh?" He said his head on one side Carla smiled at him properly for the first time since he'd arrived

"Well... he's much cuter than you for a start" She joked, Peter laughed and nodded at her,

"Alright I'll give him that and I also hear you're all going bowling on the weekend" Peter said smirking because Carla was not the bowling kind

"Yes we are" she paused "Aren't you coming too?" Peter shrugged at her

"Well Si's asked me to but it depends really" he said anxiously Carla shook her head at him

"I'm not gonna argue with you Peter especially not on Simon's birthday night out" She said running her hand through her hair "You really think we can go back to being just friends?" she asked, Peter nodded at her

"I think we can" He nodded She sighed unsure whether she believed that they'd be able to go back to what they were before they fell in love. "We can be friends Carla, People do it all the time"

"Who? Who do you know that has broken up and then managed to stay friends?" She asked, Peter thought for a moment

"See" she said

"Ross and Rachel" Peter said smugly Carla laughed at his mention of the fictional characters from the classic tv show friends.

"Yes but you don't actually know Ross and Rachel though Peter? They're not real people." He grinned at her

"Yes but that doesn't mean they aren't a good example for what we're talking about." He said "Look I've been thinking about this a lot and do you know what I miss the most about us?" Carla raised an eyebrow and grinned at him, he read her expression "Okay what I miss second most" he laughed.

"I dunno?" Carla shrugged her shoulders at him still grinning but still tearful

"It's this." Peter said "Just spending time with you, you know." he was serious now, his grin was gone from his face, his eyes were fixated on hers "Now I'm not saying I wouldn't jump at another chance to be with you but we both know that's not gonna happen… Carla before we got together you were like me best friend... I just want that back in my life even if it's going to be whilst I'm here for a little bit" Carla thought for about a millisecond and then nodded at him without saying anything. She then held her arms out in front of her, Peter hesitated slightly

"Come ere then" She said and He put his arms around her and pulled her close to his body. She clung on to him and breathed in deeply.

"So does this mean we're friends then?' He asked, Carla nodded into him not wanting to let go of him just yet.

"Yeah I guess we are... Like Ross and Rachel, although with your sarcasm I think your more of a Chandler" she said, Peter laughed still holding onto her tight, The lingered in their embrace for a moment before Carla said a "Thank you" into his shoulder

"What for?" he said She looked at him

"For the stuff you said about Rob, I know you weren't exactly his biggest fan" They finally let go of each other, both unaware that the entire factory's staff and Simon had been watching their little embrace through the unclosed blinds.

"You're welcome" Peter said and they endured a slight awkward silence before he said "Well I guess I'll see you around then" Carla nodded at him

"Yes and if not I'll see you on Saturday right?" He nodded back and smiled

"I wouldn't miss it" and with that he left her office and found Simon still helping Kirk with packing some boxes.

"Right Simon, You ready to go?" He asked, Simon nodded and said goodbye to everyone, he then heard Carla call him back to her office. He ran over to her leaving Peter at the door.

"Your Dad forgot this" Carla said handing him his homework, He smirked at her because he could see that she was in a much better mood then she was when he had left the office.

"Thanks" he said Carla looked at Peter and then back down at Simon who was still smirking, she shook her head at him knowing that he must have seen their embrace in the office.

"Bye Simon" she said going into her office with a grin.

"Bye Carla" Simon called cheerily after her.

Once they were out of the factory and walking down the steps, Peter turned to his son

"So how come you didn't tell me that you and Carla were such good mates then?" he said carefully trying not to sound like he was jealous.

"Because I knew you were missing her lots and I didn't want to rub it in, you would look so sad when you would ask about Carla and I thought telling you that were hanging out would make it worse." Simon said honestly, Peter nodded at him

"Fair enough." He said because he could see the logic in Simon's answer.

"So are you gonna come bowling then Dad?" Simon asked hopefully

"Yes if it's okay with your Mum I will and you won't have to worry about me and Carla bickering as we've decided to be friends" Peter said Simon smirked again, At first he thought that his Dad coming back would be really difficult for Carla to deal with but after spending so much time with her, he hadn't been worried about them arguing at all, especially since seeing their hug in the her office.

"Friends" Simon said, Peter nodded at him

"Yes Si, friends like Ross and Rachel" he said smiling although he knew Simon didn't watch friends or have clue who they were as it was way before his time.

"Who's Ross and Rachel?" Simon asked frowning, Peter just chuckled and said

"Never mind lets go and get something to eat, What do you fancy?"


	6. Questions & Confessions

It was amazing how quickly Peter had adjusted to being back onto the street. At first he wasn't quite sure how people would react to him being back and when Ken and Tracy suggested going to the pub on Tuesday night, he was feeling rather apprehensive about it.

After Deidre's funeral everyone could see how much Ken needed his son around, they immediately saw how much happier he seemed and almost everyone seemed to be supportive of the fact that Peter was back. The only person who still seemed to have a real issue was Steph, she glared at Peter from across the pub but she didn't say anything to him as even she could see that he was here for his family and didn't want any trouble.

Carla had walked into the pub that night with Roy by her side, She had forced him to come out for a drink with her as they needed a catch up and when she sat down at table with him, it was almost as if everyone was looking between her and Peter expecting something to kick off. They both acknowledged each other with a few smiles and got on with their evening. Peter was desperate to go over and say hi but he didn't want to interrupt Carla and Roy's drink so he left them to it. He was unaware that across the room Carla felt the exact same way about interrupting his drink with his family.

Peter spent his daytimes with his Dad, both of them talked about how everything had been since being apart from each other. When Peter had come back for the funeral he had barley spoke about his life in Portsmouth, all he had cared about was being there for his Dad, so it was good for him to finally have a chance to explain what he'd been up to down south. He told Ken about his new Doctor and how helpful he had been, giving Peter new ways to help deal with his alcohol issues and talking him through any other problems that he had. Peter also told Ken about how he had been doing a lot of exercise and how it honestly made him feel better when he was having a rough day. Ken was so pleased to hear how well his son was doing and hated that eventually he would probably return to Portsmouth. Peter assured him not to worry about that and for now he would stay and spend some well earned time with his family. Ken then spoke about how he had been getting on with out Deirdre and whilst he kept a brave face on, Peter could tell that his Dad was broken apart and that he would probably never be the same again.

The evenings were mostly spent with Simon. They also spent their time catching up on everything that each other had missed as well. Simon talked about how it felt loosing his Grandma and how he was so disappointed when his Dad had left so quickly, he spoke about how he was finding his new school and he even ended up telling Peter about the boy he had hit. Peter took the high road on this subject and expressively forbid Simon to do such a thing again but he had to admit he was secretly proud that Simon had begun to stick up for himself.

There was one thing, one person, that they hadn't got round to talking about yet and whilst Peter was desperate to bring her up he decided to wait for Simon to do it first. He didn't want to seem too intrusive and like he was sticking his nose in where it didn't belong but he was desperate to find out more about how Simon and Carla started to become friends.

It was on Friday night, when they were sat in the back room, on the sofa watching something on the television when Simon received a text message from his Mum that said

"**Hi Si, Just spoke to Carla bout 2morrow, She wants to know what time to get to the bowling alley xx" **

"Mum said what time should we tell Carla to meet us at the bowling alley?" Simon said to his Dad. They had decided to make a whole day out of it and go to the cinema first, to watch this new movie that Simon was desperate to see. They would then go and get something to eat before bowling, which is where Carla would meet them.

"I don't know, how about half eight?" Peter suggested as he assumed that they would be finished with their movie and meal by then. As Simon texted his Mum back and told her the time. Peter decided that there was probably no time like the present, he cleared his throat and casually asked

"So… how did you and Carla get to be such good friends then?" Simon put his phone down next to him on the sofa.

"She came over to Mum's to babysit one night and I dunno we just got talking" Simon said as Peter watched him "She's alright y'know" Simon said gently, almost as if he was trying to downplay his relationship with Carla.

"Oh I think you think she's more than alright Si" Peter said smirking at his son because he could tell by the look on Simon's face when he spoke about Carla, that he obviously adored her.

"Okay… so she's really cool." Simon admitted sheepishly, Peter nodded at him "She's been through a lot Dad" Simon paused a little and looked down at his lap

"I know she has son… mostly thanks to me." Peter said sighing, there was a moment of silence before Simon spoke up again

"She told me." he said quietly,

"Told you what?" Peter said watching him closely

"She told me all about when she was little, her Mum and stuff and..." Simon paused and bit his lip "About your baby" Simon looked back up at Peter.

"What?" Peter asked a little shocked, he hadn't realised that Simon and Carla had got that close, he thought that they maybe enjoyed each other's company but it looked as if like it was a lot more than that.

"It wasn't her fault Dad, I practically forced it out of her" Simon quickly said because he thought that Peter might have been annoyed about Carla telling him about the baby. Peter shook his head at Simon

"Si it's not that it's just... I can't believe Carla told you." Peter said softly reassuring Simon that he wasn't cross "She's not the kinda person who just goes around telling anyone that sort of stuff that's all." Peter said realising how much Carla must have trusted Simon not just to tell him about the baby but also about her childhood too.

"I know" Simon said

"How long ave you known?" Peter asked wondering why Simon hadn't of mentioned it to him sooner.

"Since last Friday. When you phoned me? I was round Carla's and we watched the movie and had some food and anyway I started talking to her about how I wanted a baby sister and she just started crying" Simon said still feeling guilty about making Carla cry, he looked at Peter who's eyes were glassy, as if he was about to start crying too. "Dad...I've made you upset now aven't I?" Simon said dismally

"No Simon you haven't" Peter assured as he put his arm around Simon and pulled him close. "I hadn't realised just how close you and Carla had got that's all, it really warms my heart to hear that you two ave bonded so well. It's just a shame it wasn't like that before Eh" Peter said sniffing and giving Simon half a smile.

"I was just a kid back then." Simon said smirking at his Dad smugly trying to defuse the situation before either of them got too upset.

"Oh yeah, so what are you now then?" Peter asked amused

"Well I am turning twelve on Monday so I'd say... Young adult" Simon said Peter laughed at him and let go of him as Tracy came into the back room clutching a pink spotty bag, which she kept all her nail polishes in. She looked at her brother and nephew and raised an eyebrow at them both

"Uh oh, what have I interrupted then?" She asked sitting down on the armchair that was across from them.

"Nothing" Simon said smiling, Tracy looked at Peter who still looked a little distressed.

"Peter?" Tracy asked but he just smiled back at her

"We were just talking about tomorrow night, Si's really looking forward to it." Peter said trying to change the subject, Tracy knew enough about Peter to know that, he was lying but she decided to pretend other wise.

"Oh yeah about that, I'm afraid Amy's got a mate's party tomorrow afternoon, so is it okay if we meet you lot at the bowling alley?" Tracy asked getting out a nail file and beginning to work on one of her long nails.

"That's fine" Simon said nodding enthusiastically because the less time he had to spend with Amy the better "That's what Carla's doing anyway." He said, Tracy stopped filing her nail and looked at Peter

"Carla's coming?" She said with her eyebrow expertly raised again

"Yeah… why is that a problem?" Peter asked a little defensively, he knew that his sister and Carla had had their differences in the past and that it might not be such a good idea to get them together in confined space with lots of heavy objects. He was still oblivious to the fact that Tracy and Carla were almost on good terms at the moment.

"Not for me it's not" Tracy said grinning at Peter's reaction "I don't actually know why I'm surprised after all, her and Simon are practically besties now."

"I know, Carla was actually invited before I was" Peter said looking at Simon in a jokey fashion

"Hey, I didn't know you would be back for it did I?" Simon said giving his Dad a poke "Anyways me Dad and Carla are going to be friends" he said looking at Tracy before picking up his phone again.

"Friends?" Tracy smirked

"Yes friends" Peter said knowing how ridiculous it probably sounded to someone like Tracy.

"If you say so" Tracy said and she went back to filing her nails.

* * *

It was around half seven the next night when Carla's buzzer went off. She knew exactly who it was and ran over to her door.

"Come in Chelle" Carla said excitedly into the intercom and opening her door, she was in the middle of doing her make up when her best friend had knocked on the door. She was so excited to see Michelle, as the surprise Steve had planned was actually five days in Ireland. They had left on the Sunday morning and whilst they had been gone Carla had spent the week deciding whether to tell her about her visit to the prison or not, In the end she decided against it because Michelle was on a surprised holiday and she didn't want her to spend her time worrying.

A very tired looking Michelle came through the front door sighing heavily,

"Hiya!" Carla cried but when she looked at her best friend properly she bit her lip "Uh oh" she said putting her arms around Michelle and hugging her tight

"Hi babe" Michelle said hugging her back.

"What's wrong? Did ya not have a good time?" Carla asked as they walked over to the sofa where she had her make up bag and her mirror waiting for her to continue.

"No it were great, it was so nice to see everyone and introduce em all to Steve" She said throwing herself down on the sofa "Everyone asked about you even me Mum" Michelle said kicking off her shoes.

"So who's managed to rattle ya cage in the small space of time since ya been back then?" She asked opening her power compact and inspecting her make up

"Oh it's just one of me clients, She just driving me up the wall that's all. I literally stepped off of the plane and she'd called me three times. One minute she wants a harpist the next she wants a whole orchestra I mean she's worse than Tracy was" She had began telling Carla all about it but she stopped talking when she saw what Carla was wearing, She was still bare foot but she had on a tight pair of dark blue jeans with rips at the knees, On top she was wearing a black fitted jumper with tiny little silver sparkles which shone when ever they caught the light, Michelle looked her friend up and down suspiciously

"What?" Carla said feeling slightly paranoid

"Nice jumper" Michelle said sure that she had never seen it before, Whilst the outfit Carla had on was rather casual for her usual style, Michelle knew that all together probably still cost her a bit of money. Carla was now fiddling about in her makeup bag, she pulled out a lip-gloss and looked at it as Michelle asked "Where's it from?" Carla looked down at her jumper before saying

"Topshop" she then applied lip-gloss to her lips, Michelle watched her

"What about your jeans?" She asked admiring them as well, She was sure it was a completely new outfit

"Zara, I went shopping yesterday and bought em" Carla said checking her reflection in a mirror before closing her lip-gloss, There was a small silence between them as Carla looked in the mirror again, Michelle knew that it definitely looked as if Carla was getting ready for something.

"You going out?" Michelle asked, Carla nodded

"Uh huh" she said putting all her make up into her make up bag, Michelle sat up straight and looked at her best friend.

"Where?" She asked intrigued Carla hesitated for a moment

"Out"

"Out where?" Michelle asked again

"Okay, if you must know I'm going bowling" Carla said rolling her eyes because she knew Michelle wouldn't let up

"Bowling?" Michelle raised her eyebrows as Carla was not someone who you would usually find down the local bowling alley.

"Yeah bowling, ya know where ya chuck a really heavy ball at a bunch of pins in the hope of knocking em all down." Carla said sarcastically because Michelle had acted like she didn't have a clue what bowling was.

"I know what bowling is you idiot." Michelle said nudging Carla in the ribs

"Ow" Carla cried rubbing the space where Michelle had nudged her.

"I'm just surprised that's all, I mean you bowling? Who you going with?" Michelle asked now more than intrigued than ever before, Carla rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.

"It's for Simon's birthday" she said, Michelle raised her eyebrows again

"Is it now?" Michelle began, Carla nodded knowing what would be coming next.

"Yes Peter will be there" she began "and No it's not like it's a date or anything" Carla said because she could tell by the smug look on Michelle's face that she was thinking it was going to be some sort of romantic date.

"Hmmm let me see. You ... and Peter going out ... at night time... together? That sounds like a date to me" Michelle said grinning, much to Carla's annoyance. She shook her head at Michelle

"It's not a date. Leanne and Kal will be there and Amy's coming too… didn't she mention it to you and Steve?"

"Well I haven't seen her yet, She's gone to a friends party this afternoon." Michelle paused for a moment and thought about Carla and Peter out at this bowling alley, along with two kids and a couple, She grinned at Carla "Oh this is so a date" She said making Carla sigh and shake her head in disagreement

"Chelle, Si asked me to come before Peter was even coming." Carla said, "Let's not forget he wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow… It's really not a big deal alright" she added before getting up and looking down at her outfit, She had spent ages deciding what to wear and now she wasn't sure if the jumper and jeans combination was the right fit.

"Do I look okay?" Carla looked up at Michelle with her green eyes wide, hoping for some assurance. Michelle smirked back at her

"If it's not a big deal why are you so bothered about what you look like?" She asked smugly

"Well I dunno… I aven't been bowling in forever I don't know what people wear." Carla said pained

"You look gorgeous babe... I'm sure Peter will love it" Michelle simply had to throw that bit in the end about Peter, Carla shot her a look that could kill "I'm kidding" Michelle chuckled before putting her shoes back on as Carla ventured into her bedroom. "Well I was gonna mooch around ere tonight so that we could catch up but as you have more important plans, I guess I'll head back home." Michelle called, She pretended to look sad as Carla came back with a pair of heeled boots and a hair brush

"It's not more important, I just I promised Simon I'd go that's all" Carla said "He's a good kid, he deserves to have a really good time" She said putting on some socks.

"Carla I'm joking" she said "I want you to go. I'll be looking forward to hearing how this whole bowling thing goes tomorrow."

"Well I'm glad my life is so entertaining for ya Michelle" Carla said brushing through her recently straightened locks.

"So is Peter coming to meet you here or?" Michelle asked

"No they've all gone to watch a movie beforehand so I'm just meeting everyone there" Michelle nodded and suddenly remembered something, She looked at Carla, now highly amused "What now?" Carla asked because knew Michelle was finding something very entertaining.

"How could I forget?" Carla stared at her best friend

"Forget what?" She asked, Michelle raised her eyebrows again

"So when me and Steve got back earlier, Some of your factory lot were in the pub and I happened to overhear em talking about you and Peter cuddling in the office on Monday"

"Oh for gods sake, It wasn't a cuddle it was a hug" Carla tutted she thought that she had gotten away with it and that it was only Simon who had noticed them.

"What's the difference Carla?" Michelle laughed

"Well ya know... a cuddle implies a long period of time, it were literally a ten second hug, twenty at most" she said putting her hair brush down on the table irritatedly "Wait until Monday, I'm gonna give em all a right earful, they should ave been concentrating on that order we've got, not me and Peter, No wonder they are so behind at the moment."

"Well what I wanna know is, what did Peter do that constitutes a hug from you then eh?" Michelle asked ignoring Carla's attempt to get past the part of the conversation which had her and Peter hugging. Carla looked down at her feet, not wanting to talk about trying to see Rob with Michelle, not tonight anyway.

"I just… had a slight moment of weakness and he said some things that made me feel better that's all" Carla sighed knowing full well that that wouldn't be a sufficient enough answer for her best friend.

"Why? What were wrong?" Michelle asked Carla who didn't answer her. She was still looking down at her boots. After a moment of silence Michelle said "Alright I can see you don't want to talk about it." She was majorly disappointed that Carla felt like she couldn't talk her about whatever had made her feel so evidently down.

"It's not that I don't want to talk to you about it Chelle" Carla started, She had sensed Michelle was feeling a little upset and looked up at her "He just got me at a bad time" her voice then cracked making Michelle reach over and put her arms around Carla.

"Car I'm sorry I didn't mean to push ya, you know what I'm like, I'm too nosy for me own good sometimes" Michelle said sympathetically

"You got that right" Carla grinned as they broke apart, she swallowed and began to look serious again. "I didn't tell you this before because I knew how you would ave reacted but on Monday I went to the prison... To see Rob"

"What?" Michelle said stunned, She hesitated before asking, "How is he?" Michelle had always had a soft spot for Rob and after everything even she couldn't help but think about him in prison and how he was getting on. Carla sighed and shook her head at Michelle slowly.

"Oh I didn't see him in the end" Carla admitted leaving Michelle looking puzzled

"What?" Michelle asked, "Did ya change your mind or something?" Carla shook her head again and continued

"He left me waiting there, he had no intention of seeing me. He got some mate of his to pass on a message. I guess it were his version of revenge." She said miserably

"Oh Carla" Michelle said putting an arm around her again. "That's awful babe." Carla sighed and then said

"I'm not gonna get upset about it again though Chelle, That's what happened on Monday. I were heartbroken and I were in the office helping Simon with something and Peter just burst in, next thing I know, we're alone and I'm telling him everything" She said "I still don't know how he manages to read me like a flamin book"

"He always has done Carla" Michelle said smiling at her

"Yeah well his son has seemed to inherit that little skill as well" Carla said thinking about how Simon had just left them alone together in the office. She smiled at how clever he thought he had been. Michelle let go of her and smiled back at her sympathetically.

"Anyway, Long story short me and Peter had little a chat about things and we've decided to be friends." Carla said

"Friends?" Michelle repeated because in her mind there was no way Peter and Carla would make it very far as just friends.

"Yeah. We were friends before we got together, we can do it again... You know like Ross and Rachel" Carla said and she began putting things into her handbag. She then leant forward and put on her heeled boots

"You do realise that Ross and Rachel got back together in the end though right?" Michelle said smugly and just for a moment she was sure that she saw Carla smile to herself whilst putting on her boots. "It might ave took em six years but they still did it though" Michelle added when Carla sat back up straight, She watched Michelle who still looked as if she didn't think that being friends with Peter was a good idea.

"Trust me Chelle, I've thought this through, it's mainly for Simon's sake and anyways Peter's only staying for a few weeks or so, then he'll be gone."

"Oh you don't need to make excuses for me... So much for not wanting any sort of relationship with him eh?" Michelle smiled remembering what Carla had said in their cab home last weekend.

"Look there is no point in us avoiding each other and acting as if we don't have a past is there?" Carla started "We've both said what we needed to say on everything that happened with Tina before he left the first time around, so there is no reason to drag it all up again is there?"

"I guess you're right, I mean a hell of a lot has happened since then hasn't it." Michelle said thinking about Carla and Simon's new found friendship and Deirdre's unexpected death.

"He's here for his family, not me and that's the way it should be." Carla said but she couldn't help but feel as if she was being way too defensive of the situation and making it out to be a lot more than it was. Michelle nodded at her and said

"Honestly Carla, I'm happy that you and Peter have got to a point where you can be ... friends" Michelle had used air quotes on the word friends. Carla shook her head and rolled her eyes at her friend knowing she was just trying to wind her up some more. "Right well, I better be off then" Michelle said picking up her bag off of the floor.

"Good cause you're really starting to get on me nerves." Carla said truthfully, Michelle laughed as she leant in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"You better get a move on an all, you've got a bowling alley to get to" Michelle said Carla nodded as they both stood up. Her heart had started beating faster than normal when she glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was pretty much time for her to leave. She gulped and then looked at Michelle anxiously

"Okay why am I so nervous?" She asked, Michelle shrugged with a wicked smile on her face as she walked over to Carla's front door.

"Oh I don't know..." She said opening it "I mean it's not like it's a date or anything" Michelle chuckled and then she walked out of Carla's flat.


	7. Video Games & Bowling

Simon, Peter, Leanne and Kal were all stood inside the bowling alley waiting for Carla to arrive. They had chosen to wait opposite the entrance so they would easily be seen, where various people were sat on sofa's changing in and out of their bowling shoes.

"You don't mind too much do you Si?" Leanne said to her son, she had begun feeling a little dodgy in the cinema as they watched the movie but she was now feeling terrible. She felt like she could barley stand let alone bowl. Simon shook his head at her sympathetically

"You're not well Mum, it's fine" he said honestly, Peter nodded along with him

"We'll have a great time with Amy and Carla, won't we?" He said, Leanne nodded at him with an eyebrow raised

"Yeah I bet you will" she said, thinking Peter was secretly glad to be spending some time with Carla and even though Amy was due to arrive soon, they would practically be alone together as the only adults there.

"Right make sure you have a good time won't you, I'll take your Mum home and look after her" Kal said patting Simon on the back, he nodded and hugged Leanne tight

"I hope you feel better soon" Simon said as Kal and Peter nodded goodbye at each other.

"Take care Lea" Peter said concerned, Leanne smiled weakly at him and Simon, and then her and Kal began to leave the bowling alley.

Simon sat down in the sofa behind him, Peter glanced at his phone to see the time, it was half past eight, the exact time that Carla was supposed to be meeting them, he almost began to wonder if maybe she had second thoughts about coming. Simon watched his Dad and nudged him in the side

"She'll be here Dad" he said knowing exactly who Peter was watching his clock for, Peter shrugged

"Not sure what you mean son, I'm just looking at the time that's all" He said,

"Sure you are." Simon smirked "Trust me, I know Carla and she'll be here any minute" Peter chuckled at him

"Oh you know her do ya?" Simon nodded and grinned at Peter "How could I forget, you two are practically best mates" Peter said a little dryly

"You know, you sound jealous Dad" Simon said as he saw Carla make her entrance to the bowling alley, She was smiling albeit a little nervously as she made her way over to them both.

"Hiya" she said brightly although she couldn't seem to shake the crazy butterflies that she had in her stomach, she couldn't understand why she was so nervous when she'd been out with Simon and Peter a thousand times before.

"Hi Carla" Simon beamed, like he was genuinely happy to see her, he jumped up and hugged her tight, Peter got up too and then looked Carla up and down, twice before saying

"Hey" he grinned at her

"What?" Carla said suspiciously wondering what was going through his head

"Nothing" he said choosing not to tell her that he loved the outfit she had chosen, especially the jeans. Carla shook her head at him a little and then turned to Simon

"Listen Si, I'm sorry but I forgot your card and present, I'll pop it round your place on Monday okay" She explained to Simon, wishing she hadn't been so forgetful, he just continued to smile at her and nodded

"That's cool. I don't have any where to put it anyways." he said, Carla grinned back at him and then she realised that it was just the three of them that was stood there.

"So where's everybody else?" She asked now frowning, Simon explained that Leanne had fallen ill and had literally just left the alley with Kal.

"Oh okay" Carla said feeling even more nervous now she practically had Peter all to her self. "That's a shame" she said as Peter's phone began ringing, Simon shook his head

"Nah it's alright, we're still gonna have a great time. Me mums rubbish at bowling, she always just gives up by the end" he said, Carla smiled as Peter answered his mobile

"Yeah I'm not sure that I'm much better me self Si?" She admitted, She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone bowling but she knew that she had come last place.

"Me Dad's well good, he can teach you some moves" Simon said as Peter hung up, Carla smirked

"Eh did you hear that Peter, Simon reckons you could teach me a few moves... Bowling wise that is" she said, Peter grinned back at her. He had a thousand different innuendos that he could have replied with but he chose not to say any of them in front of his young son, instead he said

"That was Tracy, She's not bringing Amy because and I quote She's got a terrible migraine from this party Amy was at this afternoon and if she moves her head might just explode" Simon sniggered whilst Carla tutted

"Well that's all a bit last minute isn't it? I could have brought Amy if Tracy had of asked?" She said, she rubbed Simons arm apologetically "This is not going well is it mate?"

"It's perfect, Amy's such a pain I only invited her to be polite" Simon said thankfully, Peter and Carla both laughed

"Fair enough" Peter said "It's just a good thing we didn't book it online like we were gonna" he added glad he didn't have to pay for three people who weren't even there.

"Come on then let's go and pay" Simon said eagerly as they made their way over to the tills. As it was a Saturday night the man behind the counter said that they would probably have to wait a while for their lane. Peter nodded and paid anyway whilst Carla and Simon chatted about something behind him.

"Right our lane isn't ready until nine pm so how about we amuse our selves in the arcade until then?" Peter suggested knowing that Simon would jump at the chance to play some video games, Carla nodded along

"Sounds like a plan" she said and they made their way in to arcade part of the bowling alley. The arcade was dimly lit but the lights from all of the video games that surrounded them made it very easy to see. The carpet beneath them was black and had neon planets and stars on it and they glowed in the dark brightly. Simon looked at all the different video games in awe, he didn't know where to start but he held his hand out in front of Peter and smiled

"Money please" he said sweetly Peter tutted and smiled

"Anyone would think it was your birthday" he joked handing Simon a ten pound note, Simon took it appreciatively and ran over to the change machine, Carla and Peter followed him and as the pound coins dropped into the space for change Carla caught Peter's eye and smiled sheepishly at him.

"Do you need some change Madame ?" He said putting some money into the machine after Simon, Carla shook her head at him

"Nah I'm good thanks" she said with her head on one side, Peter frowned and went to hand her five pound coins anyway.

"Oh go on" Peter insisted Carla smiled and eventually gave in, Peter held on to the coins tightly as Carla tried to take them off of him so they ended up having a mini tug of war for the money.

"Alright" she giggled "Hand em over" he let go of the coins grinning from ear to ear, Simon was oblivious to the obvious attraction between his Dad and Carla, he was too busy gazing around the arcade, he pointed to the left of them suddenly

"Mario Kart" he said eying up the two red racing car seats near to them "I'll race ya Dad"

Peter and Simon had a two races against each other which Simon won both, He then convinced Carla to race Peter and she won the race, much to everyone's surprise as she'd never played a game of Mario Kart in her life.

"I let you win" Peter lied as they both got up from the seats, Carla shook her head at him, the nervousness that had consumed her when she had first arrived at the alley, had gone.

"Oh as if" she said giving him a playful shove,

"That was shocking Dad" Simon exclaimed amazed that Carla had managed to beat his Dad, he pointed down at Carla's feet "And she was driving in heels!" Carla nodded smugly at Peter who put his hands over his ears childishly.

"Whatever" he said grinning as Carla rested her elbow on Simon's shoulder absent-mindedly "So what's next then?" Peter asked but Simon was already looking over at an air hockey game, he went over to it, bent down to see how much it cost to play and said

"You ave to pay for this one Dad, Seeing as you lost Mario Kart an all"

"Well since I gave you both the money that your holding in your hands, aren't I paying anyway?" he said putting two pound coins into the game, Carla and Simon looked at each other simultaneously and then shrugged.

Carla and Simon played the first game of air hockey which Carla won by two points, She cheered and applauded herself loudly but her celebration was short lived as Peter beat her on the next turn by four points.

"Oh I let you win" Carla smirked, Peter nodded at her sarcastically

"Very funny" he said as they began to wonder around the arcade again. Simon stopped at a dance revolution game, where two people were trying foolishly to copy the dance moves that were shown on screen, He smirked at Peter and Carla

"How about this?" He said to them. Peter looked at Carla and then they both shook their heads at Simon and said

"No!" Simon knew they wouldn't be convinced other wise and he wasn't too sure he wanted to see his Dad's embarrassing dance moves anyway so they explored some more of the arcade. They were doing so in silence until Carla suddenly pointed and shouted excitedly

"Ahhh I want a minion!" she was pointing at a claw machine with some yellow and purple characters from the movie Despicable Me inside it, Simon ran over to it and Carla followed him almost running herself.

"Really" Peter said almost forgetting that Carla had a secret weakness for kids movies, She nodded as Simon put some of his change into the machine, She watched him as he went for a purple one.

"No Si, Get a yellow one" Carla said watching what he was doing closely, Peter watched as Simon pressed the buttons to move the claw.

"I wouldn't spend too much money on that Si, These things are almost always fixed and the odds of actually getting something from it are slim" Peter said as Simon almost picked a toy up but he just missed it, Carla nudged Peter with her elbow

"This coming from a bloke who owned a bookies" She said, Simon ignored them both, he was in pure concentration mode as he took his second turn on the claw machine.

"Exactly, I should know what I'm talking about then shouldn't I" he said smugly Carla shook her head at him

"That's not true, I've seen loads of people walking around with a toy from one of these things" She said they were now looking at each other rather then at Simon who had successfully picked up a purple minion he took a deep breath as it made it's way towards the exit and cheered loudly when it dropped into the box.

"Yes!" He cried bending down and picking it up, Carla broke eye contact with Peter upon hearing Simon's cheer. She gave Simon a congratulatory pat on the back.

"Nice one Simon! Oh I want one too" Carla said wistfully and then she gazed at Peter irresistibly "Win one for me." she said fluttering her eyelashes at him alluringly, Simon nodded at him

"Go on Dad. I've still got one turn left" He said spurring his Dad on

"Why don't you ask him he seems like the expert" Peter said pointing at Simon who shoved him in front of the buttons.

"Cause I want you to win it" Carla grinned and poked him in the arm as she spoke. Peter found pleasure from the neediness in her voice, so he scanned the toys inside the machine, seeing which one would be the best one to go for, Carla spotted what he was doing

"I want Dave" she said Peter turned his head and looked at her blankly

"Dave?"

"Yeah Dave's the yellow one with two eyes instead of one" she pointed at the toy she wanted which was towards the back of the machine, Simon chuckled at her, even he didn't know the names of the almost identical characters.

"Sorry how old are you again?" Peter teased Carla poked her tongue out at him and then he begun to take Simon's last turn on the machine.

"No pressure Dad" Simon said as the claw moved over to the toy that Carla desired, he managed to pick it up but dropped it almost instantly, They all sighed

"Ahh nice try mate" Carla said disappointedly, Peter went into his pocket and handed Simon some more money.

"You better go and get some more change Si" he said not being able to stand the actual look of disappointment on Carla's face,

"Peter don't waste your money" She laughed as Simon went off to the change machine that was in the corner.

"You wanted one so I'll win you one" he said insistently, Carla smiled at him and nodded her head, he smiled back at her and they shared a moment of enchanting eye contact. Carla looked away first with a silly grin, Peter saw a young girl approach Simon out of the corner of his eye and looked over at him properly.

"Eh who's that Si is talking to?" He asked Carla turned her head to look at Simon and the girl. She looked as if she was around his age and had long dark brown hair with bright green eyes. Her skin was olive toned and she was wearing jeans and a black top. She was beaming away at Simon as they spoke.

"I don't know never see her before" Carla shrugged, watching the pair.

Simon had explained to the girl, who was friend from school called Santana that he'd come bowling for his birthday. He'd pointed his Dad and Carla out to her. The both of them were really bad at pretending like they hadn't been watching, they looked away suddenly in another direction trying desperately not to laugh. When they dared to look back, Santana waved in their direction and they waved back at her with huge grins on their faces, obviously taking huge pleasure in Simon's embarrassment.

"Carla's well pretty" Santana said smiling she had heard lots about Peter and Carla and it was nice for her to finally put faces to the names.

"Yeah she is" Simon said still amazed that his Dad cheated on someone like Carla. Santana watched Peter and Carla who had eventually stopped grinning and were now talking up close about something.

"I thought you said your Dad and Carla weren't together anymore?" Santana said looking back at Simon, He nodded with his eyebrow raised

"Yeah they're not" he said smirking as it was obvious to him, even at the age of twelve that his Dad was desperate to get back with Carla and vice versa by the looks of things, They'd been at the bowling alley for less than an hour and they were already acting like they were best mates again. Santana nodded at him understandingly

"I see" she said as her mother appeared behind her

"You ready Santana?" she asked and then she noticed Simon, She smiled at him warmly

"Mum this is Simon he's a friend from school" Santana said a little anxiously

"Nice to meet you Simon" Her Mum said smiling he nodded at her and smiled back at her.

"You too" he said.

"Well I guess I'll see you at school Si" Santana said and she hugged him tight and making him blush "Happy Birthday" she said before going off with her Mum.

Simon smiled to himself as he got the change they needed to play some more games and when he returned to his Dad and Carla they were both grinning like Cheshire cats.

"Who's that then?" Carla said nudging Simon

"That's just Santana from school" he said looking down trying to act casual.

"Just? She hugged you goodbye" Peter ruffled the curly hair on Simon's head and he tutted

"She's my friend Dad" he handed the change over to Peter but he was blushing again, Carla could tell how embarrassed Simon was now and tried not to laugh.

"Well what ever she is she's a right little stunner ain't she?" She said but she couldn't help but smile at how cute Simon looked standing there in front of them.

"Well at least I passed my good taste in women on to you eh Si" Peter laughed eyeing up Carla as he spoke. She raised an eyebrow at him although she had to admit Santana had reminded her of a younger version of herself. She decided to change to subject for Simon's sake.

"You gonna win me this minion then or what?" She asked, Peter nodded and put some more money into the machine. Six more turns and three pound coins later he had managed to win the character that Carla wanted. She jumped up and down excitedly

"Yay" she said clapping her hands and then she reached over and tried to take the toy off of Peter, he snatched it away from her grinning

"Thank You Peter" he said doing his best Carla impression, She cracked up and then smiled sweetly

"Thank You Peter" she said still reaching out for her new toy, yet he still wouldn't give it to her

"Now I think I deserve a lot more than that" he moved closer to Carla grinning, Simon scrunched up his face

"Don't be disgusting Dad" he said, Carla chuckled at Simon's reaction

"Yeah don't be disgusting Peter" she said mocking Simon, She then looked down at her watch "Eh it's past nine o clock we better get to our lane" Simon's eyes went wide at the thought of missing the bowling. Peter handed Carla the yellow toy

"Thanks" she cuddled it tight smiling from ear to ear

"I forgot how much of a big kid you can be" Peter said watching her fondly, She looked back at him cutely as they got back to the tills to exchange their shoes for bowling shoes. Carla looked over at all the shoes that were in little cubby holes and then frowned

"Uh I forgot about this part" She groaned, Simon and Peter both laughed as she grimaced when handing in one of her black suede boots

"Look after it please" she begged watching the man put her shoe in a cubby and pull out a pair of red and white bowling shoes, Peter laughed again and looked closely at Carla's other shoe which she had taken off

"Yeah, actually make sure you do those things cost me a fortune" he said remembering buying the shoes for Carla as a present, She was surprised that he'd remembered as he always insisted that all her shoes looked the same. "You're surprised I remember aren't you" Peter said to Carla as Simon took his shoes and went to sit down so he could put them on, She nodded at him

"Kinda"

"How could I forget? I got you them as a present back when we first got together and you were more than appreciative" he smirked thinking about the present she had given him that night.

"Ahhh now it makes sense, trust you to remember it like that" she said shaking her head as they made their way to the chairs were Simon was sitting

"You sure you're going to able to walk in these flat shoes?" Peter asked as Carla inspected the bowling shoes she'd been given.

"What do you mean? I ave flat shoes at home" Carla protested, Simon nodded

"Yeah she's got trainers that she wears to the gym"

"Gym trainers don't count"

"Actually for your information Peter I have a pair of converse" She said smugly, Then she turned her nose up as began putting on her shoes.

"And how many times have you worn them?" Peter stood up smirking, Carla stood up too

"Twice" she admitted grinning, Peter laughed at her again "Right well while you're making fun of me, I'm gonna go and get the drinks in" Carla said as they started making their way to lane number fifteen.

"No I'll get em" Peter offered but Carla shook her head at him

"No you won't you've paid for everything else, What you avin Simon?"

"Coke please"

Carla nodded at his request and she handed him her spare shoe and her newly named toy and began to walk towards the bar when Peter called after her

"I'll have a coke too" She turned round

"Sorry mate I can't hear ya, I guess walking in these flat shoes is affecting me hearing" She poked her tongue out and turned back around to continue walking to the bar.

Simon watched his Dad watch Carla walk away

"Dad!" He cried as Peter was about to walk straight past the lane they needed and into a man carrying two pints of beer, Peter was shocked by Simon's shriek and managed to dodge the guy just in the nick of time.

"Sorry mate" Peter said apologetically as the guy tutted, Simon shook his head at his Dad who looked at him

"What?"

"Nothing" Simon said with his eyebrows raised and sitting down on one of the chairs. He had been carrying the toy Peter had won for Carla and his own one. He put them underneath the chairs with their spare shoes and his jacket.

"So this girl then" Peter began sitting down next to Simon and making his eyes roll

"Santana" he sighed Peter nodded at him smiling

"Do you like her?" He asked, Simon shrugged wishing he had never ran into her now. The truth was, he did like her. He wasn't sure what his feelings were, all he knew was that she was one of the prettiest girls he'd ever met, she was always pleasant to be around and when she spoke to him he really believed she liked him too.

"She's just my friend Dad" Simon said,

"I know, I know you said and anyways you're only almost twelve, far too young to be tied down to a girlfriend" Simon raised his eyebrows

"How old were you when you had your first girlfriend?" He asked, Peter swallowed and then he started laughing

"I was a little older then you, It wasn't serious or anything, at that age it never is" Simon looked back at the bar where Carla was busy talking to the bartender, He smirked at his Dad and said

"So Carla then" Simon had put on a Peter like voice and turned back to look at his Dad "You still like her don't you?" Peter nodded

"Of course I do. I mean look at her" he started looking over at her, She was laughing at something with a guy who was at the bar "She could have any man she wanted in this place" he said reminding himself that they had decided to be "just friends"

"I think she likes you too" Simon said "You're both flirting like mad" he didn't know much about flirting but he knew that the behaviour he'd seen between Carla and Peter tonight was definitely flirting.

"That's just our banter we've always been like that" Peter said remembering how they used to make jokes and act silly way before they'd even got together.

"Maybe she'd give you another chance one day" Simon looked at his Dad hopefully but Peter shook his head looking down at his bowling shoes

"I don't deserve another chance Si. I had my chance, the best chance a man could get and I blew it. Listen if there is any advice I can give you for the future it's this" he was looking directly at Simon now "When the time comes and you truly find someone who loves you. Hold em tight and make sure you never ever do anything to hurt them" he put his hand on Simon's shoulder. "I'm serious Simon, because losing someone you love is one of the worst pains you could ever feel and it doesn't ever go away… Just remember that okay" Simon nodded at his father knowing for sure that he was referring to Carla.

"Okay" he said as he spotted Carla, happily walking back towards them. When she reached them she spotted Peter's teary eyes and the very serious look on Simon's face and frowned

"Eh What's wrong?" She stared at them both, concerned. Simon smiled at her

"Nothing, Dad's trying to give me advice about girls"

"Uh oh like what?" She asked still watching Peter, he sniffed slightly and looked at Simon

"Like stay away from girls with green eyes and dark hair because judging by this one they are nothing but trouble" he said poking Carla in the side and getting up out of his seat and walking over to the keyboards where they had to put in their names.

"Cheek" Carla said she then looked at Simon and mouthed

"Everything okay" he nodded at her still smiling, She smiled back although she still wasn't convinced.

"Okay who's going first" Peter said "Carla?" He turned and looked at Carla as Simon was checking out the different coloured balls that were on offer in front of them

"What so you both can copy my technique? I don't think so" She said going to stand next to Peter, although it was definitely the other way around and she wanted to copy theirs

"I'll go first" Simon offered "I'm gonna go down there and see if there are any better balls, I don't like any of these ones"

"Okay" Peter said and he typed in Simon's name, it appeared first on the screen

"Okay do you wanna go second then" he asked Carla she shook her head at him grinning

"Oh no no no age before beauty" Peter laughed and he then typed in his name

"Fine I'll go second" he smirked "I just hope that gives me time to get back to my seat before you take your turn" He leant back slightly and checked out the back of Carla's jeans, she hit it playfully on the arm

"You cheeky so and so"

"I'm kidding" he said putting her name into the keyboard last, she shook her head in disbelief

"No ya weren't" she said "Don't worry though I've plenty of time to get comfy before your go" She patted him on the bottom and winked at him just as Simon came back clutching a bright orange bowling ball, He chose not to mention what he'd just seen and instead said

"Are we ready to play now?" Carla and Peter nodded at him both a little embarrassed, Carla glanced on the sofas and all around them

"Wait where's Peter?" She asked Simon and Peter both looked confused, Peter pointed to himself

"I'm here" Carla rolled her eyes and nudged him in the arm

"Not you, I've decided to call the minion Peter seeing as you won it for me an all" she said smugly, Simon grinned and bent down under the chair, he pointed to it, Carla nodded "Right lets get this bowling game under way then" She said as the man that was behind the bar came over with a tray, it had two cokes on it, a lemonade and a huge plate of chips

"Ahhh thank you" she said forgetting she even ordered it, the man put it down on the table next to the chairs. "I know you lot ave eaten but I ordered some chips, Help yourself Si" She said

"Thanks Carla" Simon said taking some of the chips off the plate, Peter walked over to the table and eyed up the plate of chips

"Can we help you?" Carla said grinning Peter took a chip off of the plate

"I won you that little minion thing, can I at least have a few chips"

"I said thank you didn't I" Carla said shaking her head at him, Peter reached for another chip but Carla hit his hand

"Oi" he said, Simon shook his head and decided that he'd better start off the game of bowling.

* * *

It was almost half past eleven and after two games of bowling Carla, Peter and Simon were on their way out of the bowling alley. They had the best time together, eventually Carla let Peter eat some chips and they got on with their bowling. Peter had won both games much to Carla's disgust. She wasn't expecting to win at all but having Peter win both games made him even smugger than he had been before.

Carla was clutching her Minion toy and walking next to Peter as they walked along the pavement towards the car park. Simon was holding the toy he'd won and walking slightly in front of them he turned round to his Dad frowning

"Erm how we getting home Dad?" He asked as Kal had been the one who had driven them all there earlier, Peter shrugged

"Dunno" Peter said rather carelessly, Carla rolled her eyes at him

"It's a good thing I drove here isn't it" She said pointing at her car, Simon's frown turned quickly into a smile

"Yes I love your car, Can I sit in the front?" He asked, Peter raised his eyebrow

"What so I have to sit in the back all on me own?" Carla chuckled

"You can sit next to the minions" She said as they got to her car, she opened the door and got in the drivers seat

Peter got in the back reluctantly as Simon sat in the front seat, smugly turning back to look at his Dad.

"There's only about thirty minutes left of your birthday night out mate, then your going back to doing as you're told"

"Yeah but me actual birthday is Monday so technically I've got a whole day left" Simon said cleverly Carla handed Peter her minion then took the purple one off of Simon and she handed that to him as well

"There ya go, You can have one either side of you if you move to the middle" She said putting on her seatbelt Simon laughed

"You want me to put seat belts on them as well?" Peter asked sarcastically but Carla nodded grinning

"Good idea" She said and then she started the ignition and drove out of the space she had parked in. Peter reached over and put a seatbelt on both toys he had to admit it looked rather funny and he laughed at the sight of them and said

"There ya go safe and sound" Simon turned his head and laughed Carla frowned

"Ahh I can't see" she said keeping her eyes firmly on the road, It was fairly empty out as it had got quite late, It only took Carla ten minutes or so to get back home and it was only when she parked in the car park of her building, that she turned around to look see what Peter had done.

"I gotta get a picture of this." She said turning off the ignition, pulling out her phone and laughing at the sight of Peter in the back seat with the toys. "Say cheese Peter"

"Are you talking to me or the little yellow guy" Peter asked amusingly,

"Obviously you, ya pillock" Carla laughed, Peter smiled a great big cheesy smile and put up both of his thumbs enthusiastically. Carla and Simon both sniggered as she took the picture of the back seat.

"Hilarious" She said smiling at the picture she had taken before opening her car door and getting out.

"Thanks so much for coming Carla" Simon said walking round the front of her car and hugging her tight, Peter watched them as Carla returned the embrace lovingly, he still couldn't believe how well they got on now compared to before.

"You're welcome Simon, It was my pleasure believe me" Carla said "I'll come and see ya on ya birthday and drop your pressie round okay." She said as Simon let go of her. He looked at his Dad and then at Carla, he smiled to himself and then said

"Hey I need a wee if you watch me from the corner can I run on back to Granddad's?" He didn't actually need the toilet but he guessed his Dad wanted some alone time with Carla.

"Okay…" Peter said sussing out Simon's plan straight away and handing him the keys from his pocket They watched Simon run on to number one where he let him self in. Carla smiled as she caught Peter's eye and all of a sudden the nervousness she felt before going to the bowling alley had crept back.

"So… how have you been? You know since Monday" Peter eventually asked after a few moments of sheepish eye contact with Carla. She nodded with a genuine look of happiness on her face,

"Yeah I'm good. I mean I really listened to what you said and I've been feeling much better about everything." She said Peter nodded

"Good, I'm glad and I'm glad that you and Simon get on so well now. It makes me really happy to know that you're there for each other" He said. Carla was on the verge of saying something but she paused for a moment "What?" Peter said reading her expression.

"I errr don't know if he's mentioned it to ya but I erm… told him about our baby" Carla said quietly, Peter nodded softly at her

"Yeah he told me last night actually" he said "I think were worried he'd really upset you by bringing the subject of siblings up." Carla shook her head

"He's no need to be worried I already explained that to him" She sighed, "He were really sweet about it actually. He's such a good kid"

"He really is, He's such a credit to Leanne" Peter said, Carla frowned at him slightly

"and you as well I mean… I know you've been gone for a while but he's got a lot of your ways too."

"Oh yeah which ones?" Peter asked intrigued, Carla thought for a moment and grinned

"What you mean other than your great taste in women?" she chuckled, Peter looked a little downcast because whilst he had joked about it earlier, he had hoped that he had passed down something more decent to Simon. Carla noted the sad look on his face and said "Seriously though Peter, He can read me like a book, it's like he always seems to know what I'm feeling inside even when I put up a front"

"Really?" Peter asked Carla nodded at him

"Yep… he definitely gets that delightful little skill from you" She said smiling and opening the back door of her car to get out the two toys that had been left on the back seat.

"I'll give it to him." Peter said as Carla handed him Simon's one, She looked down at her one delightedly and then back up at Peter

"I had a really great time tonight Peter" Carla said and before she knew it she'd found her arms had wrapped themselves around Peter's neck. He pulled her in towards him by her waist and held her tight against him.

"Me too" he whispered into her hair. They stood in silence whilst in their embrace for a moment before Carla was the one to pull away first. She smiled at Peter as she did so.

"Bye then" Peter said wishing he could have kissed her goodbye, he was very tempted to but he was scared in case it made her angry and he decided it was better to have Carla in his life as a friend then not at all.

"Bye" Carla said and they both started to walk in the directions of their homes. She stopped and turned back around to see if Peter might have been watching but he was looking straight ahead as he made his way home. She sighed a little and looked down at the toy Peter that she was holding, She was glad that at least she had that to cuddle tonight.


	8. Shepherd's Pie & Selfies

Carla woke up with a huge smile on her face on Sunday morning, last night had gone so perfectly and it had put her in an extremely good mood. She couldn't believe that she had been so nervous before hand and she was glad that her and Peter were able to get on so well. She grinned even more when she'd gone into the living room and saw the toy Peter had won for her the night before. She hadn't actually taken it to bed with her in the end because she felt as if it would probably be a little bit weird. Carla had just made her self a cup of black coffee and toast when Michelle rang her buzzer.

"Hi Chelle" Carla answered knowing it was her straight away. She let Michelle into the building and opened the door for her.

"Hiya so how did bowling go last night then?" Michelle asked when she walked into Carla's flat.

"Don't sit down or anything" Carla laughed surprised at her friends eagerness

"I'm just curious to find out how it all went that's all" Michelle said sitting down on Carla's sofa and kicking off her shoes.

"It went great actually, I mean I lost both games but that's hardly surprising is it?" Carla said munching on toast and sitting down on her sofa.

"Did Simon have a good time?" Michelle asked, Carla nodded with her mouth full "I saw Amy earlier and she said Tracy didn't take her in the end"

"No she didn't something about a migraine, It actually ended up being just me, Peter and Simon because Kal ended up taking Leanne home because she was sick" Carla said, Michelle smirked

"Oh that must have been nice for you" she said in a _how convenient sort of way_

"What are you trying to say eh? That it were all planned or summat?" Carla asked, Michelle laughed and shook her head

"I'm not saying that at all, all I'm saying is that it must have been nice for it to ave been just you three that's all."

"Well it was as a matter of fact, we had a right laugh" Carla smiled contentedly and Michelle watched her for a moment. She could tell her friend was in an extremely good mood and that she had genuinely had had a a good time.

"Look at you, you're grinning like a little teenager who's been on their first date" Michelle said, Carla rolled her eyes at her

"No I'm not" Carla said but she was unable to hide her grin "I just had a great time that's all, it were almost like we were a little family again you know" Michelle was then distracted by the little yellow toy sitting on Carla's coffee table.

"Where did that come from?" she asked pointing at it, Carla reached over for it and held it tight.

"Ahhh this is Peter" She said smiling again "he won it for me in the arcade last night" Michelle scoffed

"He won it for ya? Blimey you two are like a pair teenagers aren't ya" She took the toy off of Carla and laughed at it. Carla picked up her phone and got a picture up on screen.

"Ave a look at this" She showed Michelle the photo she'd taken last night of Peter and the minions in the back seat of her car, Michelle laughed and shook her head at Carla "Honestly Chelle I don't know why I was so nervous, me and Peter are gonna be fine."

"Good" Michelle said to Carla, "and I'm really glad that you lot had such a great time last night, Amy was gutted that she didn't get to go in the end, I think she actually likes Simon a lot more than she lets on."

"Oh I'll tell him that when I see him shall I?" Carla laughed as she glanced over at the present she had wrapped for Simon yesterday "I gotta go over tomorrow and drop his present off as I forgot it last night" She said finishing off her toast

"Oh yeah I bet you did that on purpose just so you could see Peter again" Michelle joked, Carla sighed

"First of all I wouldn't have forgotten it, if _you_ hadn't of got me all riled up and nervous and second of all Peter's not exactly gonna be sat round Leanne's is he?"

"He might be, It's Simon's birthday ya never know" Michelle said smartly Carla thought for a moment

"Well even if he is, I'm only gonna drop of the present and then go, I've got a million things to do this week." she said, she hadn't really thought about when she would see Peter next but it was certainly something she was looking forward to.

"So you all set for L.A next week?" Michelle asked because she knew Carla had a holiday booked in a week's time. Carla nodded at her

"Yep, You sure I can't persuade you to join me?" She asked Michelle shook her head sadly

"No, I couldn't leave Steve for that long" Michelle said in a lovesick sort of way.

"Well you don't have to come for the whole three weeks, you could just come for the first week?" Carla suggested but Michelle shook her head again

"I can't I've got a few parties that still need sorting, maybe next time eh" Michelle said apologetically,

"I dunno, I barley see ya now you've got this fancy new business, It's like you don't ave time for your mates anymore." Carla joked getting up and taking her plate to the kitchen.

"Hey I'm only trying to be as successful as you, Miss business woman of the year" Michelle called after her and she threw the minion toy at her

"Oi" Carla cried picking it up "Don't throw Peter" She said laughing and making her way back to the sofa. "D'ya wanna go out later?" She asked Michelle "You're not working tonight are ya?"

"Nope" Michelle said shaking her head "Where d'ya wanna go?" Carla shrugged and thought for a moment

"Cinema?" Michelle nodded at her enthusiastically and said

"Yeah actually, there's this film I've been dying to see will ya come with me?"

"That depends, what's it about?" Carla asked suspiciously

"Well it's about a serial killer but"

"No" Carla said cutting Michelle off, Carla had detested horror movies since she was a kid, it was one of the few things that she was actually afraid of and She thought Michelle would have remembered that. She'd always put on a brave face whenever she was round the Connors and they would all put on a scary film to watch, She would try pretend that she wasn't petrified but Michelle and her brothers soon caught on. It hadn't got much worse as she got older especially after the horrible things she had been through. The only time she'd ever mildly enjoyed watching a horror film was when Peter had dragged her to see one at the cinema and he'd put a strong arm around her, insisted she was safe and that he would look after her forever.

"Oh come on Carla, I looked it up it's not gory or anything, it's more of a thriller and it's got a really hot guy in it" Michelle said knowing Carla would be more likely to watch it if there at least some eye candy.

"Fine" Carla said giving in because she and Michelle didn't get a lot of time to do stuff together anymore "But you're buying the popcorn and the drinks after"

"Deal… I'll book the tickets now" Michelle said triumphantly and she got her phone out to go onto the cinema's website.

Carla looked down the toy she was still holding and her thoughts were quickly drawn back to Peter. She wondered just how long he would be staying at his Dad's for and suddenly she began to feel anxious that Peter might be going back to Portsmouth whilst she was in Los Angeles. Carla bit her bottom lip, the fact that after only spending one night with Peter and that she was already concerned about missing him, scared her more than anything that she could see in the cinema tonight. Michelle who had booked the tickets had been watching Carla as she was deep in thought asked

"What you thinking about Carla?"

"Nothing" Carla said shaking her head and she got up "Why don't we make a day of it and go shopping first?" She suggested, Michelle nodded at her

"Yeah that sounds good." She said although she wasn't convinced that Carla was thinking about nothing.

* * *

After a amusing day and night out with Michelle, Carla was still in a very good mood on Monday morning, it was a reasonably warm day from the very start, so when she had woken up Carla had got dressed in a black t-shirt dress that stopped above her knees. She had two meetings throughout the day that were both rather successful, if she didn't include Sally poking her nose in every so often that is.

As it came to five o clock and the factory workers were getting their stuff together to go home, Carla was also getting ready, to go and see Simon. She picked up his present and card and locked up her office. Carla was sure he would just be at home with Leanne and decided that she could just drop her gift off to Simon and then go home for an early night as she had more business meetings tomorrow.

When she got to Leanne's there was no answer so she turned back on herself and decided to see if they were at Ken's instead. She knocked on the door to Number One Coronation Street with her free hand, holding the present that she had bought Simon in the other.

When the door opened it was Ken he smiled at Carla welcomingly

"Hello Carla"

"Hiya Ken I was just wondering if Simon were here, only I wanted to give him this"

"Yes he is come in Carla" Carla made her way into the back room to see Peter, Simon, Ken and Tracy sat at the table as if they were waiting to eat. Simon's face lit up when he saw Carla

"Happy Birthday Si" She said handing him the square shaped box and card as Ken sat back down. Peter who had been reading the paper, looked up at the sound of Carla's voice and just winked at her. She grinned back at him without saying anything either.

"Thanks Carla" Simon said, There was a spare seat in between Simon and Tracy, Ken got up and pulled it out

"Here sit here Carla" he said, Carla glanced around the room

"I'm not Interrupting something am I?" She asked,

"Oh no we are just about to have dinner that's all, but you should join us" Tracy said grinning, Carla couldn't work out if Tracy was being serious or not and shook her head.

"Well I just wanted to drop this off for Simon" She said pointing at the present, It was Ken who shook his head this time

"Tracy's right, you should join us, we insist don't we Peter" Ken said, Peter shrugged not looking up from the paper

"I suppose so" He joked as if he didn't want Carla there, She knew he was messing around but Tracy didn't.

"Peter" She exclaimed "Carla's been a real friend to Simon, She should be here for his birthday."

"I'm kidding Tracy calm down" Peter said shocked that Tracy would come to Carla's defence so quickly, He closed his paper and looked at Carla who smirked.

"It's okay, She's not an impostor, Since she saved me life in that bus crash we've sort of called a truce" Carla said to him sitting down next to Simon

"Wait, She saved your life?" Peter said "Blimey I ave missed a lot since I've been gone" Ken got up and went into the kitchen as Simon opened the card that Carla had gave him

"Wow thanks Carla" he said stunned, Peter looked at him and he was holding two twenties and one ten pound note

"Carla you really didn't have to" Peter said to her as Simon reached over and hugged her, She hugged him back lovingly and shook her head at Peter

"Awwww of course I did. Now don't spend it all at once will ya" She said pushing the present towards him excitedly "Open this next" she smiled, Simon ripped the wrapping paper off in one swift motion. Peter and Tracy watched to see what Carla had bought Simon, she had bought him an electronic version of Monopoly.

"This is so cool" Simon said he held it up to show everyone in the room.

"What is it exactly?" Tracy asked

"It's the electronic monopoly" Simon said turning the box over and reading the back of it.

"Me and Si have been playing the original monopoly and I saw this one down the shops and I just had to get it. It's got little credit cards so you don't have to faf around with all that money" Carla said, Simon smirked

"I guess that means you can't cheat anymore then Dad" Everyone at the table started laughing expect for Peter who pretended to look shocked

"Me cheat? What you on about?" He said but he now was grinning in a guilty fashion

"Come on Dad, every time you're the banker you always seem to have unlimited amounts of money" Simon said

"I can't help it if I'm just really good at monopoly can I?" Peter said shrugging, Simon laughed again and just shook his head at his Dad.

"Eh we'll see how good he with this electronic one later on Simon" Carla said, as Ken came out the kitchen to see what was going on, Simon showed him the game and the money that Carla gave him

"Wow Simon, You're a lucky boy, I hope you said a big thank you to Carla" Ken said,

"Oh he did" Peter said remembering his son and Carla's embrace.

"So you are staying for dinner then Carla?" Ken asked and before Carla could reply for herself Peter and Simon did it for her

"Yes" they both said in unison

"I guess I am" Carla nodded, She hadn't planned on hanging around the Barlow's, She thought she'd just be in and then out again but she was flattered that they wanted her included in their family meal. Tracy got up and went into the kitchen to help her Dad serve the food.

"So where's your Mum Simon?" Carla asked wondering why Leanne wasn't at home when she had knocked.

"She's working" Simon said "She felt better yesterday morning though so her and Kal took me down to Blackpool, it were well fun" He said,

"What can I get you to drink Carla?" Ken called from the kitchen,

"Erm…" Carla thought about asking him for some water but decided she didn't want Peter to think she was doing it just because that's what he was sat there drinking, Peter read her mind and said

"She'll have a glass of red Dad" Ken nodded and went to pour Carla's drink, She smiled at Peter and then looked at Simon

"So what else did you get for your birthday then Si?" Carla asked, Simon who had opened the Monopoly box and was fiddling around with the card machine stopped and said

"Well me Dad got me a new bike, it's out back, it's dead good cause I can ride it to school and me Mum got me this" and he proudly pulled out an iPhone from his pocket.

"Wow" Carla said admiring it, She knew Simon had been fed up of his old phone and had desperately wanted an iPhone for ages, Simon handed it to her grinning

"Put your number in then" he said Peter narrowed his eyebrows as Tracy started bringing over hot dishes to the table

"Check him out getting Carla's digits." Peter said, Tracy laughed as she placed a dish on the table, Carla looked at it and guessed it was a Shepherd's pie as Ken put a glass of wine down for her.

"Thanks Ken" she said smiling, typing her number into Simon's phone "I'll put me home number and the factory in there too, just in case" She said

"Cool" Simon said

"What do you need Carla's number for anyway?" Peter asked

"Duhhhh so I can text her of course" Simon said as Carla handed his phone back to him

"Don't worry Si your Dad's just upset because your phone is better than his." She said, Simon and Tracy laughed

"Yep you got me" Peter nodded enjoying how much Carla still fitted in with the family "Eh Si, What do ya get if you cross an iPhone with a fridge?" Peter said grinning, Tracy and Carla both rolled their eyes.

"Uh oh he's making jokes now" Tracy said rolling her eyes with second hand embarrassment, Simon shrugged at his Dad

"I don't know. What do you get?"

"Cool music" Peter said chuckling, Simon and Carla both shook their heads although Carla looked a little amused which made Peter smile even more

"That was not funny Dad" Simon said,

"Oh come on it was a bit funny" Peter said he then looked at his phone on the table, "I do need a new phone though maybe I'll get an iPhone." he said, Carla smirked at him

"Yeah like you'd be able to work it" She joked, Simon laughed again, Peter had to laugh as well as he always hated getting new technology and learning how to work it.

"Very funny" he said to Carla as Simon typed away on his phone

"She's right Peter you are rubbish with anything like that" Tracy said grinning as Peter continued to stare fondly at Carla

"I can't wait to get to school tomorrow and show everyone me new phone" Simon said, Peter's who was still looking at Carla smirked and then looked at Simon

"Eh Si, what was that girls name again?" he said

"Ohhh what girl?" Tracy asked intrigued, Ken looked intrigued also

"Yeah which girl?" Simon asked although he knew exactly who his dad was talking about.

"The one we saw on Saturday night" Peter said, Simon rolled his eyes at his Dad's blatant attempt to embarrass him.

"Santana" he said casually not trying to make it too obvious that he liked her.

"So, who is this Santana then?" Tracy asked

"She's just a mate from school that's all" Simon said casually not letting his Dad wind him up.

"We ran into her at the bowling alley and she even gave our Si a birthday hug" Peter said smiling "So are you gonna get her number then?" Simon shrugged at him

"How do you know I don't already have it?" he said smugly, Tracy and Carla both laughed

"I really hope you haven't inherited your Dad's ways with women Simon" Tracy said sipping her glass of wine

"Now come on Tracy, I think Simon is too young to be worrying about girls, isn't he Peter" Ken said and Peter nodded

"Yes I've already told him that Dad and anyways if our Si says she's just a friend we should believe him... Even if he does blush when ever she's mentioned." he teased nudging Simon, who then got up to put the Card and money from Carla away in his bag. Carla who had been watching Peter reached over and poked him

"Stop that"

"What?' He smirked, as she shook her head at him

"You know what" Carla smiled "teasing Simon about Santana" Simon overheard her and came back over to sit down again.

"It's okay, He's just jealous because I could probably get more girls numbers in one day then he has in his phone all together" He said, the room erupted with laughter as Simon poked his tongue out at his Dad

"Eh I'll have you know I've got plenty of girls numbers thank you Simon" Peter boasted, Carla raised en eyebrow at him

"Yeah but Tracy and Leanne don't actually count as girls numbers Peter" she said smirking,

"Well I've got your number haven't I?" Peter said grinning again, Carla silently laughed as Tracy said

"Yeah I'm not sure that counts either Peter" She laughed as Ken set down a bowl of vegetables onto the table.

"Right Dinner is ready." He said smiling proudly. Peter and Tracy shot each other a look that said _here goes_. Their Dad's cooking could very questionable at times, Carla spotted this exchanged and grinned

"It looks lovely Ken" she said smiling at Ken kindly as she was used to pretending to like what ever she had been cooked at the Barlow's.

Overall dinner had turned out quite well, the potato on the Shepherd's pie had been slightly lumpy but it wasn't too bad and Carla had definitely had worse, so she ate it all politely. The conversation at the table was lively as Simon told everyone about a fight he had witnessed at school and Tracy talked about an argument she's seen at Frescos that afternoon. Every so often Carla and Peter would catch each other's eyes and exchange smiles.

After dinner Peter brought out a chocolate cake with twelve candles on it and they all sang Happy Birthday to Simon. He took one huge breath and before he blew all of the candles. He smirked looking at Peter and then at Carla, he closed his eyes and blew out all his candles in one go. They all cheered and Ken handed out a slice of cake to everyone. When she had eaten the cake which was miles better than the Shepherd's pie, Carla got up from her chair with her plate in hand

"I'll take this into the kitchen" She said but Peter got up instead

"Oh no you won't, you're a guest" he took her plate off of her, She sat back down next to Tracy

"Thanks" She said as Peter took her plate into the kitchen. After a few moments Tracy nudged Carla

"Eh remember the last time you came round for dinner" She said quietly Carla thought for a moment and then realised what Tracy was referring to

"Oh god yeah the trifle" Carla said because the last time she'd been round for dinner Deirdre had got so worked up that she ended up throwing the trifle across the room and at the wall.

"I'm sure there's still Jelly on the wall" Tracy said reminiscing bitter sweetly. "It feels like it were forever ago but it weren't even a year" She said with a tear in her eye. Carla rubbed Tracy's arm sympathetically and gave her a supportive smile. She still couldn't help but feel weird every time her and Tracy had a pleasant exchange. Tracy sniffed tearfully and got up from her chair and said she was going to the toilet but Carla thought she was going to have a little moment to herself. She watched Simon as he was still on his new phone

"So ave you christened your new IPhone then Simon?" Carla asked, Simon looked at her

"What do you mean?"

"Well ave ya taken your first selfie yet?" she asked him, Simon shook his head

"No! Selfies are for girls" he said

"Rubbish" Carla said holding out her hand "give it ere" she said, Simon grinned at her and handed her the phone, She opened the camera app and held it up in front of them

"Come on Dad" Simon said as Peter got back to the table, he leant in for the picture and held two fingers up behind Carla's head. He grinned as She went to press the shutter

"Say Cheese!" she said and then took the photo she handed back the phone to Simon who got the picture up on screen to see it. Carla and Peter both leant in to take a look

"Oh how very mature of you Peter" Carla complained upon seeing the bunny ears he had given her, Simon laughed along with his Dad "That would have been a great photo if you hadn't of done that" Carla said her arm going past Simon, as he opened the camera app and giving Peter a little shove

"Sorry I just couldn't help it" he laughed

"Let's take another one" Simon said holding his phone up this time, Carla leant back in so she was in the frame for the picture, She turned her head and narrowed her eyes at Peter

"Put your hands where I can see em" She joked, Peter put his hands on the table

"Happy now" he said, Carla nodded at him before posing for take two of their photo, As they looked at it they were all silent for a moment. It turned out to be the perfect picture. All three of them were looking directly into the camera and smiling contentedly like they didn't have a care in the world.

"That's a lovely photo, Show it to your Granddad Simon" Peter said, Simon turned his phone around so Ken could see, He smiled at it and then at Peter

"It really is" Ken said,

"Will you send it to us Simon?" Carla asked as Tracy came back to the table her eyes were red but she looked a little happier than she had done when she had left the room.

"Yeah send it to me as well" Peter said watching Simon as he pulled a funny face at the screen as he took another picture and then another.

"And he reckons selfies are for girls" Carla said watching him as as he took continuous pictures of himself, pulling various funny faces.

"You know I really don't get this whole selfie thing" Ken said shaking his head,

"Oh Dad you never get anything about new technology, that's where Peter gets it from" Tracy said, Simon then got up out of his chair

"Can I go for a ride on my bike now?" He asked, Peter nodded and leaned back on his chair.

"Yes but make sure you leave that phone inside" Peter said and Simon frowned at him "Don't pull that face, I've seen how easy those things can smash, what would your Mum say?" Peter said, Simon put his phone on the table reluctantly and went out the back door to where his bike was.

Three quarters of an hour had gone by before Simon had had enough of riding his bike and it was beginning to get dark. He wheeled it back into the back yard and knocked on the door so Tracy and Ken who were in the Kitchen could let him back in. As he went into the back room he saw that his Dad was now sitting next to Carla on the sofa. He grinned, as they looked so cosy sat there chatting away about something. Carla had her legs crossed towards Peter and as she started laughing at something that Peter had said, Simon snuck passed them and picked up his phone.

"That thing's been buzzing over there like mad since you've been outside" Peter said and Carla nodded along with him

"I've missed eleven messages whilst I was out there?" Simon said,

"Eleven messages?" said an astonished Peter "From who?"

"Never you mind" Simon said smirking at the screen, Carla laughed at him whilst Peter shook his head

"I can't believe how cheeky he has become recently" Peter said looking at Carla "It must be all that time he's been spending with you" He said pointing at Carla she grabbed his finger

"What?" She said, He laughed as she kept hold of it "You're joking right? He's always been a cheeky little so and so right from the day I met him, when he were about this high" She let go of him and held her hand about three foot of the ground.

"Yeah He were so cute back then" Peter said as he watched Simon type away on his phone "What happened eh?"

"Awww he's still cute now." Carla said, Peter grinned at her

"He obviously gets it from me" He said, Carla sighed and chuckled to herself.

She was having so much fun that she forgot that she had planned an early night. She had business meetings all week and had to sort out whether she was going to leave Alya or Sally in charge whilst she was in L.A. It was only when she took a glance at the clock on the wall, which read almost nine pm that she realised the time.

"I better get going in a minute, I've got a breakfast meeting tomorrow at Seven thirty god knows why I let Alya book me in at that time." Carla complained, Simon looked at the disappointed look on his Dad's face as Carla got up off of the sofa.

"Thanks for coming Carla" He said going into hug her "and Thanks again for me presents"

"You're more than welcome Si, I'll be over soon to play that Monopoly okay" She said with her arms around him, Peter who was watching, still couldn't get over the sight of the two of them hugging. It always made him feel all warm inside. Carla then went into the kitchen to say goodbye to Ken and Tracy.

"Why don't you walk her home Dad?" Simon casually suggested, he knew that Carla only lived across the road but he also knew that his Dad didn't know that. Peter shook his head at Simon but he was grinning "What? I know you want to" Simon said as Carla came back out of the kitchen.

"Right I'm off then" she said, Simon decided he wasn't going to wait for his Dad to offer

"Me Dad was just saying that he was gonna walk you home" Simon said and with that he ran out the back room and as he got to the bottom of the stairs he called "Bye Carla" and he ran up the stairs quickly to escape the wrath of his Dad.

"Were ya?" Carla asked Peter because he looked rather surprised, He nodded at her and smiled

"Yep" He said getting up off the sofa and walking over to the kitchen "Dad I'm just gonna walk Carla home okay" He said, Ken smiled at him and nodded from the kitchen. "Let's go then"

"You know it's literally across the road, you really don't have to walk me" Carla said as Peter closed his front door.

"Really?" Carla nodded and pointed over at her building.

"Yep" She said as Peter went into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and packet of fags.

"Well I'll walk you across the road then." He said lighting his cigarette Carla frowned at him

"So you're still smoking then?" She said as they crossed the road together, he nodded at her "And how does that fit into this new lifestyle that you've gone and got your self?" She asked

"I can't give up every bad habit I ave can I? I mean what kind of man would I be if I didn't have some sort of flaw?" Peter smirked and then took a deep breath "I know the whole hating smoking thing is an act anyway Carla" Carla looked at him baffled

"That wasn't an act Peter, I do hate you smoking," She said

"What? You don't find it just that little bit sexy?" He asked winking flirtatiously as he took another drag, remembering that Carla had once admitted to him that she found his smoking rather attractive. Carla blushed and pushed him playfully without answering him. "Yeah that's what I thought" He said smugly and then he exhaled letting the smoke exhale from his lips.

"Oh your ego really is on top from tonight isn't it" Carla said as they stopped outside her building. They stood in silence for a few moments whilst Peter smoked. Carla tried not to give Peter too much attention and every time she did glance at him he had this smug smirk on his face. Carla ignored it and eventually she said

"Your Dad seems like he's doing okay" Peter took a drag of his cigarette and shrugged

"Yeah… I don't know to be honest" He said "I mean since I've been back he seems like he's coping really well but Tracy said he's not always like this and that sometimes it's like he completely switches off"

"I have to give Tracy her due she'd really stepped up. It must be hard for her to deal with him all on her own" Carla said, Peter nodded still not used to Carla being so nice about his sister.

"Yeah I think it's all been taking it's toll on her" He said exhaling smoke again "That's why I'm gonna stick around here for a little while, y'know for me Dad." Carla nodded knowing that having Peter around would really lift Ken's spirits.

"Well I'm only over ere If ever you three ever need me" Carla said pointing at her building,

"Thanks" Peter said and he hesitated for a moment "Not just for that… Thanks for everything" He smiled at her appreciatively

"What d'ya mean?" Carla asked

"Well you know for coming to Si's birthday, spending time with him and just generally making him happy" Peter said throwing his cigarette on the floor and stamping on it. Carla just shrugged her shoulders looking at him modestly as he stood in front of her

"Honestly Peter I love spending time with Si." She said "It's a good thing you're here you can keep him busy whilst I'm in L.A"

"You're going to L.A?" He said surprised she hadn't mentioned it

"Yeah next Monday for three weeks. Didn't I say?"

"No" Peter said rather disappointed that Carla wouldn't be around for a while, She put her head on one side coyly

"Awwww are you gonna miss me Peter?" She pouted, He shook his head at her and laughed

"Now who's got the big ego eh?" he joked. Carla stopped laughing at him and then watched him for a moment.

"Seriously though, you make sure you don't leave until I'm back okay." She said

"I won't" He said and they both leant in for a hug at the same time. Carla breathed in deeply and took in Peter's musky scent. It was such a wonderfully familiar smell that she breathed in again. Peter could tell what she was doing but he chose not to mention it, as it would probably embarrass her.

"Right I need to go" Carla said sheepishly and she quickly let go of Peter. He nodded at her and said

"See ya" Carla nodded at him and said

"Not if I see you first"


	9. Milkshakes & Shoe Collections

It had been three weeks since Carla had left the grey skies of Manchester for sunny Los Angeles. Whilst out there, she had an amazing time with her old friends. She spent her days relaxing on the beach or shopping and her evenings sat by the pool or at the local bars and clubs. She didn't have to check on the factory at all and it was almost as if she was in heaven. On any of her other trips to L.A, Carla would always feel slightly depressed by the last day, just at the thought of coming back home but this time it was different.

This time she couldn't wait to get back to Manchester.

During the week before Carla had gone to L.A, she had ended up spending rather a lot of time with Simon and Peter. They'd had played a few games of Monopoly together round at Ken's which had sometimes lasted for hours at a time. The three of them had also gone out for dinner together twice and one of those nights they hadn't got back home until after midnight due to them having so much fun.

So, by the time it came for her flight to America, Carla was actually quite upset to not be seeing Simon and Peter for three weeks, Peter had even driven her to the airport to say goodbye. Carla missed them so much that she kept looking at the photo that they had taken at Ken's, on Simon's birthday and eventually she caved and put it as her phone screensaver.

They three of them had kept in contact with text messages and one morning Carla had Skyped them both just to say hello and they had spent almost three hours just chatting away until it was almost the early hours in England and Simon had actually fallen asleep.

As Carla came out off Manchester airport, dragging her huge suitcase behind her. She felt like she had maybe got on the wrong plane and had ended up in some other exotic country because it was hot. Okay it wasn't as hot as L.A but it was still way too hot for Manchester. She had on a long sleeveless black dress that stopped at her ankles and a denim jacket but as she called a cab to take her home, she actually had to take off the jacket because she was practically roasting. Her cab eventually arrived and whilst inside it she texted Michelle to say that she had landed safely. Michelle wanted to meet up with Carla straight away but Carla said she was feeling as if she should pop her head into the factory and that she'd come to the Rover's and meet her later. Carla went into her flat to drop of her suitcase and her jacket and then went back out again, en route to Underworld.

* * *

It was the beginning of August and the sun blazed onto the street as Peter and Simon were busy kicking a football around outside number one. They were both in jeans and T-shirts and they were trying to decide what to do with the rest of their afternoon. Simon had been on his summer holidays for almost two weeks now and he and Peter had done so much together already that they were beginning to find it hard to find something new to do.

"How about we go down the Red Rec?" Peter suggested kicking the ball back to Simon

"Nah we always go there" Simon moaned catching the ball with a foot and sending it back to his Dad. Peter stopped the ball with his foot and Simon then spotted a very tanned Carla making her way up to his Dad from behind. Peter saw Simon grin but didn't get a chance to ask him why because two soft hands appeared in front of his eyes and everything went dark.

"Guess who?" Carla said excitedly, Peter instantly smiled at the sound of her voice. Simon watched as Carla moved her hands from Peter's face. They both hugged each other tight. Carla breathed in deeply taking in his familiar smell just for a moment and then quickly said

"Did ya miss me then?" as Peter let go of her, He shrugged at her as if he was indifferent to her being gone, although he had missed her like crazy and the huge smile she had on her face made him feel insanely happy, like everything in the world was perfect and so were they.

"Nah not really" he joked, Carla shoved him slightly as Simon nodded

"Yes you did, We both did" He said as Carla put her arm around him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I missed you too… both of you." She said looking at Peter. As she stood with her arm around Simon, Peter took a proper look at her. Since being away her skin had turned a light golden brown colour, She had sunglasses in her hair, which tumbled around her tanned shoulders as she looked down at the football on the ground.

"Eh don't let Norris catch you kicking that thing around ere, remember what happened the last time?"

"Oh we're not scared of Old Norris are we?" Peter scoffed remembering how Simon had told him that Norris had a habit of puncturing his footballs if he left them hanging around the street. Simon shook his head at his Dad "We were just planning what to do with our selves actually? You got any ideas?" Peter asked, Carla who still had her arm around Simon shrugged at him. Peter then had an idea "Tell you what, how about we go and get a drink in the café whilst we decide because it's far too hot out here to be standing around doing nothing" He suggested so that's what they did.

They sat at the best corner table in Roy's Rolls, Carla and Peter both with coffees and Simon with a milkshake. Carla watched him as he was typing eagerly on his Iphone, he was sat next to Peter who was opposite her.

"Sorry about him, He's so antisocial these days" Peter said nudging Simon who just ignored him and continued his conversation. "So how was L.A?" Peter asked

"Oh it were perfect as always." She said sipping coffee

"How is everyone?" Peter then asked a little cautiously. He wasn't sure what Carla might have told them about him after everything that had gone on last year. When he had gone out there with Carla back in 2012, he had got on really well there and all of Carla's friends had loved him. He wasn't sure how keen they would be on him now though, especially if Carla had told them everything.

"They're good" Carla began "I told them your back ere and that we ave been getting along and stuff. They were dead pleased to hear it actually" She said not mentioning the fact that her very best friend in L.A said she reckoned Carla would be back together with Peter before Christmas.

They continued to drink their coffees and Simon took a sip of milkshake every so often when he wasn't on his phone. Peter had been watching Carla for a few moments and it was beginning to make her feel a little self-conscious

"What?" She said smiling at him sheepishly

"Did I tell you how amazing you look?" Peter asked, Carla couldn't help but blush as he looked at her enticingly

"No… I don't believe you did." She said looking down at her coffee cup modestly.

"Well you do… look amazing" He said nodding, Carla said a quiet

"Thank you" and Simon who had been listening to their entire conversation was quite frankly confused as to why his Dad didn't just jump up and kiss Carla there and then. He looked up at the both of them and then said

"Dad can I go and meet some friends down the red rec?" Peter frowned at him

"The Rec Rec? Oh you don't want to go down there do you? I mean you go always go there." he said smirking, Simon sighed remembering how sarcastic his Dad could be "Don't look like that Si, we were supposed to be spending the afternoon together. I mentioned going down there earlier and you said no." Simon looked at Carla for support but she just shook her head

"Eh don't look at me, I'm just ere for the free coffee" She said

"Tell you what, How about we go down there together?" Peter suggested, just to wind Simon up some more.

"All me mates are there though" He wined

"Don't you want to be seen with me anymore?" Peter said but he still wasn't actually taking any of this seriously, unbeknown to Simon who sighed

"I never said that"

"And how do you know that I don't have plans for us this afternoon?" Peter said as Simon slumped into the back of his chair.

"You didn't have any plans Dad, you said so yourself. That's why we were just hanging around the street… Please Dad" He begged, Peter rolled his eyes at his son

"Just make sure you're back home by eight o clock" He said and he went into his pocket and gave Simon a fiver. "Take this an get an ice cream or something." He added

"Thanks Dad" Simon beamed "Bye Carla" he said as he left the café. Carla shook her head at Peter in disbelief

"When did you turn into such a soft touch eh?" She said acting disappointed in Peter, He grinned at her

"Oh I'm not, It's his loss anyways as I was planning on taking him shopping and getting him those new trainers he's been banging on about for months but now I'm gonna spend the money on me self" Peter said smugly sipping his drink

"Spend it on me, I'll go shopping with ya." Carla volunteered with a grin "So how much money ave I got to spend?" Peter chuckled and leant back in his chair casually

"Well the trainers Simon want cost one hundred and twenty quid" He said, Carla finished her coffee and put her cup down.

"Blimey for a pair of trainers?" She said taken aback, Peter stared at her

"Really? I mean the shoes you usually buy are about what? Five times that amount" Peter recalled

"Yes but I'm an adult and those shoes will last me forever if I treat em right, that kid is gonna go through a hundred pairs of trainers in the next few years" Carla stated

"Well you know what kids are like, they've got to keep up with their friends aven't they" Peter said Carla nodded thinking back to when she was younger

"I remember when I were twelve right, I wanted this amazing pair of black shiny shoes from this shop in town. They were about twenty quid right and all the girls at school had em. So I kept begging me Mum to get em for me and she said she'd save up for em. Anyways it took her so long by the time I got a pair they just weren't the cool thing to ave anymore, it were now all about this bag that had just come out instead" Carla sighed as she reminisced about her childhood. She suddenly looked so sad as she sat there in front of Peter.

"Well I reckon that explains why you have so many pairs of shoes now then." he said smiling at her trying to lighten up the conversation "I used to count them and the last time I did you were almost at the fifty mark. How many d'ya reckon you got now?" Peter asked

"You used to count em?" Carla laughed, Peter nodded and she thought for a moment "I actually don't know how many pairs I've got ya know" She said "Although I've definitely gone way past the fifty mark that's for sure I mean I bought four pairs just last week… So I'm probably more around the sixty five mark now" She admitted and then she reached over and took the almost full glass of Chocolate milkshake that Simon had left behind, deciding that it was shame to let it go to waste. She put the straw in her mouth and grinned at Peter as she began drinking it. Peter watched her amused

"Sixty five pairs of shoes though Carla" He said, Carla stopped drinking

"I think that's a perfectly acceptable amount of shoes actually" She said and she began fiddling with the straw absent-mindedly "You only think it's too much because you're a bloke"

"Now that's not true, I don't think any woman on this street has even close to that amount of shoes." He said as Carla sipped some more milkshake "I mean where do you even keep all of em?" he asked

"I've got these two amazing cupboards in me new bed room, so at the moment they're all in one of those. I wanna get some shelves put up so I can display em all and it'll be like my own little amazing shoe gallery" She said wistfully, still holding the straw between her fingers "I'm not exactly a dab hand at D.I.Y so I'll have to get someone in to help me though" Carla said as Michelle had walked through the café door. She had spotted Carla and Peter sat at the table in the corner.

"Hiya Chelle" Carla said waving her over, Michelle approached the table with her eyebrows raised as she had asked to meet up with Carla before she started work and Carla had told her she'd drop by later because she was going to go down to check on underworld.

"Well doesn't this look nice and cosy" Michelle said, Carla and Peter looked at each other baffled

"Eh?" Peter said not sure what she was getting at. Michelle shook her head at Carla

"So this is checking up on the factory is it?" She said and Carla realised how it must have looked

"Oh I am going down there in a bit, I just ran into Simon and Peter and they wanted to have quick drink that's all." Carla said, Michelle glanced around and then looked back at Carla amused

"Where is Simon then?" She asked suspiciously, almost sure that her friend was actually on some mini date with her "kind of" ex husband.

"Well he were here" Carla said "Weren't he Peter" He nodded but not as convincingly as Carla had hoped.

"Whatever you say… I'll leave you two to it" Michelle said smirking, Carla just went back to her milkshake because she could tell Michelle had all sorts of ideas in her head and there would be no convincing her otherwise at this point. Michelle went over to Roy at the till and ordered her lunch. Whilst she waited for her food she had turned back around slightly so she had a better view of Peter and Carla.

"She's staring at us y'know." Carla said quietly so that Michelle couldn't hear her, Peter glanced out of the corner of his eye

"Well in that case, maybe we should give her something to stare at." he said, his eyes were sparkling with mischief as he said it. Carla grinned at him on exactly the same wavelength. She got up from their table and walked over to the till where Michelle was stood. Michelle looked confused as Carla went stood in front of her.

"Roy can I get another straw please?" Carla said smiling, Roy handed her another straw and didn't think anything of it "Thank you" Carla said to him and then she put on her most soppy voice and said "Look darlin, now you've got a straw too." She made her way back to the table where Peter was sat and as she passed him she ruffled the hair on his head tenderly, before sitting back down opposite him.

Michelle watched Carla not sure whether she was joking or not, surely Carla and Peter couldn't be back together just like that. Carla stuck the second straw into the milkshake and they both began drinking from the same glass as if they were some sort of blissfully happy couple. Roy handed Michelle her food in a carrier bag and followed her gaze over to the table in the corner.

"Oh" he said rather stunned "Are they?" Michelle shook her head and rolled her eyes as Carla and Peter dramatically took hold of each other's hands and gazed into each other's eyes.

"No they are just winding me up." Michelle said watching them, they couldn't keep it up for much longer and they both suddenly burst into fits of laughter.

"Yeah, Yeah very funny" Michelle said sitting down on the chair next to Carla.

"That's what you get for thinking I'd lie to you" Carla said smugly, Peter was still laughing silently

"What do you want me to think when you say you're going into work and then I find you two in ere sitting there chatting away eh" Michelle said, She then realised she hadn't actually said a proper hello to Carla since she'd been back from holiday. She put her arms around Carla and hugged her tight. "I'm glad your back, I've got so many plans I can't wait to tell you about em" She said excitedly

"It's good to be back Chelle, Even if I do get accused of having some sort of secret affair with him" Carla said nodding towards Peter

"I didn't accuse you of anything." Michelle denied

"No but you implied it, How many times do I ave to tell you we are just friends, aren't we Peter." She said, Peter nodded very seriously at Michelle

"Yes we are" He said putting on his best serious tone of voice although he couldn't help but smirk at Carla as he said it, The look on his face was infectious and before she knew it Carla was smirking back at him. Michelle watched them again only this time they were seriously looking at each other longingly. Eventually Carla looked away first, She grinned down at her hands and then looked back up at Michelle

"I'll come down to the pub later and we can catch up properly okay?" She said

"Yeah you make sure you do." Michelle said firmly but smiling all the same because she was glad to have her best friend back.

"How many pairs of shoes ave you got Michelle?" Peter asked Carla rolled her eyes.

"Erm, I don't know about twenty something" She said, Peter nodded smugly and Carla scoffed at her

"Is that it?" She said not believing she could be such good friends with someone who had such a small shoe collection.

"Oh be quiet you. Just because you're a shoe hoarder." Michelle said, "Why are you asking me that Peter?"

"He's just being an know it all as per, He reckons I ave way too many shoes. Get this, he used to count em back when we lived together" Carla said

"Yeah.. Steve used to do it as well and then they'd get together and discuss who had more." Michelle said shaking her head. Peter laughed

"Really? How sad" Carla said she sucked the rest of the milkshake up through the straw and looked at her watch. "Right I better go and check on the factory n make sure it's still standing" She said getting up and tucking in her chair. Michelle and Peter got up too as Michelle had a takeaway and Peter had finished his coffee a long time ago. They made there way outside and Carla squinted at the sun as she reached up to her hair and pulled her sunglass out of it Michelle turned to Peter

"What you doing now Peter?" She asked him, Peter just shrugged at her

"Nothing really why?"

"Well Steve's feeling a little down today and I reckon a chat with you might perk him up" She said "Eh you could give each other updates on Me and Carla's shoe collections" Peter laughed and nodded

"Yeah why not, it's been ages since I've had a proper good chat with Steve anyway." He said. Michelle looked at Carla

"I'll see you later Carla yeah"

"Yeah… I better go and show me face at work then" She sighed wishing she could just hang around with Michelle and Peter instead. "Bye Chelle, Bye Peter, Thanks for the coffee… and the milkshake" She grinned.

Carla strolled to the factory in the heat and although she wanted to go to the pub and spend more time with Michelle and Peter she knew that she had to at least put her head through the door. She grinned as she walked past Luke at the garage and he gave her little nod as she practically bounced up the factory steps.

As she walked into the factory she saw that her employees where all busy working away at their machines.

"This is what I like to see everybody hard at work" Carla said grinning as she walked towards her office. There were various "Welcome backs and Hello's" from the machinists they all seemed glad to have Carla back at work.

"Oh my god your tan is amazing" Said Beth jealousy, Carla smiled at her and put her sunglasses in her hair, She then glanced into her office through the blinds and saw Sally Webster sitting in her chair. Alya was on the phone with a bunch of papers in her hands looking like she was very busy. Carla cleared her throat as she entered her office, Sally jumped up out of Carla's chair instantly

"Hello Mrs Connor, welcome back" Sally said with an over the top smile on her face, Carla nodded at her and Alya who had given her a smile but was still on the phone.

"Hi Sally how's everything been then? I see the place is still standing so that's a good start eh" Carla said taking a seat on her office chair where Sally had been sitting. Sally began telling Carla about everything that had happened in the last three weeks. She had gone on and on and Carla sat back on her chair wishing she'd hadn't of asked. Eventually Sally had stopped talking but Carla had been listening to Alya's phone conversation

"Well she's actually just got back from holiday so I can ask her for you" Alya said, Carla sat up

"What is it?" She asked

"There's a potential client on the phone and he wanted to know if he could come and meet you at some point before his business trip next week" Alya said her neck tilted with the phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder, still clutching a bunch of paper. Carla stood up and reached for the phone to free Alya.

"Hiya Carla Connor speaking?" She said giving Sally a look that said keep quiet, because she was known to take over some of Carla's phone calls. Sally started to help Alya out on cue as Carla spoke down the phone.

"Well there's no time like the present, so you can come down today if you're in the area" She said double checking the diary to make sure that there was no one else booked in for the afternoon. "Yes that's fine" Carla said nodding "Okay see you then." she put the phone down and scribbled down the information in the diary. Sally looked at what she had written

"Marc Matthews is coming down today?" She said shocked, Carla nodded

"Yes he is, He's going away next week and he's fully booked for the rest of the week, so it had to be today." Carla said she sat back down in her chair and Sally smiled at her sickeningly

"You must be tired why don't you go home and I'll handle the meeting" she said, Alya rolled her eyes as she began sorting out different files and folders.

"Nah you're alright" Carla said "He'll be ere in a couple of hours and we can't ave this Marc fella thinking you're the boss can we." She said giving Sally are sarcastic smile, Sally nodded rather taken aback

"Oh okay" she said not knowing where to put herself, now that Carla was back in her seat.

"Why don't you go out there and see that everything's okay" Carla suggested, Sally knew better than to say anything else to Carla and slowly walked out of the office. Alya grinned at Carla greatfully and said

"Welcome back"

* * *

Marc Matthews eventually arrived at the factory half an hour after he said he would. Alya showed him into the office and Carla was about to give him a little talking to about keeping her waiting but she was diverted when she saw him. He was rather tall, medium build and he had dark blonde hair with bright blue eyes. He was actually very good looking, if you liked that kind of man. Carla just stared at him for a moment, not because she fancied him it was just that she hadn't been expecting him to look like he did.

"I am so sorry I'm late" he said. When he spoke he had a cockney accent which Carla hadn't noticed when talking to him on the phone. Alya's eyes were wide as she left the office in awe of the man who she had just walked in. "There was a huge traffic jam on the way here" Marc said apologetically, Carla stood up to shake his hand

"Well I'll let it slide this time as you're a first timer" She said smiling politely.

"I have to be honest with you, we'll have to make this quick because I'm really pushed for time because I've got another meeting at four pm" Carla showed him a chair where he could sit down and they began to discuss business.

After fifteen minutes Carla could see that they weren't really getting anywhere and sighed because she could see that this Marc was looking at his watch

"Right, Well the ball's in your court really, I've given you all the basic information that you need to know and I know you have somewhere you need to be so..." She shrugged, Marc was smiling at her admiringly. He took a deep breath and then said

"I like you… So here's what we're going to do" he was almost smirking at her Carla raised her eye brows because he seemed very brazen for someone she had just met "I'm going to a charity event on Thursday night and if you're not doing anything I think you should come too" he said

"Really?" She said not too sure what this exactly this Marc guy was thinking, was he actually asking her on a date?

"Yes. I'm fully booked for meetings and until I leave for Barbados next week"

"Barbados?" Carla said rather impressed

"Yes so this charity event will be the only time me and you will have to chat about any potential business, If you decide to come that is, Which I think you will." he said rather boldly and then he smiled getting up out of his chair. Carla got up as well and thought about it for a moment. The way he was looking at her was as if she captivated him and there was also something about him that she couldn't help but find incredibly charming.

"Okay" Carla said grinning "So where is this charity shindig?" Marc smiled at her widely, clearly pleased that she had agreed to go out with him. He took his phone out of his pocket

"It's in a hotel in town" He said typing away

"A hotel?" Carla asked gingerly, Marc grinned at her and nodded

"Yes a hotel, Why do you want me to book a room or?" He laughed making Carla laugh too, she knew Alya and the other factory girls were all watching them through the blinds "Obviously I'm kidding, they'll be no room booking. Well not unless things go really well between us" Marc joked smirking down at the phone he was still typing away on. "So how about I pick you up on Thursday around seven pm, Where abouts do you live?" he asked, Carla sighed knowing that he wouldn't take no for an answer

"That block of flats around the corner, It's called Victoria Court, I live there." She said, Marc put his phone away and nodded.

"Perfect. I'll see you then" he said reaching out and shaking Carla's hand "It was _very_ nice to meet you" he said gazing at her with a smile.

"You too" Carla smiled back him, He then waltzed out of her office and out of the factory. As he left the room erupted into conversation and Alya came rushing back into the office to see Carla

"Oh my god he's gorgeous, Please tell me you're gonna do business with him" she said still in awe. Carla nodded and pulled her sunglasses off of her head

"Well that is the plan." She said but the look on her face made Alya frown

"What, is there something wrong?" She asked

"No. Not really. I mean I'm not sure how but he's talked me into going to this charity thing with him at a hotel on Thursday night, He wants to talk some more about the business."

"You're going to a hotel with him?" Alya exclaimed excitedly "Wow" She said rather impressed

"What?" Carla said picking up her bag

"Nothing it's just, I thought it looked like you two were flirting that's all" Alya said, Carla rolled her eyes

"It was not flirting, It were strictly professional" She said although she wasn't sure if Marc was just making banter of if he was actually flirting with her. She put her sunglasses back on and said "Right I'm off. I'll be back in tomorrow properly okay" Alya nodded at her and said

"Bye Mrs Connor"

As Carla walked towards her building she finally felt the jet-lag she had been dreading start to catch up with her, She should have gone home and got into bed but as she passed the Rover's she couldn't help but go inside. When inside she thought she might find Michelle behind the bar but Liz was there instead, She smiled at Carla when she spotted her

"Hey welcome back, did you have a great time?" She said, Carla took off her sunglasses and put them in her bag this time.

"I did indeed."

"You look amazing, I wish I could go to L.A it sounds like my idea of heaven" Liz said

"Yeah well, I just went down the factory though and it was like coming crashing back down to earth again. Can I get a large glass of red please" Carla said and she yawned loudly

"A large one, are you sure?" Liz said Carla nodded and rested her elbow on the bar with her head in her hands

"Yes, I'm gonna down it, go home and go to bed" she said tiredly, Liz handed her the glass of wine, Liz was watching something as Carla handed her the money for the wine.

"He's really cheered Steve up y'know" Liz said smiling, Carla turned around to see what Liz was looking at, it was Peter, Michelle and Steve. They were sat in a booth together Michelle and Steve on one side Peter on the other. They were playing some sort of card game by the looks of it and they hadn't even noticed Carla was stood there watching them. She picked up her glass of wine and made her way over to them.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" She asked, Peter looked up at her

"Hmmm I don't know" Steve said looking at Michelle "D'ya reckon she can handle it?" Michelle laughed and Carla took a closer look at what they were playing

"Uno" she said with an eyebrow raised "You're playing Uno" She at down next to Peter after he had moved up the sofa for her.

"Say what you like but we have been playing for almost an hour now and it's highly addictive" Steve said he only had a small amount of cards left but Michelle and Peter seemed to have a lot more than him. Carla watched them, amused at how serious they seemed to be taking this card game.

"Anyone would think you guys where playing a championship game of Poker or something" She said sipping her wine "Where did you even get it from?"

"Someone got it Amy for Christmas and it's never been played with until yesterday" Michelle said, she then groaned because she had to pick up four cards from the pile on the table. "Me and Steve were up playing it late last night" Carla raised her eyebrows at them

"Well there's nothing like a night of passionate Unoing is there?" She said with a grin, Peter chuckled at her and took his turn

"Steve let's start again and let Carla play" Michelle said and Peter nodded

"You two only want to start again because you're losing" Steve said sighing he took a look at his cards compared to theirs and then he looked at Carla. "D'ya wanna play?" He asked

"Not really" She said because she was still jet lagged but as Peter and Michelle insisted she joined them she found her self, rolling her eyes and saying "Fine I'll ave one game" Steve collected up all the cards and then began to deal them out again.

"Do you know how to play?" Michelle asked Carla because she couldn't ever remember playing it with her in the past

"Yeah, we used to play it with Simon when he were about ten y'know before he grew out of it" She said mockingly

"I don't know I reckon if we got him to play with us now he'd love it" Peter said "I mean I used to play it when I was in me twenties" Peter said

"Wow" Carla exclaimed rather sarcastically "Are you telling me that Uno dates all the way back to the cave man times?" Steve and Michelle both burst into laughter. Peter found Carla's remark funny as well but instead of laughing he reached over and began to tickle Carla, She squealed as he said

"Very funny you but I was in the navy actually and it was a very popular game at the time" He said as Steve had finished dealing the cards. He raised his eyebrows at Michelle and she grinned

"I told you." She said to Steve smugly, Carla heard this but she was still being tickled at the time so she concentrated on trying to get Peter to let go.

"Peter!" She cried in between laughs "Stop it" she begged him and eventually Peter stopped but he still had his arm around her waist

"Thank you" Carla said breathlessly, they were gazing at each other again like they had been in the café earlier, both oblivious to what was going on around them. Steve cleared his throat

"Whenever you're ready you two" He said as Peter still had hold of Carla. He let go of her quickly, Carla looked at Michelle as she picked up her cards

"You told him what?" She said referring to what Michelle had said to Steve earlier, Michelle smiled slyly at Carla and said

"Right I'm first"

* * *

After an hour of playing Uno they decided to call it quits. Michelle and Steve had beaten Carla and Peter twice each and were both very smug about it as well. They all stayed in their booth though and they ended up spending the evening just chatting about the most random subjects. Carla and Peter had got closer to each other as the evening went on and eventually she had her head rested on Peter's shoulder. She was practically falling asleep as Peter was on his looking at something on his phone. He smirked when saw a picture on Simon's Instagram of him at the red rec with his friend Santana, the girl from the bowling alley.

"Eh look at Simon and his little girlfriend." He said showing Michelle and Steve, Carla opened her eyes properly

"Don't let Simon hear you call her that." She said because she knew what Simon was like. Michelle took a long look at the photo on Peter's screen

"Oh my god. What's her name?" She asked

"Santana" Peter said as Michelle got out her phone, She scrolled through her photo album and Carla knew what she was doing before she'd even showed them the picture.

"D'ya ave to Chelle" Carla groaned

"Look at this picture of me and Carla when we were that age" Michelle said as she'd got up an old photo of them onto the screen, Peter was rather astonished to see the similarities between a young Carla and Santana.

"Wow" he said as he looked at the photo, Carla had long dark brown her way past her shoulders and she looked pretty much the same as she did now only younger and her amazing cheekbones weren't so prominent way back then.

"I know right" Michelle said "She's practically your mini me Carla"

"Well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree there eh Peter" Steve said Peter chuckled

"It sure doesn't" He said proudly, Carla would have usually had a smart comeback but she yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes.

"Right I ave to go home" She said, Michelle looked at her watch

"What? It's only seven o clock Carla." she said disappointed, Carla got up off of the sofa

"I know that but I were on a fourteen hour flight earlier remember" She said picking up her bag, Michelle got up and gave her a kiss on the check

"Bye" She said putting her arms around Carla and giving her a little squeeze.

"Bye" Carla said she smiled at Peter and Steve and said goodbye to them too. It was only when she got home that she remembered the real reason that she had gone to the pub in the first place, to tell Michelle about her business/date with Marc Matthews.


	10. Nando's & Mario Kart

Jealously was something Peter hated with a passion, especially when it was coming from him. Shortly after Carla had left the pub on Monday, her factory employees had come in and they were all talking about the _"really"_ hot guy that Carla practically had a date with on Thursday night. Peter couldn't help but listen to their conversation and Michelle had heard it too, which led her to calling Carla straight away to give her a piece of her mind for not telling.

Carla explained the situation to Michelle and insisted that it wasn't a date. Michelle then filled Peter in on everything and he decided straight away that he didn't like the sound of this Marc at all.

Peter had to admit that Marc was probably a real decent guy, he had invited Carla to a charity event after all but he still hated him all the same. He was amazed how much he could hate someone that he didn't even know.

Thursday night was when his hatred had really set in, it was when he saw Carla standing outside her building, obviously waiting to be picked up. She looked totally stunning, She was wearing a little white dress that stopped just above her knees and the colour of it did amazing things to her recently tanned skin. She had a pair of killer high heels on her feet and her long brown hair was let loose around her shoulders in little waves, making Peter wonder if she had curled it specially for the evening ahead.

When Carla saw him, she smiled happily and eagerly waved him over

"Hi handsome" She said as he crossed the road and made his way towards her, He knew it was just a pet name but he hoped she meant it.

"Wow" he said "you look incredible" She smiled at him again

"Why, thank you." She said and put her arms around his neck and hugged him rather unexpectedly. She had no idea why but she had had an urge to be close to him. Peter was rather surprised by her gesture but he held her against him all the same.

"You smell amazing too" He said truthfully, Carla let go of him and looked down at her watch, Peter sensed she'd been waiting out there for a while and asked "So what time is your date supposed to be picking you up?" He really hated using the word date, Carla looked up and shook her head at him

"Peter, this is not a date." She said firmly because after thinking about it properly, she definitely didn't want it to be a date. Peter didn't quite look like he believed her though so she then said "Peter it's not, this guy is a potential client and he asked me to go to this thing with him because it's the only time we can chat before he goes on a business trip next week" Carla said still watching him, She could tell that he was insanely jealous and if she was honest, she was kind of glad that he felt that way. "Anyways he were supposed to meet me at half seven and as of now he is ten minutes late" She added

"Ten minutes? He's kept you here for Ten minutes? Oh well you don't want to do business with someone like that" he said smirking putting his arm around Carla she grinned at the arm that was hanging down from her shoulder

"Ten minutes isn't that long and there could be traffic" She said, Peter shook his head at her

"Nope he's far too late to deserve a night in your company, I think you should call him up and cancel, then you can come back to mine. Me Dad's got a casserole in the oven plus Si is desperate for another game of monopoly" He said pulling Carla in closer, She smiled at him and shook her head

"I can't do that, it's for charity"

"That's what the Internet is for Carla, you can donate to all kinds of organisations all from the comfort of your own home."

"Now that's not very charitable is it now Peter Barlow?" she said holding onto the hand that was rested on her shoulder. "Besides he's a potential client, how unprofessional would that look eh" Peter nodded at her defeated, knowing he wouldn't change her mind "Casserole and Monopoly sounds tempting though, well… the monopoly part does anyway" She laughed and the honk of a car horn suddenly startled them both.

"Ere he is" Carla said as a black Mercedes pulled up in front of them. Peter took his arm away from her quickly and swallowed as a tall blonde guy got out of the car, he was dressed in a sharp suit and he was smiling sickeningly as he made his way over to them.

"Good evening Carla. I'm so sorry I'm not usually late like this" he said his cockney accent surprising Peter, Carla shook her head at him

"Well I should hope not." she said rather annoyed that Marc was late again but she was smiling at him in a away which made Peter feel sick.

"I have to be honest with you, I got lost on the way here. Even though I came the other day, my sat nav is bloody useless" He said and he was still smiling at Carla in this annoying charming kind of way. Peter found it incredibly rude that Marc didn't even acknowledge him.

"Shall we get going then?" Marc said gesturing towards his expensive car, Carla nodded and turned to Peter

"Don't mind me" he said dryly and began to walk off in the direction of his home, She rolled her eyes at him and said

"Bye Peter" after him.

He hated letting her get into that car and all night long his thoughts were consumed by what Marc and Carla could have been getting up to at this hotel. He really hated the way everything had turned out with Carla, Peter knew that he was the only one to blame for not being with her anymore and he knew he didn't have a right to be so jealous, especially since they'd had this "just friends" policy going on but he just couldn't seem to help it.

Peter had tried to tell himself that it was just because he cared about Carla and he wanted her to be happy. Although deep down he knew that he only wanted her to be happy with him. It was selfish of him to think that way and he detested being that kinda guy, but it was honestly the way seeing Carla with another man made him feel.

* * *

It was three fifteen the next day and Peter was strolling up and down the street aimlessly, He lit a cigarette and he took a deep drag as a familiar voice called out

"Hiya" he smiled as Carla crossed the road and made her way towards him, Dressed in her favourite leather jacket as the weather was a lot cooler than the days before, a grey top and black skinny jeans. Her hair was still loose and wavy from last night, Peter couldn't help but give her the once over with his eyes as she always looked so effortlessly beautiful.

"Hey" he said as she was smiling back at him, That smile of hers still gave him butterflies and Peter was sure that he should have got used to this feeling by now but it just wouldn't seem to go away. "How was this charity thing last night then?" He asked straight off, he needed to know whether this Marc guy that she'd gone with, had made an impression on her or not, She nodded at him as he blew smoke from out of his mouth.

"Oh it were okay, rather boring at times. I won something, that's actually why I came over to talk to you" she poked him softly in the chest as she said _you_ and smiled broadly, he watched her intrigued

"Go on" he said

"So there were this raffle thing there last night and I ended up winning one of those Nintendo WiiU things right" Peter laughed at the idea of Carla winning a games console, She nodded on the same wavelength "I know, Anyways I have no one to give it to because I know your Si's got one all ready and I even asked David if he wanted it for Max but he has one too." Peter nodded, wondering where she was going with this little story. He exhaled again and said

"Why didn't you give it to that Matt ? Y'know the one who you went to the event with." he was watching Carla for a reaction

"You mean Marc?" She corrected him even though they both knew that he knew the guys name, Peter smirked at her

"Whatever he's called" Carla shook her head at his immature response, She could tell he was still jealous even though she'd made it clear to him that her interests in Marc were strictly professional.

"Oh he reckons he's far too mature for a games console, which is a bit ridiculous because he won V.I.P tickets to some dire football match and the fool actually jumped up onto his chair and started cheering" she said rolling her eyes, Peter smiled a little smile as it sounded like this Marc hadn't made a good impression on Carla after all. "Anyways I've decided I wanna keep it, I mean it came with Mario Kart which I'm obviously _so_ good at because I beat you that time down at the bowling alley." She laughed and so did Peter. "So I was thinking, how bout you and Si come over later and help me set it up because I aven't got a clue and then maybe afterwards we can play a few games?"

"I'd love to but Simon's actually going out tonight, It's someone's birthday, they're going to the cinema and then Nando's" Peter said disappointed because a night in with Simon and Carla would have been a lot of fun, Carla looked disappointed too and said

"Uh Nando's sounds amazing right now, I'm starvin" She'd had a meeting over lunch and had decided to skip eating all together as there was a lot to discuss with her clients, She thought for a moment and then smiled coyly at Peter "Right… well seeing as Simon obviously has a better social life than the pair of us, how about you just come over then?"

This was music to Peter's ears, he had wanted some proper alone time with Carla for ages and even though spending time with her as "just friends" was sometimes frustrating it was still definitely worth it, He nodded casually

"Sure why not, I'd love to come round and play with you" he smirked at her his eyes wide, Carla shook her head at him, She was pretty used to his flirty banter by now and usually had an equally flirtatious comeback but sometimes she just couldn't help but grin like an idiot at hi, just like she was now.

"Well alright then" She poked him again "I should be home about five, so feel free to come over anytime after that." She said he nodded at her, throwing his cigarette butt down on the floor and stamping on it

"See ya then" he said with a grin.

* * *

Peter knocked on the door of Carla's flat apprehensively, whilst carrying two Nando's take away bags, He had been craving chicken since he had spoken about it with Carla earlier, so in the end he'd decided to go and get some especially since he knew Carla definitely wouldn't have been cooking for the both of them. He wanted to leave it as a surprise so he just ordered what Carla used to like and hoped that it would be okay. He hadn't been over to her new flat yet so he really wasn't sure what to expect. When the door opened, music came blaring out of it and Carla was also stood there although she looked rather unimpressed

"And what time do you call this? It's almost seven o clock" She had got changed out of her previous work outfit and was now wearing a little grey vest which stopped just below her belly button showing off a little bit of skin at the waist. She was also wearing a pair of little denim shorts. "You'll have to excuse the outfit I weren't too sure if you were still coming" She said as Peter looked her up and down,

"Oh that outfit definitely works for me" he said enthusiastically and walked past her, into her flat, she closed the door behind him. He was dressed in the same t-shirt and jeans as earlier. "I don't suppose you've got something cooking in the oven ave ya?" He asked grinning, Carla raised her eyebrows at him

"Not flippin likely" she said walking over to where her phone lay, next to some speakers, She turned the music down a notch and then turned back to face him

"I thought not" he said and then Carla realised what he was carrying in his hands and gasped

"Peter Barlow you are an angel"

"I've been called many things but an angel well that's a new one" Carla took the bags of food off of him as he gazed around her flat. "Nice fireplace" He said, It was huge and it sat in the middle of the room, It wasn't on because the weather was still considerably good and it was obviously how Carla was able to wonder around her flat in those tiny shorts without feeling the slightest bit cold.

"Oh that's right, I forgot you ain't been round yet" She said opening the steaming bags of food, she breathed in deeply taking in the smell of the spicy chicken "Uh I could kiss you" Peter grinned at her

"Feel free" he said hoping that Carla might actually go ahead and do it but instead she laughed and she got two plates out of a cupboard. Peter walked into her kitchen, still looking around him at his new surroundings.

"Seriously though, Peter you're amazing, I aven't eaten since breakfast and even then it was just a slice of toast" she looked at the two paper bags, where one was labelled hot and one was labelled _plain…ish_. Carla grinned and handed the plain one over to Peter "So I'm guessing your still can't handle spicy food then" She licked her lips as she emptied the hot chicken onto her plate.

"No... I just prefer my food to be how it should naturally taste that's all." Peter lied, Carla raised an eyebrow again and said

"You mean you like it bland then?" Peter gave a her look

"Y'know maybe I should take my Nando's to someone who won't make fun of me and to someone who will appreciate it, I mean you aven't even said thank you" he said smirking and starting to pack up the food, Carla laughed, leant forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thank you Peter" she said sweetly and then she got out the rest of the food, Peter said she could have what she wanted, so she shared it all out between the two of them. "You want me to give you the tour before we eat?" Peter nodded with a mouthful of chips, "Or not" Carla chuckled shaking her head at him, "Well do it later, what do you want to drink?" she asked and Peter shrugged still putting chips into his mouth

"What have you got?" She walked over to her fridge to assess the non alcoholic options that she might have had, She opened her fridge and peered inside

"Erm... tropical juice or milk to be honest" Carla said

"Hmmm as tempting as the milk sounds" Peter started, Carla laughed and pulled out the carton of tropical juice, then she went into one of her cupboards

"Uh oh... I think all me drinking glasses are in the dish washer" she began, Peter watched her

"Really?" He asked with an eyebrow raised

"Well yeah... I think I've only got about three" She chuckled going through her cupboards "I'd forgotten to turn the dishwasher on before I left for work this morning, so I had to put it on when I got in" eventually she gave up looking for a glass and pulled out two wine glasses

"I'm afraid these will have to do" she said grinning at Peter's reaction "Unless you'd prefer to drink out of me Minnie Mouse mug?" she asked he shook his head and said

"A wine glass should be fine" Carla nodded and poured him a drink, After handing him the glass they both made their way to Carla's sofa and sat down to begin on their feast.

* * *

"Bringing that food round was the best idea you've ever had Peter" Carla said stretching her arms up in the air Peter watched as her vest rode up showing off her tummy which was still flat even though she'd eaten everything that was on her plate. They'd chatted whilst eating mostly about Simon and even though time seemed to have flown by upon looking at the clock Peter realised he'd already been at Carla's for almost an hour. She took their plates over to her kitchen and then brought the tropical juice over to the table in front of her sofa

"Do you want a top up?" She grinned waving the juice carton in the air,

"Hmm I'm not too sure, I'm supposed to be driving later" he joked

"Oh come on live dangerously Peter" Carla said amorously, joining in on the joke, Peter raised his wine glass up to her

"Go on then." he said smirking, Carla refilled their drinks

"So what do you think of me new flat then?" She asked him he nodded looking around him

"Well I dunno, I mean I've only seen this one room" he grinned at her "When can I see the bedroom?" He asked cheekily, Carla knew a comment like that was coming and grinned at Peter

"You'll see it... eventually" she said resting her elbow on her sofa with her head in her hand, Peter chuckled

"Fair enough" he nodded "I do like it though, it's very you, a lot more you than our old place eh?" he said remembering the huge flat she had given up to move into the tiny bookies flat, with him all those years ago. Carla sighed on the same wavelength, it felt like just yesterday but in actual fact it was years and years ago now.

"I knew it was the right place for me as soon as I saw it to be honest and I've got a balcony." she said trying to get off the subject of where they used to live, She pointed to the doors which led to her favourite thinking space

"You've always had a thing for balconies haven't you?" Peter said remembering when they were staying in the Caribbean once and she'd spent most of her time on the balcony of their room.

"Yeah tis not Tobago but it will do." She said on the same wavelength again. It was honestly as if they knew exactly what the other one was thinking.

Peter was becoming rather distracted by a song he could hear in the background. He listened carefully to it, it was one he'd never heard before but the singing voice was unmistakable

"Is this Lana Del Rey?" Peter asked as the song played in the background, Carla nodded at him

"What d'ya mean is this Lana Del Rey? You've heard this song before right?" She said assuming that Peter must have heard it but Peter shook his head, "You ave… it's from her second album" Carla insisted

"Yeah I aven't actually listened to her second album." Peter admitted and Carla was surprised to hear this as they'd always had a common interest in her music, in fact it was probably one of the only things that they agreed on when it came to music.

"Why not?" She asked wondering if he'd just gone off her, Peter shook his head, a little discouraged

"I just couldn't." He started looking down "l was in a bad place for those first few weeks after I left and all her music just seemed to do was remind me of you. So I never really got round to it" he explained, Carla nodded at him remembering just how much they had listened to Lana Del Rey especially when they'd first got together. She'd be lying if she said there weren't songs that she couldn't listen to anymore because of Peter but she thought it was such a shame that he'd missed out on one of their favourite artists. She looked down at her legs for a moment and then back up at Peter

"And… how are you feeling now?" She asked getting up off her sofa and delving into her cd collection, Peter leant forward and watched what she was doing

"Pretty good... Why?" Carla came back and handed him the album they had been talking about

"In that case you can borrow that then" Carla said

"Thanks" Peter said deciding he could probably deal with listening to it now he had Carla back in his life. She then bent down and picked up the games console she had won the night before

"You gonna help me set this thing up then or what?"

* * *

An hour and a half later and a lot of tropical juice later, Carla and Peter were finishing another round of races on Mario Kart. Carla was terrible at the game at first, even though Peter had put the computer players on the easiest level. She couldn't get used to holding the controller properly and kept driving off of the side of the tracks but with a lot of encouragement from Peter, she actually managed to come in a place other than last. Peter on the other hand had done miles better, coming first almost every time.

"You watch, I'm gonna keep practicing and one day I'll actually come first place" Carla said clicking off of the game and going back to the home screen of the game's console. Peter smirked at her

"Simon says if you hook it up to the internet you can play against people from all over the world" Carla raised an eyebrow at him doubtingly

"I don't think I'm quite at those standards yet but thanks for the advice" She was still holding the remote

"You know you can actually get little steering wheels to put those in, it might make it a bit easier for you, Si's got a couple at home" Peter said, Carla was messing around on the home screen and clicked on one of the little squares with the people in it "What you up to now?" He asked

"You know when we turned it on and It said I had to make that little character to be me, Well now I'm making one for you" Carla said amused, She'd spent a while going through all the different choices to make a little on screen version of Peter, She eventually said "Okay…I'm almost done" and Peter took a look at the screen

"Nothing like me" he joked

"Rubbish" Carla scoffed "He's the spitting image, I got your beard just right" She said reaching out and tickling his chin and then continuing with what she was doing, she read the instructions on the screen "Okay here we go, your favourite colour is blue obviously" she said selecting the blue option without even thinking twice.

"No it's not" Peter said, Carla stared at him

"Yes it is" She said and he shook his head at her

"It's not, not anymore, me favourite colour is orange now" Carla frowned

"Orange?" She exclaimed, She was sure he was lying, his favourite colour had always been blue, ever since she'd known him "Since when?" Peter grinned at her and then laughed "You're avin me on right?" she gave him a small shove and he nodded

"Yeah it's still blue" He said really relishing spending some alone time with Carla, She was always so much different when it was just the two of them, As if she could truly be herself around Peter and she didn't have to keep up with that feisty persona with him.

"Eh it says here, do I want to add you to me favourites?" She paused dramtically as if she was having a little think about it

"I think you should after I bought round you some chicken"

"Fair dues" Carla said and she clicked him into her favourites and smiled as the finished product joined the little version of herself on screen "Gotta say I'm getting quite into all this, I should probably get some more games though" Carla said proudly she put the remote down on to the table after switching off the console "Maybe I'll look in the shops tomorrow for one?"

"Check you out, you little game geek" Peter said, Carla had been sitting up straight whilst she had been playing the games but now she was done, she tucked her feet up, under her body and made her self comfortable next to Peter, he took another look around her flat and she watched him for a moment

"Eh Y'know that girl that Simon reckons he doesn't like, the one with all the dark hair" She began, Peter nodded

"You mean your mini me" he said remembering the photo Michelle had shown him of Carla when she was thirteen, Carla nodded

"Yeah, I saw her in town earlier with her Mum, anyways she came rushing over to me, to check that Simon was definitely coming out tonight and her Mum said all she goes on about is Simon"

"Really?" Peter asked impressed, He knew Simon liked this girl so he was pleased to hear she seemed to like him too.

"She were so cute about it, looked dead embarrassed when her Mum said that to me of course, so don't go telling Simon I told you"

"My lips are sealed" Peter pretended to zip up his lips and then looked serious again. "Don't you think it's crazy how quick this has all happened, Like Simon going to high school, having proper little grown up mates and liking girls. It feels like just yesterday he was running around playing with Lego and stuff" Carla smiled and nodded at Peter.

They sat in silence for a moment reminiscing about the past, Carla was so glad that Simon had warmed up to her so much and that her and Peter seemed to be going really well too. She would have been lying if she said she hadn't been a little nervous about the idea of Peter coming over without Simon because he was normally there to defuse the flirtatious nature between the both of them but the evening seemed to flow perfectly.

"Do you wanna see the view on my balcony?" Carla asked

"Not really" he said shaking his head as he had been enjoying sitting so close her on the sofa, It was almost as if they were a normal couple having a relaxing night in, Only it was all Peter could do not to lean over and kiss Carla wildly. She laughed and then got up off of the sofa

"Yes you do." She said pulling Peter up by his hands. "Come on" Peter started chuckling as Carla guided him out the door and proudly showed off her balcony, She had bought little wicker seat and had decorated it with little pillows and beaded throws she also added a tiny little table which had a vanilla candle on it.

"Wow!" he gasped sarcastically, "Look at that amazing view of The Rovers" Carla nodded at him with a smile as he stopped and leant on the balcony wall with his arms

"I know right" she said back in a similar sarcastic fashion, standing opposite him by the door "Seriously though when the sun sets, its actually quite nice out here, I sometimes come out here with me headphones and just escape from it all" Peter nodded along, thinking it must be quite nice for Carla to have her own little thinking space and she was right because as the sun was almost set on the cobbles, it did actually look like they could be somewhere exotic, rather than boring old Weatherfield. "It makes a good little spying spot as well" She joked

"Spend a lot of time up here spying do ya?' Peter asked intrigued, Carla shook her head at him and then he realised what was leaning against the wall behind Carla, it was the Leonardo DiCaprio cut out that she'd taken from the nineties birthday party that she was at with Michelle back in June, She laughed when she realised what Peter was looking at

"Yeah I had to bring poor Leo out here, as much as I love him, it's quite disturbing when you get up in the middle of the night for a wee and he's just standing there gawping at you" She said "Gonna have to bring him in if it starts raining though, I guess I should have thought bringing him home through eh" she joined Peter who was leaning on the wall of the balcony and looking out at the street. He then turned to her and watched her yawn tiredly

"Late night at this charity event was it?" he asked trying his very best not to sound jealous because he knew she was catching on.

"Not really, I mean I got in about one am but sometimes I'm still up watching me box sets at that time anyway."

"Are you gonna see that Marc again?" Peter asked looking at Carla intently

"Oh yeah definitely" She said enthusiastically, Peter frowned at her and she laughed "Peter I ave to see him because he's decided to make an order at the factory, It'll be for business purposes only. He's a bit of a bore and not really my type, if that's what you wanted to know" Peter shrugged carelessly as if he hadn't been up half the night worrying that her and Marc might have hit it off.

"I was just concerned because I didn't want him keeping you waiting around and stuff" Peter said unconvincingly

"Mhhmmm, course you were darlin" Carla said and she was stood very close to him now, she yawned again and rested her head on Peter's shoulder "It's been a long week" she sighed closing her eyes. "I think I'm still jet lagged y'know.

"Really? Car it's been five days" Peter said almost laughing Carla then yawned for the third time and nodded

"I'm probably gonna get an early night" She said, Peter turned his body towards hers and he almost went to put his arm around her but then Carla felt something against the side of her leg that made her jump, She looked down at Peter's jeans where it was coming from with her eyes wide, He pulled out his vibrating phone with a grin and said

"Calm down it's just a text message" Carla laughed sheepishly to herself and said

"I knew that" as Peter read what was on screen

"It's Leanne, She was supposed to pick Simon up but she's had to go into the bistro" Peter said and started replying to Leanne, Carla stared ahead at the sky, it was pretty much dark at this point and as the moon shone down on them both, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Peter was probably about to leave "I better go" Peter sighed, Carla turned to him

"Ahh that's a shame" she gazed at him mesmerizingly and then said "I was gonna let you see my bedroom" her voice was so sultry that it made Peter feel weak. Carla then walked back inside and left Peter out on the balcony alone. He quickly stumbled back in after her, wondering if she was just teasing him or if she was being serious.

"Well I don't have to leave right this second." Peter said hoping his voice sounded casual and that the desperation he had to get closer to Carla wasn't deeply obvious, She closed the balcony door behind them and looked at him irresistibly

"You can't leave poor Simon waiting" She shook her head slowly but she was smiling infectiously

"Trust me, If he's with that Santana girl then I'm sure he won't mind me being a few minutes late" Peter said deeply

"A few minutes?" Carla raised an eyebrow at him, amused but then she took a deep breath as Peter got closer to her, so that he was almost touching her "Come on then." She practically whispered as he moved in even more, She looked down and took one of Peter's hands. They both gasped at each other's touch.

The atmosphere was electric and Carla slowly began leading him towards her bedroom when there was a sudden knock on her front door.

They both jumped "I didn't let anyone in" Carla said puzzled, She dropped Peter's hand and made her way to her front door, Peter cursed who ever was on the other side of the door for interrupting such a magical moment with Carla. "Who is it?" She asked rather suspicious that someone could be knocking on her front door without being let in her building, a familiar voice then called out

"It's Michelle" Carla sighed almost smiling at Michelle's timing, She wasn't sure what exactly might have happened if her and Peter had made it to her bedroom uninterrupted but she thought it was probably for the best that Michelle had arrived when she did.

"Maybe next time eh?" Peter said softly, Carla nodded at him intently, She opened her front door, and Michelle was stood on her doorstep with a bottle of wine.

"Hiya, Nick let me in" she started and then she saw Peter. "Oh Hi Peter" She said and she looked over at the empty plates in the kitchen and at the glasses on the table. "Am I… interrupting something?" She asked now looking at Carla in her little vest and denim shorts, Peter shook his head at her

"Nope I was just helping Carla set up her new Wii" he said pointing down at the box which lay on the floor, Carla nodded

"I won it last night." She said because she knew that Michelle would be wondering where she'd got it from, Michelle walked into Carla's flat warily

"Oh right" She said, She could see the disappointment on Peter and Carla's face as they stood in front of her. She knew that she had definitely interrupted something.

"I better be off then." Peter said,

"You don't have to go Peter" Michelle said sure that he was making an excuse to leave Carla's flat.

"Oh I do, I've got to go and get Simon" He said as he walked over to the door.

"He does" Carla added quickly although the way she had added that, made Michelle more convinced that she had ruined some sort of secret night in.

"Tell him I said hi" Carla said to Peter, He nodded half-heartedly and said goodbye to the both of them before leaving Carla's flat and closing the door behind him.

Michelle watched Carla sigh slightly and said

"I feel dead guilty" Carla's eyebrows narrowed

"What you on about?" She said and she went into her kitchen and got some more wine glasses out of her cupboard

"I interrupted something didn't I?" Carla shook her head at her

"No ya didn't Chelle, Honestly he were just here playing Mario Kart"

Michelle didn't believe her friend for one minute but she decided she'd let the wine do it's thing and then ask Carla again later on.


	11. The Argument

Peter hadn't planned on staying in Manchester for so long, in fact he had only intended on being back for Simon's birthday and for a few weeks after that, so when Peter realised that he'd actually been there for almost two months he was utterly astonished.

The bookmakers that he had been helping a friend to run back in Portsmouth had really been struggling without him and the staff desperately needed him to come back and help them out. Peter had really tried to help out as much as he could, over the phone and over the Internet but it was clear that they really needed him to go back down south, in fact they practically begged Peter to return.

Peter eventually decided that the right thing to do was to go back, just for a couple of weeks and try get them back on track. After all, he had left them in the lurch over this summer and he was still getting paid for it too.

Simon was not impressed with this decision at all, He had hoped his Dad might have stayed with him for the rest of the summer holidays and as it was the middle of August, Simon assumed they had at least a few weeks more together. Peter had promised Simon that he would come back again soon but that only made Simon started asking when his Dad would finally come back to Manchester for good.

Peter wasn't too sure about his intentions, he wasn't even sure just when he would be able to return from Portsmouth this time around. He had a lot of responsibilities down there, responsibilities that weren't so easy for him to get out of, he was a crucial part of a business and even had his own studio flat that he had been renting.

In the end Leanne had the good idea that Peter could take Simon with him so that he could stay there for a week. Simon was thrilled with this idea and went to pack immediately, whilst Peter had gone down the Rover's to meet Carla and tell her his news.

When he told her that he was heading back down to Portsmouth, he just casually dropped it into the conversation, as if it was just a general piece of news and Carla made it very clear that she wasn't too impressed with this idea, especially when she found out Simon was going too.

They had both been having a lot of fun with Simon and were even beginning to spend some time alone without him. After getting interrupted by Michelle on that Friday night, they had met up in the pub a few times. Carla had even dragged Peter down to the factory one day and made him help out because she said that he was getting too used to living a life of luxury and that he needed to get off his lazy backside. Peter had complained at first but he'd actually had a ridiculous amount of fun back at Underworld. He spent the day larking about with Kirk and flirting with the girls. They all loved having him back at the factory and even though she normally didn't tolerate this sort of behaviour, Carla couldn't help but grin at Peter the entire day. She tried not to show her disappointment as Peter explained the situation to her and said that he would be back soon. She nodded at him but he could tell that she was slightly gutted to see him leaving again.

Peter's first week back in Portsmouth with Simon was extremely pleasant but on his last night Simon began asking him if would come back for good again. Simon reminded Peter that he had only left Manchester to get his head straight and so that he could be a better father. Simon acted like he truly believed that Peter had changed and said that he really really wanted him to come back for good. Peter still wasn't sure but promised Simon that he would think about it whilst he was gone and that he would let him know soon.

It was after Peter had put Simon on the train back to Manchester, that things began to feel different. Whilst Peter was glad to see his new friends and he had relished being behind a bookies counter again, he was finding it difficult to get used to his everyday life back in Portsmouth. It was as if it wasn't as enjoyable anymore and as he went home each night to his empty flat, he really missed having his Dad around for company, he missed being able to meet up with Simon whenever he wanted, he even missed Tracy and Amy.

Peter sincerely missed Carla and even though they had kept in contact over their phones and Skype it obviously wasn't the same as being with her and being in her presence. Even though Peter had promised to be back in a few weeks, Carla knew it would be longer than that and in true Peter fashion it was almost a month before he made it back to Weatherfield.

* * *

A five hour journey from Portsmouth to Manchester had been turned into an almost ten hour journey due of various delays. Peter was then forced to sit next to a screaming toddler for most of it too. Normally he liked little kids and could put up with them for hours on end but not the loud and screaming kind. He had tried to drown out the noise with his headphones but the toddler next to him was far too noisy for that idea to work.

The only thing keeping Peter positive was seeing his Dad, Simon and Carla again and as he got back to Manchester almost five hours later than he was supposed to, Peter was not in the best of moods, in fact he was downright miserable.

As he dragged his suitcase through Piccadilly and carried a huge backpack on his back, he wondered what his family and Carla would make of his new news, He had made the choice on wether to stay in Manchester or not and he was very eager to hear what they had to say on the matter. Peter had to wait ages for a cab and then as one of the wheels on his suitcase broke, Peter was beginning to feel like someone was against him coming back to Weatherfield tonight.

Eventually his cab came and took Peter back to Coronation Street. He got out, paid the driver and grumpily knocked on the door of number one. It was now nine thirty pm, hours and hours later than he was supposed to be back. His Dad answered the door and smiled at him warmly.

"Hi Peter" Ken said taking the suitcase of off him and pulling it inside.

"Hey" Peter said gruffly as he stepped inside the house, He followed Ken into the back room and frowned when he saw that it was empty. "Where's Simon?" he asked

"Sorry Peter, He had to go, he's got a school trip tomorrow and Leanne wanted him to have an early night" Ken said apologetically, he knew that Peter would have been desperate to see his son and had tried to talk Leanne into letting Simon stay longer but she was having none of it.

"Great" Peter mumbled putting his stuff into a corner, he glanced around and then asked "Where's Tracy?"

"Gone to bed, she wanted an early night too." Ken said, Peter sighed and flopped down into the sofa. He had been really looking forward to seeing Simon after being away for so long and now it felt like he had rushed to get home for nothing.

"Fantastic" Peter said sarcastically. He sat chatting with Ken for a little while before saying "I might go down the pub, d'ya fancy it?" Ken hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

"Maybe not, it'll be rather quiet tonight" Ken said awkwardly, Peter frowned

"Well that's good isn't it?" He said although he didn't care less if it was packed or not he was just hoping that Carla might have been in there with Michelle or something.

"I don't know Peter you've just got back you must be tired?" Ken said. He seemed to be trying to convince Peter not to go, so of course this made Peter want to go even more. He said goodbye to his Dad and went next door. When he got inside the pub he realised why Ken had tried to make Peter to stay at home.

Carla was sat at a table with Marc Matthews, the guy who she had done some business with last month. She was wearing a khaki sleeveless shirt and tight black jeans. They were sat sharing a bottle of wine and laughing loudly over something. Peter couldn't believe his eyes.

This was the same guy who she had called a bore and not her type yet she was smiling at him in a way that made Peter's stomach turn. He almost turned around and walked right out of the pub but he made it to the bar without Carla even noticing him. Sean glanced over at Carla and then at Peter

"Hiya Peter nice to see you back again, what can I get you?" He asked cheerily, Peter cleared his throat

"Can I just get a Orange juice please" he said feeling a little stupid now because not only was he ordering an orange juice, in a pub. He was choosing to drink it on his own, like some sad loner.

Steve eventually came from out back and smiled at Peter, glad to see his friend back

"Hiya mate" Steve said but he could instantly tell Peter's attention was on the table in the corner, where Carla was sat.

"Hey" Peter said as he drank his orange juice bitterly "So how long ave those two been sat there like that then?" Peter asked nodding at Carla and Marc, all the while knowing that he had no right to be so jealous, especially when nothing was even going on and that Carla and Marc were just sitting having a drink but that was probably what hurt Peter the most. He couldn't sit and have a few drinks with like that, He hated that he couldn't do the whole normal socialising thing and to see Carla doing it with this Marc only made him feel worse.

"About half an hour I'd say" Steve said as Michelle came through to the bar. "But I also happen to know that they went out for dinner last week..." Steve said cautiously as Michelle came up behind and she did not look happy.

"You're Mum's ready for you Steve." She said a little peeved that Steve was telling Peter Carla's business. Steve nodded and sighed at Peter who was processing the news that Carla had already been out with Marc before tonight and that he new nothing about it.

They had kept in contact the whole time he had been gone, She phoned him loads and they even Skyped a few times and Carla didn't mention going out with Marc once.

"I'm taking me mum to the theatre tonight" Steve said hugging Michelle goodbye and kissing her on the cheek.

"Oh right well have fun." Peter said as Steve left the bar with Liz. Michelle looked at Carla and then at Peter just as Steve had done. Anyone one could see how envious Peter was as he sat there with his eyes fixed on Carla.

"She's not all that keen on him y'know" Michelle said with an eyebrow raised Peter looked at her

"Really? It doesn't look like it to me" Peter said unconvinced, Carla finally saw that he was stood there with Michelle, She smiled delightedly, got up from her chair suddenly and rushed over to him.

"Hi Stranger" She said going in for a hug, She was expecting Peter to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, just like he used to, only he didn't and it was highly awkward when he didn't show any enthusiasm in returning her embrace.

"Hi Carla" he said trying not to let his more than obvious bad mood, affect the way he treated her, She let go of him awkwardly not understanding why after being gone for almost four weeks he was acting so cold towards her. She had missed him a lot more than she should have and she had been so looking forward to seeing him again.

"You okay?" She asked a little disheartened, He nodded and continued to drink his orange juice, Carla looked at Michelle for some input but Michelle just stayed quiet. "You sure?" She asked

"Yeah I just said so didn't I?" Peter said Carla rolled her eyes a little and strolled back to the table where she had been sitting. She didn't want to leave Peter like that but she also didn't want to be rude to Marc especially since he still hadn't signed on the dotted line yet.

"Now come on Peter, You should know by now that's not the way you do things." Michelle sighed,

"What do you mean?"

"Well if you're jealous of someone, you don't make it so flamin obvious for a start" Michelle leant on the bar "And you definitely don't take it out on the girl either." She said nodding towards Carla.

"I'm not jealous… and I'm not taking it out on Carla... Not really" Peter sighed "I'm just in a foul mood that's all, I was supposed to be back hours ago y'know, I was supposed to see Simon, he weren't there and now" he stopped talking, He felt really wounded by seeing Carla sat there with Marc, and he hated himself because he realised how ridiculous he must have sounded to Michelle, especially after everything he had done to Carla in the past.

"Well as I said, she's not all that keen on him" Michelle said and Peter looked unconvinced yet again

"Has she told you that then?" he asked and Michelle shook her head at him.

"No"

"Then how can you be so sure?"

"Seriously Peter? She's me best mate" Michelle started "I mean he's blonde for a start and he's younger than her."

"So?" Peter said bitterly, he didn't quite see how that was supposed to make him feel better, Michelle tutted at him and continued

"So... he's not her type." Michelle said "Carla has a taste for men who are older... preferably brooding and with dark hair" Michelle was smirking at Peter now. He hated how funny she was finding this situation compared to how unfunny he found it.

"I guess she had to move on at some point." Peter mumbled not wanting to look over in Carla's direction anymore.

"Oh Peter she's hardly moving on, She's just having a drink with the guy, She doesn't like him that way, she only agreed to go to dinner with him last week because it was his birthday, she felt sorry for him because he's new to the area and has no mates ere yet" Michelle said sighing as Sean came over

"Oh that guy is so dreamy" He said watching Marc, Sean didn't realise that Peter was getting more and more irritated by Marc by the minute and continued to gush about him "He's so funny as well, I mean he always has us in stitches down at the factory… Ooh no pun intended" Sean said laughing loudly, it was obvious that he was reminiscing at something they had all laughed at the factory but when he saw Peter's pained expression he stopped talking and went to serve another customer.

"Peter seriously cheer up, it ain't that bad" Michelle said pulling a pint for a customer next to him.

"I know, I just wasn't expecting this that's all, I mean we've been texting like mad and Carla didn't even mention Marc, not even once."

"Well why would she?" Michelle said with a sigh as she handed the pint she had poured over to the customer who had ordered it.

"Oh I dunno" Peter said deciding to get off the subject of Marc as he could hear how pathetically jealous he sounded. "How's Carla been anyway?" he asked wondering if she had acted like she missed him at all.

"Erm I wouldn't know to be honest" Michelle said looking rather guilty "I've barley seen her, other than in here. I've been really busy with parties and Steve and stuff. I kinda get the feeling she feels a little ignored" Michelle said looking at Carla who was finishing up a glass of wine. Carla had been trying to get Michelle to meet up with her properly over the past four weeks but Michelle had always been busy each time and in the end Carla had stopped texting her to try and organise something.

As the night went on Marc eventually left the pub because he had to get back home to plan for an early morning meeting. Carla got up from the table also and walked over to the bar where Peter was stood with Michelle, on her way over to them a drunken man crashed right into her spilling half of his pint, luckily for this man it went all over the floor and not on Carla because then she really would have really kicked off.

"Woah" he cried raucously but Carla just tutted at him

"Idiot" she said rolling her eyes at Michelle, She looked at Peter and smiled at him expectantly, hoping he had gotten over what ever bad mood he had been in before hand, unfortunately for Carla, Peter was still tired, still jealous and still very very moody.

"So how's everything back down in Portsmouth then?" Carla asked trying to make conversation, Michelle glanced at Peter who had finished his first orange juice a long time ago "Peter?" Carla said when he didn't answer her straight away, She then looked at Michelle who just stood there quietly as well. He was about to speak when Carla rolled her eyes "Well aren't you two a bore tonight?" She had meant it as a joke but Peter had been on the verge of snapping for a while now and said

"Well if we're so boring, why don't you go and run after that idiot?" Michelle's eyes widened as Carla looked confused

"Eh?" She said "Are you talking about Marc?"

"Of course, I'm talking about him, who else?" Peter said bluntly "If you were avin such great time with him, you should go and find him." he added

"Peter, me calling you two boring were a joke" Carla said, a little taken aback that Peter could be so hostile towards her, they had been getting along so well before he left and now it seemed as if she'd maybe done something wrong.

"Well I just didn't think it were funny that's all" Peter said "I mean you practically ignore us, all night and that's the first thing you say." Carla could tell that Peter was in a bad mood and the best idea would have been to ignore him but she still couldn't help but retaliate and say

"Ignore you? I came over and said Hi, You were the one acting all bad tempered and moody... What did you want me to do? hang around you and wait for you to stop being a miserable git?"

"Oh please, you just couldn't wait to run back to the table and sit with Marc" Peter exclaimed, although he had a slight feeling that he should probably close his mouth and just shut up.

"Well I weren't going to leave him sitting there alone was I? You could have come over and introduced your self if you wanted" Carla then paused

"Introduce myself to him? No thanks" Peter scoffed rather pathetically

"Chelle?" Carla said looking at Michelle for some sort of support but Michelle just shrugged her shoulders awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do. Carla and Peter arguments were not the kind of arguments that she liked to get in the middle of.

"I'm not getting involved" Michelle said quietly and pretending to keep herself busy, Carla looked at Peter

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?" She said to him because she had no idea that he was returning tonight and she had actually wanted to go out with him properly so that they could catch up.

"I wanted it to be a surprise didn't I" Peter said sighing and finishing his newly refilled orange juice "Why? Are you annoyed that I walked in and found you nice n cosy with Marc?"

"Nice n Cosy?" Carla said irritatedly "I'm sorry, am I not allowed to sit and ave a drink with a friend now?" Carla asked and Michelle could tell by Carla's tone that an argument was brewing

"A friend yeah right" Peter said rather childishly

"Seriously Peter? Tell me you are not actually going there?"

"Going where?" Peter asked foolishly "Do you really think that guy has friendship on his mind?" Peter knew how stupid he sounded in his head but when it came to talking out loud he simply couldn't act rationally about this situation, He wanted to shut up and not say anything else on the matter but then Carla touched a nerve by asking

"Are you jealous Peter?"

"Jealous? Me? Of the guy you called a bore and said that wasn't your type? Sure" Peter scoffed. Carla couldn't quite believe that Peter had remembered what she had said about Marc, especially when she barley remembered saying it herself "I just find it hard to understand how you can sit there and be all pally with someone who is so boring" He added dryly

"Well maybe… I changed my mind" Carla said even though she still wasn't sure about Marc, She was just trying to annoy Peter because his behaviour was extremely frustrating.

"Or maybe you just said that to me to keep me happy"

"Oh Please?" Carla said "Do you honestly think I've never better to do with my time than lie about Marc, just to keep you happy?" Michelle wasn't sure whether to leave them to it or go away but she could hardly leave Sean at the bar alone, She could see that Carla and Peter were both as stubborn as each other and that they were both acting so juvenile on purpose.

"Maybe you two should go out back." Michelle suggested but Carla and Peter ignored this suggestion and shook their heads at her simultaneously. Michelle couldn't help but smirk at how in sync they were with each other.

"It's okay, I ave nothing else to say to Carla to be honest Michelle"

"Yeah, It's fine Chelle" Carla agreed and then she turned to Peter "Look, you're the one who came into my factory, saying you wanted to be friends but I cannot be friends with you if you are going to act like this" She paused waiting for a reply but Peter just breathed in deeply "I don't know what's gotten into you Peter, maybe you just had a bad day or maybe a bad week but you are clearly looking for an argument and I am not going to entertain it, not tonight." Carla began to walk away from the bar, hating that Peter's return had gone horribly. He turned to her

"I'm not looking for an argument Car" Peter started but then Carla slipped suddenly and everything went dark.


	12. Concussion & Cuddles

Carla opened her eyes to find a blurry Michelle, Sean and Peter all standing above her.

"She's awake!"

"Thank god"

They all eventually came into focus and it was then that Carla felt an extreme surge of pain to the back her head.

"Carla! Are you alright?" She heard Michelle say, She then felt an arm go underneath her and pull her up and off the ground. Nothing made sense and Carla looked down to see that she had been lying flat out on the floor of the Rover's. As Peter helped Carla stand up straight, she looked at all the concerned faces around her,

"What happened?" She asked blearily.

"You slipped on a spilt drink" Peter said watching her, She closed her eyes and grimaced as the pain in her head only began to get worse.

"Someone get her some ice." Peter said looking worried as he took her around the waist and lead her over to a chair, She sat down and tried to work out what had happened to her because even though she knew that Peter had told her, she couldn't quite remember what he had actually said.

"Where's Simon?" She eventually asked and Peter looked around him as if Simon would have been standing happened there but he wasn't of course, Peter then turned back to look at Carla again

"He's not here, he's at home with Leanne." he said uneasily but Carla still looked puzzled like she couldn't seem to piece together the events that were happening right in front of her.

"Is he?"

"Yeah" Peter said a little confused himself, he watched as Carla was obviously contemplating the situation she was in. Her skin was pale, eyes slightly glassy. She frowned and then asked

"I know you've already told me but… what happened again?" and every so often Carla would wince at the pain that she was feeling on the back of her head. Peter turned to Michelle, who had been standing watching Carla worriedly.

"I reckon she might have concussion." Peter said as it had looked like Carla had hit her head pretty hard when she hit the ground and she definitely wasn't acting right. She almost looked dazed as she sat there in the pub. Sean then came running over with an ice pack wrapped in a tea towel. Peter took it from him and held on the back of Carla's head

"Ow!" She cried in pain. She tried to move away from Peter but he had hold of her pretty tightly.

"Aren't you supposed to ask em questions, basic ones just to see if they can answer them?' Sean said in a bit of a panic "What's ya name?" He then asked,

"Eileen Grimshaw" Carla sighed trying to be sarcastic, even with the pain she was in, Carla could still remain as sassy as ever. Sean didn't get it though and looked even more panicked "Sean I'm fine." She added but then Michelle practically shoved three fingers in her face

"How many fingers am I holding up Car?" She asked, Carla winced again as Peter held the ice firmly onto her head.

"Three"

"Good, How about now?" Michelle asked, now holding up six fingers

"Stop it Michelle, I'm fine" Carla said trying to remove the ice pack and Peter's hand from the back of her head but Peter refused to let go of her.

"Carla you should leave it on a bit longer" he said but she managed to push him away

"I'm still not talking to you Peter." Carla said stood up. However the moment she stood up, she felt extremely dizzy and then she was suddenly sick. Peter and Michelle both jumped backwards to avoid the vomit that hit the floor. Carla looked horrified at what she had just done and wanted to just disappear but she could barley manage to stand up right, let alone to try and do a runner.

"Oh dear" Sean said and then he ran out back to get a mop bucket, as various punters in the pub recoiled at the sight before them.

"That's it, I'm talking you to the hospital" he said taking Carla by the hand. Carla wasn't feeling too great as it was, but Peter's gentle touch made her feel even more shaky.

"Peter I don't need..." She stopped talking as she began to feel nauseous again. Normally she would try and fight him off but she had to admit that she didn't feel good at all. The pain in her head was bad enough but she still couldn't even stand up right and as she swayed to the left and grabbed hold of Peter, she realised that the hospital was probably a good idea after all. "Okay… I'm thinkin that maybe I should go down the hospital after all" Peter nodded and said

"Good… let's go then." Carla looked at Michelle hopefully

"You coming Chelle?"

"Carla... Y'know I would but I can't really leave Sean to deal with this all on his own." Michelle said looking down at the wet floor and the pub full of people.

"Of course you can't" Carla snapped, not really surprised that Michelle had said no.

"Carla… I'm sorry" Michelle said feeling extremely guilty that she wouldn't be able to go with her best friend. Carla just walked off on her own accord, she got to the door of the Rovers and pushed it. When it didn't open she turned to Peter and said,

"Come on Peter, get a wiggle on"

"I'll call you and let you know what happens okay." Peter said to Michelle grabbing Carla's bag off of the bar. When he got to the door, Carla gave it another push but still didn't open.

"Seriously! Why is the flamin door not opening?" She asked Peter shook his head at her as he pulled it open,

"Maybe that's why" he said slowly

"Oh" Carla said realising that she had been pushing it the whole time, Peter took Carla's hand again and said

"Let's just get to the hospital eh"

Peter ended up taking Carla down to street cars and getting a cab to the hospital. He didn't have time to go into his place and get his car keys and he was sure that an ambulance wouldn't come straight away just for a case of suspected concussion.

As they made their way to the hospital, he had kept asking Carla questions to try and keep her alert, He could tell she was getting more and more irritated by this and she eventually snapped at him

"Oh would ya just shut up Peter!"

They'd got to the hospital rather quickly and Peter told the driver to keep the change as he paid. He had his arm wrapped securely around Carla's waist in case she felt dizzy again. He took her into the Urgent Care centre and he almost swore out loud when he saw how many people were in there.

There were a whole load of people who looked like they should have been out clubbing, only some of them had bloody noses or swollen lips and it looked like there had probably been a fight. There were also a lot of very unwell looking people and some one was even sitting with a cardboard bowl, obviously In case he needed to throw up. Peter looked around to see if he could find Carla somewhere to sit. Eventually a man looked at the two of them, saw how Peter was obviously holding Carla upright and got up to offer his chair to her, Peter thanked him and sat Carla down gently.

"Wait here Carla, I'm gonna go and book you in." he said, Carla nodded slowly as he walked over to a desk where the receptionist was sat.

"Hi I'm here with my... friend Carla she slipped over and hit her head, I think she's got concussion" Peter said to the woman who was sitting behind the desk, She looked over at Carla, who was sitting with her head buried in her hands.

"Could you get her to fill in this form please and then return it to us, Then we can get your friend in to see the triage nurse but I have to warn you sir we are very busy tonight, there was a huge incident at a local night club and lots of people need to be seen" The woman said and she handed Peter a clipboard, He glanced at it quickly and decided just to fill it out himself because all it needed were a few basic details of Carla's those of which he knew anyway.

"Here" Peter said handing the clipboard back to the woman "How long it will take roughly? y'know for her to be seen?" he asked looking back at Carla anxiously, The receptionist sighed slightly which had irritated Peter a little.

"As I said sir, we are very busy at the moment and there are lots of people to see." she looked down at what Peter had written, "How many times has your friend been sick?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I don't know... A few" Peter lied hoping it might get Carla seen a little quicker, The receptionist nodded and handed him one of the little cardboard bowls like the one he had seen earlier.

"Okay, I'll see if I can get her seen as soon as possible, most of the people here only have superficial injuries but concussion can get pretty serious so she'll most likely be bumped up the list. Could you tell her to try and sit up straight please?" She said she read Peter's expression and added "It's just in case she loses consciousness, we wouldn't want her to hit her head again would we?"

Peter nodded and he went back over to Carla who was still sat with her head in her hands "Right that's you all booked in Carla and the nurse said to sit up straight." he said getting down on his knees in front of her so he could see her properly, She sat up straight and said

"Ow me head is killing me." She began rubbing the spot on the back where she had hit it on the floor.

"Yeah well I'm not surprised you hit the ground pretty hard" Peter said anxiously. A nurse came out from a grey door and called out someone's name, it just so happened to be the woman who was sitting next to Carla so when she got up Peter went and sat in her seat.

Carla watched Peter for a moment, trying to piece together the events that had led her to the hospital.

"Were we arguing?" Carla asked, She could remember that she had told Peter she didn't want to speak to him when he had been trying to help her but she wasn't exactly sure why, He sighed and nodded

"Yes we were, you went to storm off home and you slipped on someone's spilt drink" He said, Carla was silent for a moment and then she smiled weakly

"Y'know I reckon I'm probably owed some compensation from Steve McDonald now" She said, Peter laughed slightly glad that Carla seemed to still be able to make jokes.

"He weren't even there Carla remember? He's taken Liz out"

"Oh... Well I were just joking anyway. " Carla said wondering if he was taking her seriously. He was still watching Carla with a very concerned look on his face and she could tell that he was sincerely worried about her. She glanced down at the cardboard bowl he was holding

"Is that for me?" She asked remembering how she had been sick on the floor of the pub and how she'd never live it down.

"No it's for me, I had some bad food earlier." Peter joked, Carla frowned at him not sure whether he was joking or not.

"Really?"

"Of course it's for you" Peter said smiling although he was still really concerned as Carla seemed pretty out of it. She was silent for a few minutes and then she snatched the bowl of off him to be sick again. She did it rather neatly this time, getting it all into the bowl. She looked mortified as Peter got up and took the bowl from her gingerly

"I'll just go and empty this" he said and he took it into the men's toilets. It was another three quarters of an hour before a nurse came out of the grey door and called out

"Carla Barlow" Carla sighed and stood up, Peter got up as well and walked behind her gingerly so that he could be there to catch her in case she had another dizzy spell.

"Sorry about that" Peter began,

"Eh?" said Carla looking baffled and turning to face him

"Well I know how you like to be called Connor but I thought I'd better give your legal name… just in case" He said awkwardly

"Don't be silly" Carla started but she swayed suddenly and before she knew it Peter had his arm back around her waist, he helped her walk the rest of the way to the nurses room.

Whilst inside Carla had tried to explain what had happened. She told the nurse that all she knew is that she had fallen and that now she was in rather a lot of pain. Carla rolled her eyes a little when Peter began telling the nurse she had been rather spaced out since the fall, that she had been sick twice, that she couldn't remember much about what had happened and that she really didn't seem like her self. Carla really didn't want to make a big deal out of all of this but she knew Peter was just trying to be as helpful as he could and that he just wanted to look after her, so in the end she just nodded along with everything he was saying.

The nurse typed all the information on the computer. She then took Carla's blood pressure and temperature. She frowned when she saw that Carla's temperature was over thirty-nine degrees which was way above normal and asked if Carla had been drinking prior to coming to the hospital. Peter saw the nurses' concerned expression when Carla had said she had shared a bottle of wine with a friend.

"Is she okay?" He asked nervously, the Nurse looked into Carla's eyes closely and then said

"I'm gonna send you straight through to the trauma room, so you can have a proper assessment done but it definitely looks like you're concussed." The nurse said "If you follow the signs on the wall and make your way to accident and emergency, someone will be there to assist you."

Accident and Emergency was full of all sorts of ill people, lying on hospital beds with their family or friends next to them supportively. Peter had helped Carla walk most of the way just in case she felt faint again. Carla had still felt really unwell but the way Peter was holding her close, so tenderly and making sure that she was okay, really made her feel warm inside.

Carla was given a bed opposite an old man, he was very pale and next to his bed was a woman who looked a similar age to him. She was chatting away to the old man but she gave Carla a smile as she got onto the bed. Carla smiled back at her bravely as Peter sat down on the chair that was next to her bed. A nurse then passed by and said that a doctor would be along to see Carla shortly, although Carla and Peter both had an idea that shortly probably meant a very long time.

After about ten minutes had gone by Carla was slowly beginning to remember more of what had happened before she had slipped, She remembered some of the argument with Peter and couldn't believe how petty it had been.

"Do you want a drink or anything?" Peter offered remembering how he'd seen a coffee machine on their way in. Carla shook her head and was still perched on the edge of the bed as if she thought she would be getting up again in a little while.

"No thanks" She said but then Peter frowned at her "What?" she asked

"I think you might as well lay down and get yourself comfortable" He said looking at his watch, it was almost midnight, way later than Peter had realised.

"I'm alright like this, I'm feeling a little better now." Carla said defiantly, even though the bump on the back of her head was really hurting her. She soon leant just that little bit too far forward, lost her balance and almost fell right off of the bed. Peter jumped up and caught her before she hit the ground again. Carla laughed but Peter didn't find it so funny

"Lay down Carla" he insisted and he had said it so firmly, that Carla reluctantly laid back. The hospital bed was raised by about forty degrees so Carla wasn't lying completely flat on her back. She turned her head so she was facing Peter and said

"Happy now are ya?"

"Yes" he said sitting back down on the chair. He pulled it in closer to the bed so he could reach Carla properly. She laid there in silence for while and then began biting down on her bottom lip agitatedly "You're not worried are you?" Peter asked, She shook her head at him slowly

"No… not really, I just hate being in hospitals" She said "I know that sounds crazy, I mean no one actually likes being in ere it's just... All hospitals seem to do for me is bring back some really horrible memories" Peter nodded, knowing exactly the horrible things Carla had been through, the ones which had led to her having to stay in hospital in the past. "This beats the last time I were ere though. After that bus crash." Carla said "Everyone else had someone who'd rushed here to see em and… there was me on me own... The whole time."

"and where was Michelle? wasn't she on the bus with you?" Peter asked as it sounded odd to him that Michelle wasn't there for Carla, especially when she needed her.

"She were but she went off with Steve and spent the whole time with him. She didn't come and see me... Not even once" Carla said still resenting Michelle just a tiny bit for not even popping her head around the curtain.

"Really? I'm surprised" Peter said, "I mean you two are practically sisters." Carla nodded

"Yeah I were surprised too to be honest. I mean don't get me wrong, I still love her to death but at the time it just felt like there were no one in this world who cared whether I were alive or not." She said and Peter took her hand "I don't want you to get the violins out or anythin… I guess what I'm tryin to say is ... I'm glad that your ere Peter. It's really comforting to know that I can still count on you." She said squeezing Peter's hand tight.

"Carla, seriously after how much you've been there for me Dad and Simon recently, how could I not be ere eh? Just let me know if you want me to call someone for you?" Peter said, Carla looked at him confused

"Like who?"

"I don't know like... Marc?" he said although he regretted it instantly because it came across quite petty and as if he was trying to be funny. Carla shook her head at him and said,

"I don't want you to call anyone... I just want you ere Peter." she smiled at him weakly and he smiled at her too, glad to hear that she needed him. "That's what we were arguing about wasn't it... Marc" Carla said as most of the row she'd had with Peter in the pub had come back to her, He nodded ashamedly

"Yes but straight off Carla, I just want you to know that I were being a right selfish prat."

"Oh Go on" Carla laughed

"It's no excuse but I had the journey from hell today, All I wanted was to see Simon and he was already at Leanne's n in bed by the time I got back. Then seeing you in the pub, having so much fun with that Marc, It just got me even more wound up." Peter said

"You _really_ don't like him do ya?" Carla said

"I'll be honest with you Carla" Peter started "You're right, I don't like the man and it's simply because it drives me insane to even hear that another man has got close to you" he said looking down at their entwined hands "Now I know I ave absolutely no right to be so jealous but I just can't help it I'm afraid"

"Peter" said Carla, forcing him to look up at her "This whole Marc thing it's ... nothing. I mean yes I went out with him once just to keep him company but that's all it ever was. I mean if I'm honest with you, I were just trying to distract myself because you weren't around" Carla admitted.

"Well as happy as I am to hear that, I'm gonna have to get used to all this aren't I? Especially if I'm gonna stay in Weatherfield." Peter said, Carla stared at him stunned

"Stay? Like for good?" She asked, Peter nodded at her

"I feel like it's time I came back and was here for me family" he said, "Which is why I should probably get used to the idea of you being with another man sooner rather than later" Carla gulped nervously at him and said

"Peter" She paused "Y'know... there's not gonna be another-"

"Carla Barlow?" A voice suddenly said, they both looked up at the doctor who was stood at the end of the bed looking through Carla's notes. Peter let go of Carla's hand quickly.

"Yes" Carla said, rather glad She had been interrupted because she wasn't sure just what she was about to say to Peter just then.

"I'm Dr Turner" the doctor smiled as he put Carla's notes down "Now your symptoms definitely seem to show that you've got concussion but I'm just going to do a few little exercises just to be sure." The doctor then asked Carla some basic questions and shone a bright light into both her eyes.

"Woah" Carla cried squinting slightly. "Is that bloody bright enough?" She asked as the doctor continued with his examination and eventually he said,

"Right the good news is that you only seem slightly concussed and I don't think there's any need for a CT Scans as you seem to be recovering quite well. However things can change very quickly, especially if you've been drinking, so we will have to keep you in for a while for observation."

"She'll be okay though right?" Peter asked still looking very concerned, The Doctor nodded at him assuringly and said

"She should be fine by the morning but as I said we're just keeping her in as just a precaution" Peter nodded, looking more relieved now he knew that Carla would probably be fine. Carla began to move as if she was going to get up. Dr Turner shook his head at her "I'm afraid that we don't have any available beds upstairs, so we will have to keep you down here if that's okay"

"Well it will have to be won't it" Carla said dryly as if she had a choice in the matter.

"Carla it's not the Doctors fault" Peter said, Carla raised her eyebrows

"I'm aware of that Peter" She said smirking

"Don't worry many people who suffer from concussion can be quite irritable" Dr Turner said smiling, Peter thought it was best not to mention that Carla could be quite irritable even at the best of times.

"Right I'll be back to bring you some painkillers, then we will check on you in an hour or so. If you have any problems or start to feel any worse, get your boyfriend to find a nurse immediately."

Peter and Carla both chose to remain silent and not correct the doctor on the boyfriend part. Dr Turner went over to the bed opposite where the old couple where. Carla watched them for a minute even though the old man looked very ill there was a genuine look of happiness on his face as his spoke to his wife, they were both holding hands blissfully, as if there was no one else in the room.

"Uh they are so cute" Carla said still watching them, Peter took a look in the direction that she was staring at "Look how they're holding hands like that" Peter chuckled at Carla as she continued "Wow… I'm jealous of a pair of old age pensioners, is this really what me life has come to?"

Peter chuckled again, reaching over and taking Carla's hand once more

"There" he said "Now you've no reason to be jealous" She smiled down at their hands and they sat in silence for a few moments. Peter had noticed that Carla had shivered every so often and he was just about to ask her if she was feeling cold when his phone began ringing. He let go of Carla's hand so he could get his phone out of his pocket.

"It's Michelle" Peter said handing Carla the phone,

"Hiya Chelle?" She sighed although she was pleased that Michelle had made the effort to call her, especially at almost half past twelve in the morning. "It's just concussion, The doctor reckons I'll be fine in the morning they just want to keep me in, just to make sure" Carla said she shivered again as she spoke to Michelle, and Peter soon noticed that Goosebumps had suddenly appeared on Carla's sleeveless arms. He got up off of his chair and Carla watched him as he walked over to a nurse.

"What is he doing?" Carla said to herself as Michelle spoke down the phone, She soon saw what he was up to, when after a few moments he appeared with a blanket. Carla grinned at him when she had ended her conversation with Michelle and said

"Awww aren't you sweet" She had been assuming that Peter had noticed how cold she had become and reached out to take the blanket from him but he just wrapped it around himself dramatically and sat down with a grin. "Don't take the mick Peter, I'm frozen over ere" Carla groaned and then he chucked the little white blanket over to her, she inspected it first and other than a few loose threads it looked almost perfect. She smiled and wrapped it around her self triumphantly. "Thank you… So since you're plannin on sticking around ere, does that mean you're gonna get yourself a fancy new job?" She asked, already feeling a little warmer,

"Yeah… and somewhere to live I suppose." Peter sighed not knowing where to begin with either of these challenges.

"Why? what's wrong with your Dad's place?" Carla asked fiddling with one of the loose threads on the blanket absent-mindedly

"Well it's okay for now but I can't really stay there for too much longer, there's barley enough room as it is" He said, Carla nodded sympathetically "So unless Anna Windass is planning on moving out the bookies flat, I'll have to find somewhere new... Eh you don't fancy a lodger do ya?" He joked, Carla shook her head

"Not one little bit" she said smirking "Tell ya what though, I do have a job down factory for ya."

"Oh yeah" Peter said his eyebrows raised

"Yeah... Our cleaners quit on us" She quipped, Peter nodded sarcastically as Carla laughed, "I think you'd look rather fetching in a pair of rubber gloves." She said as Dr Tuner returned with a cup of water and some painkillers. "Thank you" Carla nodded at him she then looked back at Peter "So what d'ya reckon then? d'ya fancy being me new cleaner?" She sat upright so she could take the two painkillers but she didn't take her eyes off of Peter.

"Tell ya what, I'll look for some other jobs and if I ave no luck I'll apply for your cleaning job okay" Peter said as Carla swallowed down the tablets. She nodded at him with a smile but he then looked disheartened as he stared down at his feet miserably.

"What?" Carla said watching him, she was still sitting upright as He shrugged

"Nothing"

"Peter?" Carla asked looking unconvinced

"It's just I reckon you should keep that cleaning job available because I don't think many people are gonna want to hire an ex convict." Peter said,

"Peter you were wrongly accused, miscarriages of justice happen all the time. Man up and stop feeling so sorry for yourself" Carla said rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on Carla, Be honest, would you hire someone who had been arrested for murder… twice?" Peter said. Carla thought for a moment but couldn't admit to Peter that she probably wouldn't. Instead she chose changed the subject slightly.

"You know what you're right Peter, You can't go and work for someone else and d'ya know why? because you ave way too many useful skills to be using them for someone else's profit. You just need to figure out a way to be your own boss again."

"And how do I do that eh?" He asked although the way Carla had just showed that she believed in him had already made him feel a little better about himself.

"I don't know…" Carla shrugged, her head still throbbing from the bump earlier. "I'm far too concussed for all that kinda talk, We'll discuss that another time but trust me Peter you will be fine I know it." She smiled at him admiringly and Peter moved closer to her.

"Carla…" he said softy stroking her hand with a few of his fingers, She looked down at what he was doing and then back up at him

"Yeah" she said quietly

"Would you just lay down?"

She laughed a little frustratedly and lay back down on the bed. After a few moments Carla felt her stomach rumble with hunger she turned to Peter again

"I'm well hungry, do ya reckon I'll be allowed to eat summat?" Carla asked pained

"No idea? D'ya want me to go and ask?" Peter said beginning to feel his tummy as well "I'm pretty hungry me self actually"

"I know right, would kill for a Pizza right now wouldn't you" Carla moaned Peter grinned at her

"Eh do you reckon I should call Pizza Hut and get em to deliver a pizza to A&amp;E?"

"Oh my god, Do it Peter" Carla said practically salivating as she spoke, Peter laughed and stopped a nurse who walked past

"Excuse me. Carla ere has got concussion" He said pointing at Carla as he said her name and Carla couldn't help but giggle as he did it. "Is she allowed to eat anything?" The nurse looked at Carla's notes and then up at Carla who was smiling eagerly, trying her very best to look as if she was completely fine.

"Well I'd recommend you refrain from eating anything too big for the next few hours. I'd stick to water and dry foods if I were you." The nurse said, Carla groaned as she walked away.

"There goes our Pizza Plan eh." She mumbled clutching her tummy as if she was really starving hungry.

"I think their delivery stops before midnight anyway" Peter said noticing a heavily pregnant woman with blonde hair who was stood at a bed diagonal from them. She was standing up chatting away to a man who lay in the bed. Peter looked around and suddenly got up of off his chair. Carla watched him baffled as he pulled it over to the pregnant woman and then she realised what he was doing. Peter gave the chair to the woman to sit down on. She thanked him and as Peter made his way back to Carla, she smiled at him affectionately, She had always loved how sweet Peter could be at times, even to complete strangers.

"Can you believe they've let her just stand up like that for all this time?" he said shaking his head in disgust.

"As heroic and as charming as that was Peter ... Where are you gonna sit now eh?" Carla asked, Peter then perched on the end of her bed by her feet. "Oh no you don't" She said giving him a small kick, He grabbed one of her feet playfully

"So where do you want me to sit then?" Peter said still holding one of her feet, She giggled weakly at him and moved up towards the edge of the left side of the bed.

"I dunno… How's about you come ere n give me a cuddle?" she suggested, patting the space that she had left next to her with the palm of her hand. Peter didn't hesitate to get closer to Carla, closer than he had been for such a long time. He went, sat next to her properly and put his arm around Carla so that she fitted snugly underneath it.

"Do you think this is alright? Y'know me sitting here on the bed like this?" he said glancing around to see if the doctors or nurses were looking. He knew that it wouldn't really be a problem and it was more that he was getting slightly nervous at how close he was to Carla's body now. Carla on the other hand wasn't nervous at all and said

"Well they should make sure that there are enough chairs for everyone shouldn't they? and anyways they should be concentrating on doing their job, not worrying about what you're doing. If they say anything to ya I'll g-" Peter cut her off

"You know yes would have been a fine answer" He smirked taking some of the blanket and putting over his legs as well as Carla's, She sniggered and sunk into his body, comfortably resting her hand on his chest and laying on it. After a few silent minutes Carla looked up at him and said

"Eh, what did Simon say when you told him that you are stayin?"

"I aven't told him yet actually, or me Dad… in fact you're the first person I've told"

"Oh right" Carla said "Well I reckon they're gonna be over the moon to hear you're sticking around, Simon especially, He really really missed you over these past three weeks"

"Yeah I missed him too, I cant believe I managed to stay away for so long, Weatherfield is my home" Peter said stroking Carla's head absent-mindedly, She was silent for a moment and then she said quietly

"I... missed you too y'know, did you miss me?"

"Not really, I actually enjoyed the peace and quiet" Peter joked and Carla nudged him playfully in the side "Okay I'm kidding, of course I missed you Carla" He said "The peace and quiet almost did me in if I'm honest I hated not havin someone in me ear all the time" Carla laughed silently secretly thrilled to hear that Peter seemed to have missed her as much as she missed him. "How's your head?"

"It's okay, still hurts but not as much" Carla said "Thank you for being ere Peter" she raised her head and kissed him softly on the cheek. It was only a small gesture but Peter was sure his heart had actually skipped a beat. Carla rested back into his chest again. "Honestly Carla it's nothing" He said beginning to tenderly stroke her head again in a way that had an amazing effect on Carla, She moaned softly

"Mmmmm I reckon I should get concussion more often, I could _so_ get used to this" It wasn't long before Carla's eyelids began to feel heavy and soon enough she was fast asleep.

Peter felt rather tired himself, as the journey back from Portsmouth had been a long one. The last time he had looked at his watch it was almost five past one in the morning and eventually Peter had managed to fall asleep too. Every hour or so a nurse came to check on Carla and make sure her condition hadn't got any worse. This involved waking her up and asking her a bunch of obvious questions. Each time Carla was woken up made it made her more and more cranky but she always got back to sleep with in minutes thanks to having Peter by her side.

* * *

It was almost seven am in the morning when Dr Turner had finally returned and read through Carla's notes. She was still fast asleep in Peter's arms but he had been awake for a good fifteen minutes by the time the doctor had arrived and had just held Carla close to him because he didn't want to wake her.

"Right I've read through Carla's notes and as she has been fine for the past six hours, She's free to go" He said, Peter sat up a little

"Really, that's great" he said and he gave Carla a gentle shake

"Car wake up" he said softly She stirred a little and opened her eyes

"Oh god not again" She groaned loudly, moving against Peter in a way that suddenly made him feel nervous again, he cleared his throat and said

"Carla the Doctor said you can go home." and Carla suddenly sat up properly

"Really?" she asked looking at the doctor as if it might have been a big joke. The doctor nodded and said,

"Yes. How's your head feeling?"

"Erm yeah it still hurts but it's a hundred times better then before" Carla said assuringly and smiling awkwardly trying to make sure the doctor could see that she was indeed feeling better.

"You need to take it easy for the next few days, No driving or drinking alcohol until you have one hundred per cent recovered okay" Dr Turner said "And if you start to feel any of the symptoms on this list you must come back immediately." he handed Carla a piece of paper with a list of the possible side affects she could possibly suffer from.

"Okay" Carla nodded obediently and she was already up and off of the bed. Peter got up as well, he stretched his body as he had got rather stiff laying there with Carla leaning on him, not that he minded of course he would have laid there with Carla forever if he could have. "Thank you" Carla said smiling at the doctor because she was truly glad to be going home. Dr Turner smiled back and went onto the next bed. "Right shall we get out of ere then?" Carla asked she was still feeling a little light headed but she had guessed it was because she hadn't eaten since yesterday.

"I need a wee before we go" Peter said "Sit ere n after, I'll sort out a way for us to get home."

"I'm fine Peter" Carla said but he took her by the shoulders anyways and put her back on the bed. She stayed put as Peter went to the toilet, she couldn't help but feel as if she was in an immensely good mood, even after the painful bump to the head. Peter took a lot longer than she had expected him to but eventually came back. "About time… I were beginning to get worried" She grinned getting up. Peter chuckled

"I've been holding that wee in for about two hours" He said getting his phone out of his pocket.

"Peter you plank, why didn't you just go earlier then?" She asked although she knew why he hadn't gone before, because he didn't want to wake her up.

He just shrugged at her modestly and then smiled as he called a cab for them to get home. Carla watched him admiringly as he gave the details the cab driver needed to pick them up. He had really been responsible and had looked after her over the past nine or so hours and even though she still felt a little rough, Carla felt genuinely content to have Peter there by her side. He winked at her as he said

"Yes she's fine" down the phone as he spoke to someone at Street Cars. Carla yawned and sat down next to Peter with her head leant on his shoulder and they waited there for their cab back to Coronation Street.

* * *

**I Just wanted to say thanks to all of the reviewers, **

**I love reading every single one of them**

**and if you haven't reviewed yet then**

***Does best Ellie Goulding impression***

**"What are you waiting foooooooooooooor?" **

**:) **


	13. Workouts & Blackouts

One of Carla's favourite ways of letting off steam was going to the gym, so after a particularly difficult day at the factory she was definitely in the mood for a workout. It had been four days since she had hurt her head in the pub and Carla was feeling completely better. Word had got round that Peter had took Carla to the hospital and even though she couldn't be sure of it, Carla felt as if everyone was talking about them. She'd left work at five pm and went home to get changed into her gym gear, Michelle had left her a message asking her to pop into the pub later, Carla told Michelle she was going to the gym and that she would come over after that.

Carla then set off for the gym. She walked in to find Peter stood at the desk talking to Kal. He was dressed in a T shirt and black tracksuit bottoms and trainers.

"Wait… are me eyes deceiving me or is that... Peter Barlow… In a gym?" Carla exclaimed loudly as she made her way towards the desk, Peter smiled delightedly when he saw her.

"Since I'm sticking around, I thought I better cancel me other membership down in Portsmouth and now I'm officially a member of this gym." he said looking at Carla, who was wearing a grey vest, grey hoodie and black leggings and trainers. He had actually forgotten that she had joined the gym until that very moment. "So is this a coincidence or did you follow me in ere" Peter joked

"As if" Carla said "I joined last year mate, about June I think it were" she said

"Carla's one of our most dedicated members actually" Kal said handing Peter all the paperwork. "She's taken on my most hard core work out many a time, She's one tough cookie" he added, Carla grinned smugly

"Is that so?" Peter said "Maybe we can workout together then and you can give me some tips." he smirked

"Hmmm… I don't know if you'll be able to hack it to be honest, I mean as Kal said I can be pretty hard core" she said laughing.

"Well so can I" Peter said smirking back at her. Carla wondered if he was just showing off or if he was actually being serious.

"Okay… well if you wait ere, I'll be out in a second." Carla agreed and she went into the changing rooms and put her bag into a locker. She tied her hair up and She came out to find Peter waiting for her.

"You still ere? I thought you might ave done a runner?" Carla said and gave him a playful poke?

"Not a chance" Peter said poking her back childishly "And maybe after this we can hit the showers eh?" He said winking at Carla sexily,

"Well I don't know what kind of gym you were at before this one Barlow but I'm afraid the showers in ere are separated for men and women" She said shaking her head at him but smiling all the same. There was a silence before Carla said "Right well that's enough chit chat, Let's get physical" and it was her who was grinning this time. "I'm not sure if you're ready for this Peter… I mean I don't mess around in ere ya know, So if you want a chat, I suggest you go down the pub" Carla said as they walked over to the treadmills.

"Don't worry about me… I'm more than ready" Peter said as Carla bent over and began stretching. After a few minutes Zeedan appeared next to her.

"Alright Peter." he said not taking his eyes of off Carla, who was still bending down and stretching. Peter raised an eyebrow at him

"Yeah, you?" he said bemused as Zeedan was blatantly checking Carla out, right in front of him, He knew that he wasn't Carla's boyfriend or anything like that but he still thought Zeedan had a cheek.

"Oh I'm excellent" Zeedan said grinning. Carla stood upright upon hearing Zeedan's voice and rolled her eyes at him, She was more than used to this routine in the gym by now.

"Yes Zeedan?" she sighed although she knew what was coming.

"I was just wondering if you wanted some help that's all?" He asked her smirking.

"Well let's see... you ask me that every time you see me in ere n I say no every time… What does that tell ya?" Carla asked bluntly

"I reckon you should take a hint mate" Peter laughed but Zeedan wasn't fazed by any of this, in fact he had gotten used to Carla knocking him back a long time ago and just enjoyed winding her up.

"Ahhh one day she'll say yes" Zeedan grinned and then he left Carla and Peter to it and made his way over to the weights.

"He asks if I need help stretching every time he sees me in ere" Carla said as she got onto a treadmill.

"I think he's got a little crush" Peter said grinning

"That's ridiculous… he's half me age" Carla said and she started pressing the buttons on the treadmill to get ready for her workout. She watched at Peter who was now doing the same "Did you warm up first?" she asked and Peter just shrugged at her "You know you're gonna hurt your self if you don't stretch right?" Carla warned

"I'll be fine" Peter said cockily as they began jogging. They jogged for a little while and then Peter upped the speed on his treadmill first, He grinned as Carla pressed the button and sped her treadmill up as well. After fifteen minutes of fierce competition they both gave in and began to slow down on the treadmill. Peter wiped his forehead with a towel as Carla took a huge gulp of water from her sports bottle. She grinned at Peter smugly when he looked at her realising that he hadn't brought anything of his own to drink

"There's a water fountain over there" Carla said nodding in the direction of a silver fountain that was mounted on the wall. Peter didn't look too thrilled at the idea of standing in line to use it.

"Or you could just share yours... sharing is caring n all that." he said hoping off of the treadmill, Carla rolled her eyes and handed him her water bottle.

"Don't drink it all…" She said watching Peter as he swallowed down half the bottle "Peter!" She cried as he still continued to drink, leaving her with less then a quarter of a bottle left.

"Don't worry, I'll refill it later." he said wiping his forehead again, Carla took the bottle off of him.

"Y'know I'm starting to think working out with you is a bad idea..." She joked "Right Mr motivator what do you do next then?" Carla asked intrigued to find more out about Peter's fitness regime.

"Are you taking the mick?" He asked

"No" Carla smirked, Peter gazed around the gym slowly "Come on Peter hurry up and choose something, we can't let out heart rate go back down to normal." Carla said bending down and tying a lace that had come loose on her trainer.

"You keep bending down like that and my heart rate will stay right up." Peter said with his eyes on her bottom. Carla stood upright and gave him a little shove

"Honestly can't a girl go to the gym without being eyed up?" She exclaimed, trying to act offended but she always enjoyed any attention that Peter gave to her. He was still dithering so she walked over to where the rowing machines were. She hopped on the seat and didn't even wait for Peter to join her before she started rowing.

"Oi" he said jumping onto the one next to her, "You're supposed to wait for me."

"Well it aint my fault that you're already finding it hard to keep up is it?" Carla grinned and then she started rowing even faster than she had done before.

They did another twenty minutes off furious competition on the rowing machine and then they moved on to the strength training machines. They had decided that the competition was over at that point and went about their own business for a while. Carla was sat at the calf press machine, Peter approached her shaking his head slowly, She frowned at him as she comfortably did the exercise

"What?"

"Now I think you can do better than that Carla…" He said looking down at the weight she had chosen,

"Really?" Carla said although she knew Peter was right and she was finding it rather easy. Peter leant forward to change the weight, as he did this his head gotten rather close to Carla's thighs "Watch it you" She said, Peter grinned at her as he adjusted the weight on the equipment.

"Try that" Peter said standing up straight again. Carla straightened her bent legs and nodded because it was a lot more difficult this time.

After a few minutes and when her legs had begun to ache, Carla needed the toilet, she disappeared back into the changing rooms. As Zeedan made his way over to Peter, he had been watching them both for a while.

"You do realise that everyone in this gym hates you right now…" He said to Peter

"What?" said Peter baffled

"Seriously there are guys in ere that have been trying to get next to Carla since they joined this gym and ere you are on ya first day getting up close and personal with her." Zeedan said leaning on some of the gym equipment casually.

"Well what can I say?" Peter said picking up Carla's water bottle that she had left with him and taking a sip.

"So… when are you two gonna get back together then?" Zeedan asked bluntly, Peter almost chocked on the water he had been drinking

"We're not" he said firmly "We're friends and we're gonna stay that way" Zeedan frowned at him unconvinced

"Really? Simon reckons you're gonna get back together any day now"

"Well Simon doesn't know what he's talking about" Peter said as Carla came out of the changing rooms again.

"Yeah yeah, Y'know what they say mate, the couple that works out together... stays together." Zeedan said walking off in another direction, He gave Carla a cheesy grin as he went behind the desk to talk to his Dad.

"What did he want?" Carla asked

"Nothing really, just making conversation" Peter shrugged "So… lets get back to it shall we?"

* * *

After almost half an hour of more strength training Peter and Carla were both completely worn out. Peter had finished the water a long time ago so he and Carla lined up behind a few other gym members to quench their thirst.

"Oh I really hope they hurry up, I'm exhausted." Carla said taking a deep breath and stretching her arms out behind her

"_You're_ exhausted? What about me? I hate to admit it but it was really hard to keep up with you. Kal wasn't joking when he said you were hard core" Peter said, Carla grinned at him triumphantly "Seriously there were a moment where I actually thought I was gonna pass out." He said because even with his new and fitter lifestyle, Carla had well and truly beat him in the fitness stakes.

"I ave to be honest… I'm amazed that you lasted that long" Carla smirked, Peter raised an eyebrow at her and she could tell he was thinking something filthy.

"Don't go around saying that out loud will ya, I've got me reputation to think of" Peter joked as they got closer to the water fountain. Carla laughed at him

"Peter, it's your first day ere, you don't have a reputation yet, you plank."

"Yeah well I don't need everyone in ere thinking I've got … lasting problems" Peter said almost laughing at how ridiculous he sounded.

He had got to the front of the queue and leant forward to take a slurp of water from the fountain. After a few moments Carla gave him a little pat on the bottom

"Hurry up Peter" She said because she was desperate for a drink and he really seemed to be taking ages. He stood up right and turned his neck so he could see her

"Now, now don't be so impatient." He smirked and then he went to take another drink

"I'll give you impatient." Carla said giving him a playful shove, it was a little harder than she had intended and Peter flew forward comically, right into the water fountain.

"Ow!" he cried as Carla stood cackling away at him, He turned round not sure whether to laugh or cry because he'd actually managed to really hurt his finger, Carla shook her head at him

"That didn't hurt." She said laughing

"Yes it did."

"Well that's what ya get for drinking all my water and then making me wait ages for some more" She said as Peter looked closely at his index finger.

"I know you think I'm being a baby but that seriously hurt" Peter said looking back at Carla who was still amused

"Only you could come to the gym and hurt ya finger on the water fountain." She giggled

"Erm actually you're the one who hurt me finger." Peter said a little over dramatically

"Awww poor baby" Carla said pouting at him "D'ya want me to kiss it better?" She mocked but she should have known better that because Peter then held his finger up in front of her lips.

"I do actually" he grinned and Carla backed away from him

"Give over" she said laughing but Peter persisted, he took her by the waist making her cry out loud with laughter "Let go of me" She cried

"You offered, so go on kiss it" Peter said pushing his finger against her lips and then all of a sudden all of the lights went out and the gym went dark.

"What the?" Peter said still clinging on to Carla, There were lots of people shouting and wondering what was going on but they soon heard Kal's voice

"It's alright… I think it's just a power cut" he pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and made some calls to find out just what was going on. There were a few groans from various gym members but luckily no one was midway through an intense workout and had hurt them selves when the power cut right out.

The gym was almost completely dark apart from a few lights coming from some Phones. "Hold on, If the electric is out does that mean we can't get into the changing rooms?" Carla said thinking about all her stuff which was inside. The doors to the changing rooms were electronic and each member could only opened it by using their pin number.

"Great" Peter said because all of his stuff was in there as well.

"Right… It seems the whole street is out of power" Kal said hanging up on his mobile "They're not sure what has caused the power cut or how long it will take to fix it." He said sighing "You can leave through the fire exit or stay here it's up to you."

"Well there not really any point in leaving when I can't get me keys or me phone is there, I mean where am I supposed to go?" Carla said sighing

"Guess we better make our selves comfortable then" Peter said leaning on the wall behind them. Carla went right ahead and say down on the floor next to him. Peter chuckled at her

"You're the one who said make your self comfortable. Remember the last power cut we had around ere it lasted hours." she said reaching out and pulling at Peter's legs so that he would join her on the floor. "At least we were down the pub though"

"Oh yeah...I quite enjoyed me self last time actually." Peter said remembering how he was sat in candle light with his arms wrapped around Carla. "I suppose we could go down the pub and come back for out stuff later?" He suggested but Carla shook her head in the dark.

"Nah you're alright... They'll be nowhere decent to sit at this point anyway." she said "So is this gym better then the one down in Portsmouth then?" Carla asked after a few silent minutes between them. Peter thought about it for a moment and then shrugged

"Well so far so good, me old one did have a swimming pool though"

"Yeah well you can go down to the leisure centre for that." Carla said

"That's true" Peter said "I gotta say though this gym definitely has it's perks, I'm mean it has much more attractive female members for one thing" Peter said hating that he couldn't see Carla properly, she was grinning to herself in the dark.

"Do you miss it down there?"

"Yeah, I made some great friends down there but my family need me, It's not fair on Tracy to have to deal with all this on her own… I know it sounds weird but I'll miss me doctor."

"Well you can get another doctor round ere" Carla said not quite understanding what he meant.

"Yeah I know it's just the one I had down south was a real lifesaver, especially when I first moved out there. I could tell he really believed in me y'know. I'm gonna miss that" Peter said glad it was dark so Carla couldn't see just how sad he had become.

"Well I believe in ya so I guess that's a start eh" Carla said giving his arm a little squeeze but Peter had kept quiet "I can't see you but I can tell you've got a right face on…" She said and then heard him laugh quietly to himself. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" Peter said "I just hope we get out of ere soon that's all"

"Yeah me too… hey I bet you're dying for a fag?" Carla said knowing that Peter had been in the gym for a few hours and would normally be desperate for a cigarette right about now.

"Actually it may interest you to know that I've decided to quit smoking" Peter said and he was sure that he could actually hear Carla's jaw drop.

"Quit? You? How come?" She asked stunned

"Well I've been meaning to quit for ages and I thought seeing as I'm back ere for a fresh start, it's the perfect time really" He said

"Wow" Carla said because Peter had been a smoker since his teens and she couldn't imagine him with out a fag hanging out of his mouth. "Well good luck with that then"

"Yeah... I'm gonna need it" Peter said He couldn't quite tell if Carla believed he could do it or not just by her voice They sat in silence for a while until Kal came over with his mobile phone.

"Do you want to use this to call someone and let them know you're here just in case it turns into an all night thing?" He offered

"I don't know anyone's numbers… tell you what just let Leanne know I'm here and then she can tell me Dad, if that's okay" Peter said Kal nodded and offered his phone to Carla but she shook her head at him.

"Nah… It's not like anyone's gonna care where I am." she said directly

"Hey don't say that." Peter said softly

"What? I live alone Peter, no one's gonna miss me if I don't come home are they?" Carla said sighing as Kal made his way over to some other gym members that had chosen to stay.

"Carla..." Peter said and she could sense by his tone that he was feeling sorry for her "I really hate that you feel that way you know." Carla turned to him, She still couldn't see him as it was almost pitch black but she could sense he was being totally sincere.

"It's fine Peter I'm used to it" She said quietly.

"Yeah and maybe you've got so used to it that you don't even care anymore." Peter said feeling as if he were partly to blame for Carla feeling this way. She turned to him even though it was dark

"Peter, I'm not feeling sorry for me self, it's just the way it is. I haven't got any family left to worry about me, ave I?"

"That's not true" said Peter moving closer to Carla, She assumed that he was talking about Michelle and said

"I know Michelle's around but she's got Steve and his family to keep her busy now and I get that y'know" Peter shook his head although it was dark and he wasn't sure how much she could see.

"I wasn't talking about Michelle. I was talking about Me... Me Dad, Simon and even Tracy sings you're praises when you're not listening. We all love you and you're a part of our family whether you like it or not" Peter said nudging Carla in the dark, She smiled happily to herself and leant against his shoulder.

"Thanks Peter" she said appreciatively. She was glad it was rather dark so that he couldn't see how much she was blushing. It wasn't the first time she had been called a part of the family recently as Simon had been making sure he told her it whenever he could but hearing it from Peter had made it that extra bit special.

"So you going to this school disco thing Michelle's got planned next week then?" Peter said breaking the silence between them.

"Oh god, don't remind me… I kinda ave to don't I" Carla said rolling her eyes in the dark. Michelle had decided that she wanted to do some more themed pub nights. She chose a school disco theme because she's recently done a School disco party and she had all the resources for it. Carla had hoped Michelle wasn't serious but sure enough she had put up posters for it around Weatherfield and everyone seemed to be talking about it. "Chelle's got this dress code n everything n she's offered a free drink to everyone who turns up in school uniform… It'll probably just be full pervs who get their kicks from grown women being dressed as school girls."

"I suppose its a bit of fun for people really and folk round here need a bit of cheering up sometimes" Peter said trying to look on the bright side of the idea.

"Don't you think we're all far to old to be running around in that kinda get up?" Carla said trying to imagine the likes of Norris and Emily dressed up as a school kid. She almost laughed at the idea and it was as if Peter could tell exactly what she was thinking because he cracked up too.

"So… I take it we won't see you donning a blazer and tie then" Peter said his tone sounded as if he was a little disappointed. Carla grinned into the darkness

"Well I never said that did I? It depends how I feel on the day, I mean I've easily got an outfit I could pull of as school uniform but I barley wore the correct one when I were at school anyway."

"Oh yeah?" Peter asked because he had heard about Carla and her trouble making school days.

"Yeah. I was forever getting sent home for wearing the wrong kinda shoes or having me skirt too short, I don't know what they wanted me to do about it cause it's not like I could ave afforded to get another one" Peter hated hearing how vulnerable Carla's voice became when ever she spoke about her childhood. "I dunno… I don't think me school days are the ones I wanna remember really." She said sighing she was quiet for a moment and then she said "Tell ya what… I'll dress up for it, If you do"

"Yeah... I don't know about that" Peter began

"What happened to it being just a bit of fun eh?" Carla said and she was the one doing the nudging this time and then a familiar voice came from within the darkness.

"Well I'm definitely up for it…" the voice said

"And you left school what two years ago Zeedan?" Carla said knowing that it was him and he had obviously been listening in on their conversation.

"No... It were like three years ago actually" he said feeling a little foolish.

"Stop eavesdropping Zeedan" Carla said although she couldn't be sure where his voice was actually coming from.

"Awwww go easy on him" Peter said quietly into Carla's ear, She shivered as she felt his breath on her skin.

"And why should I do that? D'ya realise how much trouble he causes for his sister down at the factory? He's always hanging around the place"

"Yeah well as I said before I think he's got a bit of a crush on you." Peter said

"Oh as if, I'm old enough to be the boys mother" Carla said "he just enjoys winding me up that's all."

"Why don't you believe he could fancy you?" Peter whispered

"Oh it's not that I don't believe it, I know how gorgeous I am" Carla preened "I just think you read too much into his behaviour that's all."

"Carla the boy has actually called you fit in front of me" Peter whispered because he didn't want Zeedan to hear him.

"Yeah but just because you think someone is fit it doesn't mean you fancy them"

"That's exactly what it means Carla" suddenly the light on Zeedan's phone revealed his location. He wasn't that far away from them as he typed away on his phone. Carla and Peter say in silence unsure if Zeedan had still been listening in or not. After a few moments he smirked, put his IPhone facedown on the floor, leaving the torch shining and then looked up at Peter and Carla

"Eh imagine if we ended up being trapped in here forever" he said amused, Carla frowned at him and shook her head

"But there's a fire escape" She said pointing over at it, Zeedan sighed and rolled his eyes

"Well what if there wasn't?" he asked

"But there is one" Carla said knowing she was winding Zeedan up, he tutted and said

"Just imagine"

"Zeedan, fire escapes are required by law so this conversation is completely irrelevant" She said but she was almost laughing as it was now her turn to annoy him.

"Why are you trying to ruin the game?" Zeedan said exasperated

"Because it's stupid." She laughed.

"Fine" Zeedan said and he looked at Peter "Peter, imagine if we were trapped in here forever, other than the obvious things like your family and your mates what would you miss the most?" he asked, Peter shrugged at him

"Well I'm not exactly a stranger to being locked up am I?" he said, Zeedan just raised an eyebrow at him not fazed by Peter referring to being in prison. "Fresh air" Peter eventually said

"Really?" Said Zeedan "That's kinda boring"

"Trust me, there's nothing like it and you never miss it until it's gone" Peter said.

"I'd miss chips" Zeedan said "and TV" he said typically, he then had a long list of other things that he would miss.

"D'ya know what I'd miss?" Carla interrupted with a grin,

"Oh so now she wants to play" Zeedan said to Peter he then looked at Carla intrigued "Go on then…"

"I'd miss not avin to sit in ere and listen to you rabbit on about things you're going to miss." She said, Peter chuckled at her

"God is she always like this?" Zeedan said looking at him with a pained expression.

"Sarcastic? Pretty much" Peter nodded

"Hmmm I'm starting think it wouldn't work out between us after all." Zeedan said to Carla with a cheeky grin.

"Yeah because me being sarcastic is the only reason it wouldn't work out." Carla scoffed

"Don't worry Zeedan, the sarcasm's just a front, Our Carla's a real softie at heart." Peter said but then Carla nudged him in the side and looked at Zeedan.

"Trust me Zeedan, where you're concerned, I am as hard as a block of ice" She said. Zeedan was then called over by his Dad and picked up his phone off of the floor, leaving them in darkness again.

"What would ya really miss, If you were locked in ere" Peter asked

"Oh not you as well" Carla said rolling her eyes into the dark,

"You'd miss work, you'd go crazy in ere without half a dozen people to lord it over every day." Peter said and Carla couldn't help but agree with him on that one.

"They sure as hell wouldn't miss me, No one would." She said but she wasn't being serious this time, Peter tutted and said

"Eh what ave I told you about that? And anyways I'd miss ya"

"Well if I'm trapped in ere, then so are you, ya doughnut" she said laughing

"Oh yeah" Peter laughed Carla then thought for a moment and said

"I'd miss… me bed, I mean where would we sleep?"

"We eh?" Peter grinned leading Carla to roll her eyes again

"Oh y'know what I mean."

"I'm sure there's some yoga mats around here somewhere we could make a little bed to kip on" Peter said and then Zeedan came back over to them he handed his phone to Carla and said

"Michelle wants to speak to you" Carla took the phone of Zeedan gingerly and said

"Chelle?"

"Hi babe, are you okay?" Michelle said down the phone

"Yeah I'm fine, why?" Carla asked a little confused

"I've been calling your phone for ages and when you didn't answer your house one I got really worried"

"Chelle, I told ya I was going to the gym, me phone's in a locker and I just cant get to it that's all" Carla said reassuringly

"I know that now," Michelle said "When you didn't answer your phone or come into the pub I was about to call a search party for ya, it was only when Leanne said she'd spoke to Kal and a bunch of you were waiting in the gym, that I remembered. I borrowed Zeedan's number off of Alya. How is it? Is it really boring?" Michelle asked

"Nah it's alright, I ran into Peter on me way in so I've got him to keep me company" Carla said she was sure she could hear Michelle laugh down the other end of the phone, then she heard Michelle say

"Oh hang on a minute Carla… Yeah…. Yeah She's fine Marc… I'm speaking to her now."

"Marc?" Carla said "What's he doing there?"

"He came in about five minutes ago, he were rather alarmed to see you weren't in ere and he said he'd been calling you to see if you were okay as well." Michelle said lowering her voice obviously so that Marc couldn't hear her.

Carla found it a little odd that Marc had made such a fuss about her, They had had a drink last week but she hadn't given him another thought since then, obviously he had been thinking about her lots. She then looked at Zeedan who was getting increasingly desperate to get his phone back "Chelle, Zeedan is obviously avin withdrawal symptoms from not being attached to his phone so I'll call ya when we get out." Carla said goodbye and then gave Zeedan back his phone, He walked off and left Carla and Peter alone again.

"And you thought no one would miss you" Peter said smugly nudging Carla, She nudged him back and then said

"Alright Mr know it all, She probably only called coz she needed summat from me." Peter shook his head

"I reckon you should lay off Michelle a little, She's been your best mate for ever n I know she feels dead guilty about not being there for you recently" he said

"I know she does" Carla said sighing "As a matter of fact we're going out on the weekend actually… I'm well looking forward to it." Peter could tell by the excited tone on Carla's voice that she truly was looking forward to it and before he could speak she had already started talking again. "So… ave you looked into getting a new job yet coz me factory still needs a cleaner y'know?"

"Yeah I've been looking around there's a couple of betting shops in town that want people on the tills" Peter said unenthusiastically

"Yeah but you don't want to work at one of them do ya, You're way too experienced for that. With your skills you need a managerial position or something like that."

"Do you really call loosing me own betting shop a skill Carla?" Peter said bitterly because he still couldn't believe he's dealt with the bookies so stupidly, that and many other things in his life.

"Yeah well it was a mistake Peter, It happens and the important thing is that you learn from it" Carla said trying to spur Peter on because she could tell he was only minutes away from feeling sorry for him self. "You know what you should do? you should try looking for a job on the Internet, like for a website or something, that's where all the money is at these days"

"Really? Me working on a website, Carla I can barley use me new phone"

"It's not as hard as it seems Peter and anyways you'd get training and stuff, I'm sure an old git like you would pick it up in no time."

"I don't know…" He mumbled not believing in himself at all.

"Look how far you've come already, I told you earlier, I honestly believe that you can do anything if you put ya mind to it." Carla said rubbing his arm supportively.

"Well I guess there's no harm in trying is there?" Peter said feeling rather pleased that Carla was so encouraging.

"Exactly" She said smiling in his direction even though he couldn't see him properly

"Thanks Carla" he said softly and he reached out and an arm around her. She leant against him, snuggling into his chest and making herself a lot more comfortable. They sat in silence for almost ten minutes before the lights began to flicker, Carla who had actually had her eyes closed, opened them and looked up, it was then when the lights went back on properly. Everyone in the gym squinted at the sudden brightness and rubbed their eyes. Zeedan who was at the desk with his Dad grinned as he saw Peter sat with Carla practically in his arms.

"That's a shame I was beginning to enjoy me self" she said winking at Peter and getting up off of the floor "I'm gonna run and get me stuff in case it goes back off again" She said and she disappeared into the changing rooms. Zeedan was still stood grinning at Peter

"What?" Peter said and Zeedan laughed to himself and shook his head

"Nothing..." he said smirking at Peter, who then went into the male changing rooms to collect his belongings, he was a little disappointed because he was rather enjoying being sat there with Carla in his arms, just like the old days.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that chapter.**

**As I said in the last update for EHC, I'm off on holiday tomorrow**

**The next update for this should be Next Sunday when I'm back :)**


	14. The Sleepover

**Trust me to go on holiday for the big fire week eh?**

**I've literally just caught up on it all, ****Poor Carla :(**

**Anywho here is Chapter 14**

**I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to review :)**

* * *

It was Sunday night and as Carla came out of the Rover's, she had a feeling she may regret being out so late especially when she had work in the morning. She had finally gone into town with Michelle and had made sure she had got her home safely before making her own way home. They had gone out to eat and then for a few drinks and although Carla felt like Michelle was slightly distracted by Steve, they had a good time all the same. She was wearing a grey vest her leather jacket and a tight black pencil skirt and whilst it was still quite warm for the end of September, the nights were a lot colder than Carla had anticipated.

The street was empty as the residents weren't exactly party animal types and were obviously all tucked up in bed. As Carla was about to walk straight over to her building to go home, she saw a familiar figure sitting outside Audrey's hair salon. She took a closer look at the person on the bench and gasped when she realised who it was.

"Ken?" Carla said moving closer to him, He looked up at the sound of her voice and sighed

"Hi Carla" he said rather sadly, She looked down at her phone to see what time it was.

"Ken... It's almost two in the morning." She said not realising her and Michelle had actually been out that late. "What are you doing out ere?" She asked, rather concerned that he was out there on his own in the cold with just his pyjamas on. He was sat rigidly next to her and his cold skin had gone pale. "Why are you out ere all on your own?" She asked again, still worried because Ken really didn't look right at all.

"I couldn't sleep" he started "I just couldn't take it anymore... I have to sleep in… our bed alone. Do you have any idea how hard that is? It's been getting to me for months now and I just… needed to get out, just for a little bit" Ken sniffed and put his head in his hands. He almost slurred his words as he spoke and Carla who was almost an expert at sussing out when people had been drinking, asked awkwardly

"Ken... ave you been drinking?" and it was as if by magic that Ken produced half a bottle of whisky from under the bench.

"I only intended to have one but it's like the more I had, the less I began to feel"

"Yeah... I know the feelin…" Carla said shivering and sitting down next to him on the bench. "Ken, why didn't you wake up Peter or Tracy?"

"It's not their burden to bear" Ken said looking up again

"They're your children Ken, They would want you to speak to them about this. They're grieving too," she said but this time Ken didn't answer her. He just stared ahead into the night and as the wind picked up a little, he soon began shaking from the cold. "Ken… it's really cold out here." She said looking at his generic blue and white striped night clothes.

"I don't feel anything" he said solemnly "Why don't I feel anything Carla?" He asked with tears in his eyes. Carla gulped not knowing what to say to him. She found it highly unsettling that Ken could be in this state, He was usually a very calm and collected man and she would never have imagined finding him almost drunk on the streets of Wetherfield at this time.

"Ken... Y'know maybe we should talk about this inside." She said trying to take his arm but he shook his head and snatched it away from her.

"I don't want to go back in... Not yet" he said. Carla watched him as he sat next to her, He had dark circles under each eye and he looked completely shattered. He was still shivering, even though he said he couldn't feel anything she knew he must have been freezing and she was beginning to get worried about him. Carla turned away slightly, so Ken couldn't see what she was doing and began typing away on her phone furiously. Carla then she realised that if Peter was asleep he probably wouldn't even see the message that she was in the middle of typing until he woke up anyway. She cleared the screen and pressed Peter's name so she could call his mobile instead. It rang and rang until Carla was forwarded to his message service, She rolled her eyes as Peter's "leave a message" tone played, then she hung up and tried to call again.

"Uh answer your phone Peter." she said quietly to herself as his message tone played again. She turned back to Ken

"Ken, is Peter still sleeping in the back room?" She asked, Ken nodded but he still wasn't looking at her properly. She got up off of the bench and decided she'd have to go and get Peter herself. She hesitated leaving Ken for a moment but he only lived across the road so she would be able to keep an eye on him from there.

"Ken... I'll be back in a minute okay?" She said and she ran across the empty road to number one.

She called Peter's phone one more time before knocking on the door lightly, in the hope that it would wake Peter up but not Tracy or Amy who were also staying at number one. She knocked again and then again louder. She opened the letterbox

"Peter" she called apprehensively but there was still no answer. She stamped her foot down onto the ground into frustration, not knowing what to do. Carla knew that Peter was a heavy sleeper but this was taking the mick. Carla really didn't want to wake up Amy, who's bedroom was just down the hall way but she was firmly out of ideas. She banged on the door loudly, this time using her fist "Peter!" She shouted and suddenly the door opened. Peter appeared in a t-shirt and boxers. He was shocked to find Carla stood there, looking stunning but staring at him furiously.

"Why the hell didn't you answer your phone?" Carla cried giving him a quick shove.

"Because it's two in the morning and I was asleep, that's why." Peter said gruffly, rubbing his eyes, taken aback by Carla's tone and still by the fact that she was even there.

"And what you didn't hear your phone ring? I called it three flamin times!" She cried

"Shhhh Carla, You've already woke me up, what are you trying to do wake the rest of the house up as well?" He said irritatedly

"Look" she said taking one hand and practically dragging a barefooted Peter out of his house, onto the pavement. She pointed with her other free hand and Peter's gaze followed it over to the bench outside the salon.

"Is that... Me Dad?" Peter asked, alarmed

"Yes" Carla replied,

"What's he doing?" Peter ran across the road and Carla ran after him.

"I don't know… Peter all I know is that I was out and I saw him and he's been... drinking." Carla said as she joined him across the road

"Dad" Peter said bending down in front of him "Dad… it's freezing what are you doing out here?" Ken didn't answer his son, he just looked down as if he was ashamed of himself.

"He said he couldn't sleep" Carla said looking down at Peter's bare legs and feet. She would normally find it comical that Peter was out on the street in his boxers but there was nothing funny about this situation.

"Dad?" Peter looked at Carla for some sort of support, She just shrugged and couldn't help but feel a little useless.

"Come on Dad, lets go inside you're shivering" Peter said holding out his arm to help Ken up. Ken shook his head

"I'm sorry Peter, I don't know what I was thinking" He said

"Hey… it doesn't matter, All that matters is that you're okay Dad." Peter said softly "Whatever the problem is, we can talk about it inside." Carla saw that he had spotted the half empty bottle of whisky that Ken was clutching, She swallowed, took it off of Ken and simply put it in the bin.

"Look at me?" Ken said disgusted "Drinking on the street, what have I become?" Peter gave him half a smile

"Yeah you wanna be careful Dad or you'll end up with one of those ASBO's" he said, Carla wasn't sure if it was a good time to joke about things like that but Ken gave Peter an exhausted smile all the same. He got up off of the bench and Carla was sure it was probably time for her to bow out of the situation and give Ken and Peter some time alone.

"Maybe I'll just…" she began pointing in the direction of her home but Peter shook his head

"No... Car come with us... please." Peter said and it was the desperation in his voice that made Carla cross the road with them.

"I just had to get out of the house for a while that's all" Ken mumbled,

"It's okay Dad, you don't have to explain." Peter said carefully helping Ken across the empty road.

"Yeah... I'm sure you'll feel better after a nice cuppa" Carla said as they got to Ken's front door. They went inside sat Ken in the armchair and got him warmed up with a blanket and a cup of tea. Ken told Peter and Carla about how he had been up all night thinking about Deirdre and how he didn't think he could cope much longer without her. Peter and Carla didn't know what to say to make things better for him and at first they just sat there awkwardly and listened, eventually Peter said

"Dad, Deirdre wouldn't want you to be feeling like this. She'd want you to try and enjoy life as much as you can without her." Ken nodded

"I know but doesn't stop me from feeling this way though Peter"

"You know... I really don't think you should be drinking at this time of night either" Peter said sternly. Carla nodded at Ken who almost raised his eyebrows at them, Two ex alcoholics telling him that he shouldn't drink. Carla knew exactly what he was thinking and said

"I know it sounds a little hypocritical coming from us Ken but Peter is right, you really shouldn't drink that much."

"I know I shouldn't and it's really unlike me to do something like this, It's just I've never felt so low before and I'm finding it difficult to cope with everything." Carla, who had been sitting opposite him at the table next to Peter, moved closer to Ken.

"Ken the way you are feeling is totally understandable." she said reaching out and taking his hand supportively "You've done amazingly so far and you were bound to feel like this at some point but you've got to try and take this one day at a time and remember that we are all here for you." Carla said smiling caringly at Ken, Peter who had watched the whole thing and felt incredibly lucky that they had Carla's support, got up too and joined her next to Ken.

"Thank you Carla" Ken said looking at her admiringly

"She's amazing isn't she?" Peter said giving Carla the same look,

"Oh behave" She said sheepishly because she hated this kind of attention.

"You as well Peter, You truly are remarkable and since you've been back you've really stepped up and taken care of this family." Ken said proudly

"Awwww" Carla said as it was Peter's turn to act sheepish.

"What are sons for? Eh Dad" Peter said coyly as Ken sipped his tea

"I must say I do feel a little better now" Ken said putting his cup down. "I think I just had a slight moment of madness." he was still shaking slightly but the colour in his cheeks had come back and he wasn't so pale anymore. "I hate sleeping in that bed alone I really do but there's also no way I'm going to get rid of it" Ken said

"Ken" Carla said softly "You know what I think you should do... Talk to Roy . I mean he knows what you're going through better than anyone, He might be able to offer you some comfort." Peter nodded

"She's right Dad but you must remember that we are all here for you. No matter what, so if you ever do need to talk, please make sure you do, no matter what time of day, no matter where we are."

"Okay" Ken said genuinely, He watched as Carla and Peter both gave each other a sweet smile and was glad that he had the two of them to lean on during this horrible time.

They all sat together making small talk for a while before Ken looked at the clock on the wall and gasped.

"Blimey it's three am. I should try and get some sleep now" Carla and Peter gave each other an apprehensive look which Ken spotted instantly "I'll be fine. If I need you Peter I'll come back down okay" Ken said, he was truly feeling more positive about the situation and he also thought that maybe Peter and Carla could do with some time alone as the atmosphere between them was magical. Peter nodded at his Dad

"Okay."

"Night Ken" Carla said smiling at him and getting up to hug him, Peter watched as they embraced and still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have Carla as his friend, although these days it was as if they were best friends, They didn't even go a day anymore without some sort of contact.

"Night Dad" Peter said also giving his Dad a quick hug. Ken walked out of the backroom leaving Peter and Carla alone. Peter took a look at Carla properly for the first time as she stood in front of him yawning.

"So what were you doing hanging around on the street at Two o clock in the morning, especially when you've got work tomorrow?" Peter asked going back over to the sofa bed and sitting on it.

"I went into town with Chelle, it were only supposed to be for a meal n a drink but some how we ended up in this dreadful karaoke bar." she watched Peter's expression "I know" she said because it definitely wasn't her kind of thing

"You didn't sing... Did you?" Peter said grinning, Carla read his expression again

"Are you trying to say my voice isn't Karaoke worthy Peter Barlow?" She said laughing

"Yes" Peter said joining in with her laughter. She sat down next to Peter on the sofa bed and then shook her head

"Well I think you'll be happy to know that I didn't treat the folks in there to my delightful voice but Michelle sang though, I always forget how amazing her voice is"

"What did she sing then?"

"One of Michelle's karaoke favourites of course" Carla said grinning "Jolene" Peter laughed as Carla rolled her eyes "The crowd loved her and kept begging her to do more but she refused but there was this guy after her and Peter he were amazing"

"Oh yeah, so what did he sing then?" Carla paused for a moment thinking about the song that the guy had chosen, it was one that she knew was one of Peter's favourites.

"Iris and I were ready to punch him if he killed the song but seriously Peter he was incredible, everyone said he n Chelle should ave done a duet, It were actually a really good night."

"Wow I wish I'd been there" Peter said remembering how long it had been since he had heard Iris. "Seriously Iris one of me favourite songs." he said thinking about it some more. Carla nodded at him on the same wavelength

"Peter as soon as he started... I thought of you" she said and then there was a slight moment of silence between them. Peter broke it on purpose by clearing his throat and Carla glanced over at the clock and thought that it was maybe time to go home as she had work tomorrow,

"Don't go" he said knowing what she was thinking, She titled her head on one side and looked back at him

"Peter it's three in the morning…" she said tiredly

"Right?" Peter said making Carla laugh at him "I mean it's not as if you've got anything else to do right now is it?"

"Oh I dunno, Sleep maybe?" Carla said and Peter scoffed "It's alright for you Mr life of luxury, I've got a factory to run in the mornin"

"A little bit longer won't hurt though will it? Besides it's not safe for you to walk home at this time of night." He said although they both knew that she lived across the road and it would take her all but half a minute to get home.

"Hmmm If I didn't know any better Barlow, I'd say you were trying to get me to stay over." Carla said smiling as Peter moved up a little on the sofa bed.

"I'm not asking you to stay… I'm just asking you not to go. Come on y'know you want to" Peter said grinning at her in a way that was totally irresistible. Carla took off her leather jacket and gave in.

"Alright but if I fall asleep at me desk tomorrow, I'm blaming you d'ya hear?" she kicked off her shoes and then sat down next to him on his bed.

Peter grinned triumphantly as she moved up the bed so her back was propped up against the back of the sofa like his was. She looked down at the both of their legs and at the duvet that Peter was obviously using to sleep under, he caught her looking at his homemade bed.

"I bet I know what you're thinking" he said sighing

"I bet you don't."

"You're thinking that I'm far too old to be kipping on me Dad's sofa bed" Carla shook her head at him and grinned

"Actually Mr know it all, I was thinking about getting under the covers because I'm cold." She said and she leant forward and pulled the duvet so it covered them. Peter chuckled as Carla snuggled up underneath it and rested her head on his shoulder.

"This is only temporary, once I've got me self a job? A flat will be next" He said because he was determined not to stay at his Dad's forever.

"Well there's no rush is there? I reckon your Dad likes having you around."

"I know he does but it's a bit ridiculous for a grown man like me to be sleeping on a sofa bed. Plus I'd like me own place y'know so Simon can maybe have his own room and then he could sleepover because it's crowded enough over ere as it is."

"Yeah and I guess it's gonna get a bit awkward if you wanted to bring a woman back and you show her to your sofa bed." Carla said laughing although she had to admit the thought of any other women in Peter's life was not something she found funny.

"Well I dunno? I got you back ere didn't I?" Peter quipped with a smirk on his face.

"Hmm… I was trying to be helpful, I don't think it counts as bringing home a hot date" Carla said

"Oh I think it does" Peter said still smirking at Carla. Then his face got serious for a moment. "Thanks Carla, y'know for helping out with my Dad and stuff"

"Well I was hardly gonna leave him out there was I?"

"I know but you didn't have to come back here with us and say all those supportive things to me Dad" He said yawning and rubbing his eyes. "You truly are amazing" He said and then laid down properly on the sofa bed leaving Carla still sat awkwardly upright.

"Eh you better not be going to sleep on me" Carla exclaimed looking down at Peter as he turned off the lamp leaving it dark but light enough for them to see each other… just.

"I'm just getting comfy" He said. Carla rolled her eyes and laid next to him on her side she was facing him. It was silent for a long time before Carla said

"I really hope your Dad's managed to get some sleep."

"Me too although I don't think he'll find it too difficult after that half a bottle of whisky" Peter said turning his body to face her so they were only inches apart. "It's a good thing we've got out first session with this family grief councillor this week."

"You've got a councillor?" Carla said because this was news to her.

"Did I not tell you? It's for all of us. We've been on the waiting list for months now and we've finally got our first appointment. It's good timing eh. Tonight's proved that maybe me Dad needs some more help in dealing with all this and we obviously weren't coping as well as we would have liked."

"You've all done the best you can Peter" Carla said "There's no shame in a little outside help ya know"

"I know" Peter paused "I just think that maybe if I'd come back sooner... I kinda rushed off after the funeral" Carla shook her head but he continued, "I was so scared. Scared that if I came back before I was ready that I wouldn't be able to stay in control... Being in Portsmouth was a lot easier then being round here, it were selfish really."

"Peter, don't beat your self up over it. There are times when you just have to put yourself first, especially if it's for the sake of your family and that's what you did. You're back now aren't ya and that's all that matters" Carla said softly. Their faces were only an inch or two apart as they gazed into each other's eyes intensely for a moment, then both of their mouths broke into a grin.

"What are you thinking about?" Peter asked captivated by the look on Carla's face, She looked down for a moment at how close their bodies had become, Peter's bare legs were touching hers and as they were both under a duvet it was becoming rather hot under there.

"I'm thinking that... I should probably…turn around" Carla said quietly and then turned over so that her back was towards Peter because she could sense that if she didn't turn over they might end up doing more than just staring each other. Peter laughed silently

"Are you sure that's what you were thinking about?"

"Uh huh" Carla said but she was lying, her thoughts had strayed to the last time she was in bed with a half naked Peter and it had left her unsure of whether she would be able to keep herself under control.

"I'll turn around too then, just incase eh" Peter said and turned himself around too because Carla's back and bottom was overwhelmingly pressed up against him.

"In case of what?" Carla asked "Are ya scared you might get a little excited?" She let out her trademark dirty giggle and nudged him in the back but when he didn't answer her she added "Oi Peter… I'm not staying the night y'know"

"Goodnight Carla" Peter said smugly because he knew that she had no intentions of going anywhere. Carla sighed at how easy it was for Peter to get her to do what he wanted but she still laid next to him and she eventually said

"Night Peter."

It wasn't long before her eyelids were beginning to droop and even though she couldn't see him of course but Carla could tell that Peter was on the verge of falling asleep by the way his breathing changed.

* * *

It was nine am and Tracy Barlow woke up on Monday morning to hear that her house was completely silent. She was surprised because she could usually hear her Dad and Peter shuffling around the house. Amy had stayed over at The Rover's so Tracy was able to have a little lay in before opening up the second hand shop. She got ready for work and went downstairs where she thought she would find her Dad reading the paper. Instead she found Peter and Carla fast asleep.

They were still next to each other, Peter behind Carla just as before only now, Peter was laying the other way around with his chest against Carla's back and with an one arm holding her tight. Tracy smirked and pulled her phone out of her bag.

"So much for being friends eh?" she said to herself as she pressed the shutter on the camera and took a picture of the unknowing pair. She then got her jacket on and left the house feeling rather smug.

It was another hour or so before Carla awoke. She exhaled softly and moved slightly, it was then that she realised where she was. Carla eyes opened wide and she shook her head in disbelief because she couldn't believe she had actually ended up staying the night. She glanced down to see Peter's arm around her middle and smiled contently to herself.

Peter had turned over at some point during the night and he had made sure that he was as far away from Carla as possible. She had felt him turn around and she knew he was trying not to get too close. Carla shifted her body backwards slightly so that she was now touching his'. Peter wasn't sure if she was awake or not but he decided he was going to be brave, he sleepily put his arm around Carla and took a deep breath, wondering what she was going to do. She moaned gently and moved into him again, letting Peter know that she was awake and more than okay with what he was doing and soon enough they were both asleep again.

It had been the most relaxing night of sleep Carla had had in a while and She had been planning to stick around for a little at least until Peter woke up but when she caught the time her jaw dropped. It was ten past ten making her very late for work. Usually her alarm clock at home would have woken her up in plenty of time but obviously Peter had nothing to do with his mornings and no such alarm was in place.

Carla gently removed his arm from around her and got up out of the sofa bed. She picked up her leather jacket off of the floor and then looked at Peter who was still sleeping peacefully, unaware that she was about to leave. She glanced around the room and found a notepad on the table with a pen, She scribbled down a quick note for Peter, which said

"_**Had to go to work, call me later. Carla x"**_

She didn't want to Peter to think she was just running out on him and placed the notebook next to him on his bed so that he'd see it when he eventually woke up. Carla was about to leave before realising that no one was around and she didn't have to hide the things that she really wanted. She glanced around foolishly, bent down and affectionately placed a soft kiss on his forehead. That was enough... for now.

Carla had decided that going round the back was probably a good idea because if anyone saw her leave the Barlow's in last night's outfit that they would probably get the wrong idea. She went home, got out of the pencil skirt and top that she had been wearing last night and then jumped into the shower. By the time she had got dressed again in a white blouse and black jeans and left her flat, it was eleven o clock.

At the factory Sally had taken charge seeing as Carla hadn't been there to open up, the machinists were all at there desks sewing away although they didn't take too kindly to Sally bossing them around, so when ever her back was turned, they would start gossiping again.

"I wonder where Mrs Connor is?" Sean said, turning to Beth who was sat texting away on her phone, She shrugged at him

"She went out with Michelle last night, I saw them leaving the Rover's together, I reckon she's probably got a right hangover" Beth said not looking up from her phone

"I saw Michelle this morning and she seemed fine though?" Sean said recalling how he had seen Michelle in the café first thing this morning. "What?" Sean said intrigued because something on Beth's phone had made her start grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"So I was just talking to Tracy right and I told her it's fine coz the boss isn't in yet and d'ya know what she said?" Beth said and she now had the attention of the other machinists as well

"What?" Sean said

"This why your boss is late." Beth held up her phone smugly, there on the screen was the picture that Tracy had taken of Peter and Carla asleep.

"No way" Sean gasped, pulling the phone towards him so he could get a closer look, Sinead leant in too

"Let me see." said Sinead and she pulled it towards her "Awww that is so cute" Alya who had been making a coffee came over.

"What is?" She asked because the way they were all acting fascinated her, Beth showed her the photo

"Wow?" Alya said awkwardly "Where did you get that from?" She asked

"Tracy sent it me." Beth said as Sally came over and took a look at her phone

"So do ya reckon they are back together then or what?" Sean said

"Surely not" Sally said, "After everything he's done."

"They do seem like they made an amazing couple" Alya said she had never seen Peter and Carla together but could tell from just watching them out and about that they had an amazing chemistry.

"Oh they were" Sean said nodding

"I've always said they'll be in each others bed's again before Christmas" Beth said grinning down at her phone.

"Who that then?" Carla said suddenly, creeping up behind Beth with a coffee in hand. She had decided that since she was so late anyway going to grab a coffee wouldn't hurt.

They had all been so wrapped up in the phone that they hadn't noticed Carla walk into the building. Beth jumped and tried to hide her phone but it was too late, Carla grabbed it off of her quickly

"Oi!" Beth said but it was too late as Carla looked at the screen.

"Where d'ya get this?" Carla asked rather calmly but on the inside she was fuming. Beth looked around at the others helplessly but they all kept quiet, she turned back to look at Carla who was waiting for her answer

"Tracy" she eventually mumbled, Carla rolled her eyes

"Right… Let's get a few things straight shall we?" Carla said loudly so that everyone could hear "First of all, mobile phones should be kept in your lockers whilst you're working, so really I ought to ave this one confiscated." She said looking at Beth and still holding her phone in her hand. "Second of all Me and Peter are not back together so you can get that idea right out of ya heads, I stayed over last night and that is it. Not that I should ave to explain me self to any of you but if it stops the infantile gossiping then good." She said handing Beth her phone back "Last of all I assume you ave all finished the Marc Matthew's order, that you're supposed to be working on, seeing as you're all standing around doing nothing n all." The machinists looked at each other worriedly because they were nowhere near finished. Carla read their expressions and sighed, "Right then I suggest you all get back to work then… Now!" She said and they all started sewing again on command.

Sally and Alya were stood next to each other awkwardly, Carla looked at them both for an explanation.

"I was just over here to tell them to get back to work Mrs Connor" Sally said in an effort to make it look like she wasn't involved, Alya stared at her in shock

"Oh save it Sal" Carla said and she went into her office.

* * *

Peter hadn't done much with his day. He had woken up when his Dad started frying bacon for their breakfast. He was slightly disappointed to find that Carla had gone but he had found her note which made him feel a little better. He had another chat with his Dad and when he was sure that Ken was okay, he went to the gym for a workout. It was six thirty pm when he was sat at a table in the rovers on his own, He was reading the paper and sipping orange juice when Carla slumped down next to him on the sofa.

"Just the man I was hoping to see" She said sighing and taking off her jacket.

"That sounds ominous" Peter said closing the newspaper "Especially after you just ran out on me this morning." he looked at her pretending to be upset.

"What? I left you a note" Carla said frowning "Right next to your flamin head how could you ave not got it?"

"I'm kidding, I got it." He said grinning because he could tell that Carla was getting riled up and she was not in the mood for jokes right now. She sighed and shook her head

"You're not funny Peter" She said running her hand through her hair.

"What's up?" Peter asked as Beth and Kirk walked into the pub, Carla was diverted by this and said

"Eh Beth come here" as Beth had tried to sneak past, Beth looked at Kirk and then turned to Carla.

"Yes Mrs Connor" Beth said apprehensively although she couldn't help but smirk at the way Carla and Peter were sat together, Kirk went ahead to the bar and left his wife stood in front of her boss.

"Show him what you showed me earlier" Carla nodded towards Peter. Beth was about to say something but Carla spoke again first "Awwww don't even try to tell me that you deleted it" She said knowing that Beth would have kept the picture.

Peter looked a little confused at Carla as Beth got the picture up on her phone and showed it to him, he did a double take when he realised what Beth was showing him. He turned to Carla

"You can thank ya sister for that" Carla said "She sent it to Beth this morning and I got into work to find the entire factory gawping at it"

"I'm sorry Mrs Connor" Beth began

"It's fine Beth, I don't expect someone like you to keep that kinda thing secret" Carla said shaking her head "Go on back to Kirk." Beth gave her half a smile and went to join her husband at the bar.

"I'm gonna kill Tracy" Peter said downing the rest of his orange juice he went to get up but Carla pulled him back down into his seat

"Peter calm down."

"Are you not annoyed about this?" He asked, "Imagine what they were thinking."

"I were furious Peter, I still am but there's no point going mad at Tracy because that's what she wants, a reaction." Carla said "And anyway I don't care what they were thinking, I just don't like the idea of our private moments being broadcast like that, that's all"

"Spose it's a good thing she only sent it to Beth eh?" Peter said thankfully

"And you know that d'ya?" Carla said with her eyebrows raised "I wouldn't put it past her sending it to her whole contact list"

"Don't be silly Carla, Tracy doesn't have that many friends" Peter said smirking and getting his phone out of his pocket, Carla chuckled at him

"That's true."

"Here let me get you a drink." Peter said getting up and ordering Carla a red wine, She sat and waited for him to come back.

"Thank you Peter" Carla smiled appreciatively as he sat down and handed her wine "and thanks for last night." She added

"Wait... you're thanking me?" Peter said thinking of how helpful she had been with his Dad. Carla giggled and nodded shyly

"Yeah I am… I mean I ave to tell you... I had the best nights sleep, I've had in a long time"

"Me too actually." Peter said and left a silence between them for a moment, they were both still smiling when he added "So… seeing as we had such a good night, maybe we should do it again sometime?" Carla smirked at him and said

"Yeah… maybe we should." as Tracy walked into the pub. She took one look at Peter and Carla and grinned at them smugly

"Hey you two…" She said joining them at their table

"Tracy" Carla said sarcastically, Peter on the other hand was more upfront

"What were you thinking when you sent that picture of me and Carla out this morning?" he asked his phone in his hand.

"Oh" Tracy said and she bit down on her lip in an fake apologetic fashion "I didn't think it would get back to you."

"Oh come on Tracy, you knew Beth wouldn't ave been able to keep it to herself" Carla said

"Carla was round helping me with Dad and you've made it all seem like some big joke" Peter said

"Oh lighten up, it was just a bit of fun" Tracy said sighing

"Well I'm glad you think so Tracy" Peter said putting his phone down on the table mysteriously.

"Why's that?" Tracy asked not so sure of herself now.

"Well let's just say that I've been keeping a rather embarrassing picture of you on me phone that Steve sent me, for a while now and as it's just a bit of fun I thought maybe I should send it out.."

"What picture is this?" Carla asked intrigued. Tracy shot Peter a "don't you dare" look but he leant and whispered into Carla's ear. Carla's draw dropped "Really" she gasped, making Tracy squirm in her seat. Peter then looked back at Tracy with a grin

"You wouldn't" She said her face deadpan, knowing exactly that Peter probably would.

"What makes you think I haven't already? Only I don't actually ave Beth's number so maybe I just sent it to a few of _my_ friends instead" Peter said smugly, Carla who was trying her hardest not to laugh just nodded along.

"Peter!" Tracy cried looking around her to see if anyone in the pub was looking at her and laughing, She then turned back to her brother "You _so_ better not ave" She said then she got up and stormed right out of the pub. Carla and Peter both burst into uncontrollable laughter and they were both sure that Tracy wouldn't try something like that again.


	15. Truth Or Dare?

If Carla had to choose which one of Michelle's themed pub nights she was looking forward to the least, it would have definitely been this school disco one. She had been dreading it for days and when the evening eventually arrived Carla was tempted to make some sort of excuse and stay home.

The idea of revisiting her school days was not something Carla really wanted to do. Whilst she did have a few fun times with Michelle and their other mates, School not an easy place for Carla to be. She found it difficult to juggle all of her schoolwork with looking after Rob and on top of that she had to deal with all of the crap their Mum put them through on a daily basis.

Peter on the other hand, had really enjoyed his school days. He might have skipped a lot of them but that was simply because he just couldn't be bothered to actually go rather than because he hated it, all in all he was quite popular and had rather an okay time at school.

The Rover's was in full swing when he arrived and Michelle had kept her promise, offering everyone a free drink if they were dressed in school uniform. In keeping with the school theme the free drink was a bright blue alco-pop, it was the kind of drink you'd drink as a teenager and think you were hard core. Beth thought that this was a bit of a cop out and said that she was expecting to be able to choose the free drink.

Michelle, who had dressed a grey pinafore dress with a white shirt underneath and a straw hat with a ribbon around it smiled as she saw Peter enter the pub he was dressed in a white shirt and tie and as he approached the bar, She supportively handed him Lemonade.

"Here ya go Peter, thanks for coming and there's your free drink" Michelle said smiling at him rather excitedly, Peter thought it was just because she was having a good night, he had no idea that Michelle had a secret agenda.

"Thanks." Peter said nodding at her, Michelle looked around and then asked

"I don't suppose you've seen Carla on your travels ave ya?" She asked as Peter began to sip his drink, He shook his head at her

"Nope" He said, "I thought she would have been here already"

Peter stood and chatted to Steve and Michelle for a while about their school days, Peter talked about bunking off and Michelle talked about getting in trouble for accidentally on purpose forgetting her P.E kit and she hated any physical activity during her school days. Michelle then talked about the parties that her and Carla used to sneak into when they were teenagers and hinted that she had an exciting idea for the evening, one which Carla would definitely remember from those days but when Peter asked her what it was she just gave him a mysterious smile and said was waiting for Carla to come before she wanted to reveal all.

As more and more people arrived it was clear that the evening was going to be a success, Michelle had made a special playlist full of classic school disco tunes and they were blaring out of the jukebox reminding people of their youth.

She was even giving out free glow sticks and free packets of crisps like they used to have at school disco tuck shops. She handed Peter another lemonade and when the door opened, They were both hoping to see Carla stood there only it was Zeedan and Alya they came in side by side and made their way over to the bar, both of them in exactly the same school uniform only Zeedan's was a lot more on the scruffy side.

"Are you actually wearing a real school uniform?" Peter asked them with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes" Zeedan said a little bitterly "It's our old one, me Dad actually kept all of this, Can you believe it?"

"Hey it came in handy though right? I'm amazed we still fit into it though." Alya said although her skirt was a little on the short side it did still fit her. Michelle looked at her watch again and sighed it was almost half past nine and Carla still hadn't made an appearance, She was wondering if Carla might of decided not to come because she really didn't seem too keen for the whole thing the last time they had spoken.

"So where's Carla then?" Zeedan said looking at Alya who shrugged

"Why are you asking me?" She asked as Beth came over to order some more drinks for her and Kirk

"Well she's your boss." Zeedan said "I so hope she's dressed up, She is gonna look so hot"

"Don't you find it a little pervy, Y'know the whole school girl thing?" Steve said Peter nodded because he had been thinking the same thing and had had a conversation with Carla about it in the week but Zeedan shook his head

"Nope all I care about is how short Carla's skirt is gonna be" He said smirking as he loved to wind Peter up about Carla, Peter just kept silent knowing Zeedan was just looking for a reaction.

"Charming" Alya, said a little disgusted by her brother's comment even though she knew he fancied Carla like mad.

"She is definitely coming tonight right?" Zeedan asked Michelle a little peeved because seeing Carla in her school uniform was the only reason he had agreed to come along in the first place. Michelle shrugged and got her phone out

"I hope so" She said and she got Carla's number up on screen so she could call her, As she did this, a tall blonde guy entered the pub, It was Marc Matthews, he was the one who had finally made an order from Underworld, This was the same man that Carla had been sat with last month when Peter had got back from Portsmouth. Peter rolled his eyes when he saw him, whereas Alya and Beth both grinned at each other as Marc made his way over to them grinning, it was as if he knew just how good looking he was and he knew the effect he had on the women of Wetherfield… well all the women except Carla who at first was a little taken by him but now showed him no real interest.

"Hello ladies" Marc said, his cockney accent making him stand right out in the pub full of northerners.

"Hi" Alya and Beth giggled at the same time, as if they really were school girls, Peter rolled his eyes again not understanding why all the women seemed to think this Marc was some sort of god. He was dressed in a grey suit and this made Peter think that it was a bit uptight of Marc to not to have dressed in some sort of school uniform. Peter knew Marc had made more than a few appearances in the pub that week and that he had definitely seen the posters that were up on the wall. He seemed to follow Carla around like some sort of lost puppy and even though she had said otherwise a part of Peter felt like maybe Carla might have liked having him around after all. Marc smiled at Michelle when she looked up from her phone

"Hey… what can I get ya?" She asked bemused

"Can I get a rum and coke please?" He asked,

"And where is your school uniform may I ask?" She said a little irritated that he was there, She didn't want him to spoil her master plan of getting one up on Steve and making Peter and Carla see sense.

"I had nothing suitable to wear really, my wardrobe is hardly full of tatty school uniform… but hey why don't you think of me as a hot teacher instead?" Marc smirked

"Well if you had of been my teacher I would have defiantly had a one hundred per cent attendance." Beth said grinning, Marc laughed modestly as Michelle handed him his drink.

"Cheers" He said handing Michelle a ten-pound note "Keep the change" He said and he took his drink over to a table. As he sat down at it Peter looked at Michelle.

"Who invited him ere?" he asked, Michelle shrugged and Liz who had been at the bar and listening to the whole thing said

"It's a pub Peter he doesn't have to be invited in ere"

"I know… I just hope he doesn't think he's making this place his local, I mean I don't think he even lives anywhere near here." Peter said watching Marc. Liz looked at Michelle confused

"Ave I missed something?" She said not understanding why Peter was so bitter towards Marc because everyone else seemed to love him, Michelle rolled her eyes decided to set Liz straight.

"Well Marc over there seems to be very fond of our very own Carla Connor and lets just say that a certain kind of but not really ex husband of hers, doesn't like it one little bit" Michelle said grinning

"Oh I see" Liz said amused.

Peter was not amused and he normally would have shot back at Michelle with a quick comeback but he was momentarily diverted by the look on Zeedan's face. His mouth actually dropped open and when Peter turned around to see just what Zeedan was staring at, he was glad that he wasn't in the middle of sipping his drink because he probably would have chocked on it.

Carla was stood in the doorway, even dressed in school uniform she still looked drop dead gorgeous. She was reluctantly dressed in a white shirt, blue tie, and a black skirt with black knee high socks. She had her long brown hair tied up in two schoolgirl ponytails and had a pair of huge silver hoops in her ears.

"Wow… it's like you've been through a flamin time machine…" Michelle said because Carla almost looked exactly like she had done in school.

"Hardly" Carla said as strolled over to the bar

"and what time d'ya call this anyway?" Michelle asked as Carla met Peter's gaze properly, They had both gone out to dinner with Simon and even bowling again since the sleepover at Ken's but neither one of them was brave enough to mention the fact that they wanted to do it again.

"Alright" Carla said winking at Peter flirtatiously. He didn't know what else to do but nod foolishly, Carla raised one eyebrow and looked at Michelle who was just relived to see that she had turned up so she could get her plan into action "Right where's me free drink then?" Carla asked trying her best to keep cool but she could practically feel Peter and Zeedan's eyes all over her body.

"There ya go." Michelle said handing Carla the glass bottle that was filled with blue liquid, She winced at it and then looked back at Michelle

"What's this?" Carla asked appalled

"Its ya free drink…Come on you used to love these when we younger." Michelle said

"Yeah when we were like thirteen." Carla said making Liz laugh.

"Thirteen? No wonder you have a slight drink problem" Liz said a little boldly, although Carla didn't mind too much and shook her head disappointedly at Michelle.

"I'm not being funny Chelle but I were rather expecting a glass of wine or something."

"Yeah so were I" Beth butted in, Michelle rolled her eyes at Beth

"I never stipulated that it would be a free drink of your choice."

"Yeah well you never stipulated that it would be this rubbish either" Carla said sniffing it before taking a small sip "God it tastes like one of them melted ice pops, y'know the ones we used to get down corner shop during summer" She said grimacing "I mean you can barley taste the alcohol."

"Yes well it's all part of the school disco experience." Michelle started and she was beginning to look excited again when she remembered what she had planned. Peter who still hadn't said anything watched as Michelle handed Carla a packet of the space invaders crisps

"Awww I remember these." Carla said feeling nostalgic now, she opened the packet and tried one of the alien shaped crisps, It was clear by the look on her face that they didn't taste like they used to either "Erggghh it tastes like cardboard." She said swallowing it anyways because it would not have been polite to just spit it out like she had wanted to.

"Yeah I think they've always tasted that way." Peter said finally getting his voice back,

"Oh so he does speak" Carla said grinning at Peter

"Well I'm not gonna lie I was a little speechless when I first saw ya." Peter said taking a deep breath because even in school uniform she looked so attractive.

"Why? I told ya, I'd dress up if you did." Carla said with a hint of a smirk on her face

"And how did you know I'd be dressed up?" Peter asked because he hadn't actually confirmed that he would be dressed in school uniform.

"I just did" Carla said as she took another sip of the drink that Michelle had given her, she winced as she swallowed it down again and then shook her head

"Yeah I can't drink this" She said handing it back to Michelle she then looked back at Peter and smiled "So... What are these amazing plans you've got then Chelle? Are you gonna get us playing music bumps and pin the tail on the donkey" Carla asked

"Very funny but you're on the right wavelength with the games, All will be revealed later." Michelle said and Steve raised an eyebrow at her as she served a drink to a customer

"Uh oh, I'd watch out if I were you." He said cautiously to Peter

"Oi be quiet you" Michelle said nudging him "Right I'm gonna go and ave a drink with Carla." Michelle said leaving the bar and pointing at an empty table, Peter watched as Carla made her way over to it with Michelle.

"I bet the whole school uniform idea doesn't seem so pervy now eh" Zeedan said watching Peter's gaze "She looks so fit, I can't actually believe it." Zeedan said. Peter didn't say anything on the matter and continued to drink his Lemonade but he was definitely on the same wave length as Zeedan.

"Your stalker's over there by the way." Michelle said as she sat down opposite Carla, Carla looked in the direction that Michelle had been looking in and spotted Marc who was still on the phone.

"Yeah he said he was coming." Carla said unenthusiastically "He's literally called me everyday this week."

"About what?" Michelle exclaimed

"Oh all sorts of trivial crap and then if he doesn't phone, I usually end up running into him in ere or somewhere near by." Carla said "Y'know I think he might ave got the wrong idea, I mean I know I went to dinner with him that time but it were just business and I've not done or said anything to make him think that I like him in a romantic way ave I?" Carla was rather glad that he hadn't noticed that she had arrived yet and kept her back turned so he couldn't spot her as easily.

"Ave you thought about telling him to back off a little?" Michelle asked, She hadn't actually realised that Carla found Marc this irritating.

"Well I would but he's actually put a lot of money our way and he was going to introduce me to some more potential clients so I don't want to be too harsh with him." Carla said sighing

"Is it really worth it though? I mean if he's that annoying maybe you should just cut your losses." Michelle suggested but then she laughed "Hey you should ave seen what happened when he walked in ere, Peter did not look happy to see him at all, I think you've got yourself a little love triangle going on" Michelle joked

"Oh give over Chelle" Carla said unimpressed with Michelle's version of a joke "Anyways me and"

"Yeah, yeah, I know you and Peter are just friends, you can spare me the well rehearsed speech Carla… Although I think after tonight you might think otherwise" Michelle said with a wicked glint in her eye.

"What you on about Chelle?" Carla said suspiciously but Michelle just shook her head at her.

"You'll find out soon enough." She said mysteriously.

* * *

It was a little later that Michelle revealed what she had planned, she gone to the bar and had picked up an empty bottle of vodka that she had been saving just for tonight, She carried it over to a table where Alya, Garry Carla and Leanne were sat. They had been swapping school stories and Leanne was just in the middle of telling them about being kicked out of high school when they saw Michelle and what she was carrying.

"That better not be for what I think it's for" Carla said frowning Michelle who had excitement in her eyes smirked at her

"Who wants to play Spin The Bottle?" she asked loudly, Carla groaned as Zeedan came rushing over, he had almost tripped over his own feet as he got to the table.

"Me!" He cried practically throwing himself into the booth next to Carla, She shuffled up next to Leanne so he wasn't so close to her.

"Watch it you" She said to Zeedan as he grinned happily

"Hmmm I don't think Kal would be too happy if I joined in with this so I'm out" Leanne said getting up and smugly and leaving Carla sat with Zeedan

"Leanne" Carla said peeved that she had gotten out of it so easily "Michelle do we ave to?"

"Yes we do, come on we used to play this all the time when we were young" Michelle said leading Zeedan to look even more excited

"Oh did you now? Well what are we waiting for? Come on let's get started." Zeedan said he then turned and winked at Carla "I'm feeling lucky" he grinned

"Oh give it up bro" Alya said feeling embarrassed for her brother and his desperate attempt for Carla's attention.

"Don't get too excited Zeedan it's not what you think, We used to play the truth or dare version of Spin the bottle not the kissing one" Michelle said almost laughing at Zeedan's eagerness.

"Right well I'll buy a drink for anyone who dare's Carla to kiss me when it lands on her." Zeedan said thinking this was an ingenious idea.

"And any of you even think of it, I'll kill ya" Carla warned with her eyes wide as Michelle gazed around the pub as if she was looking for someone, Carla narrowed her eyes at her "What are you up to Chelle?" She asked but Michelle ignored her as Marc came over

"Can I play?" He asked keenly, He had had rather a lot to drink by this point and Michelle wasn't pleased with his appearance at all. This wasn't part of her master plan but what else could she say to Marc, She nodded reluctantly and said

"Yeah"

"Good" Marc said winking at Carla sitting down opposite her and next to Alya who smirked at Carla.

Alya and the rest of the factory had been saying that Marc had a thing for Carla for weeks now. He had been in and out of the factory pretending he wanted to "keep an eye" on the order he made but all of the factory girls and Sean said it was because he liked Carla, She didn't think so at first but as he sat opposite her smiling eagerly, she was beginning to think that maybe Alya was right.

"Carla I must say you look incredible tonight" Marc said tipsily as Carla sat before him she smiled at him quickly before watching Michelle who was still gazing around the pub

"Where is he?" she said to herself and Carla narrowed her eyebrows at her.

"And just who are you looking for Michelle?" she asked but Michelle grabbed Steve as he made his way past her

"Where's Peter?" She hissed quietly so Carla couldn't hear her, Steve just shrugged at her and said

"I dunno?" he said and he continued off to the bar, Michelle sat down next to Zeedan and said they should get the game started although she was a little annoyed because part of her plan had been to get Peter to play.

Michelle spun the bottle around and it started with Nick who had joined the game at last minute. He had chosen truth and Michelle asked him if he'd ever get back with Leanne and Nick admitted that he would jump at the chance. Then Nick spun the bottle and it pointed to Zeedan who said Dare and winked at Carla, She gave Nick a look of warning and Nick said he dared Zeedan to go and ask Tracy Barlow to dance. Zeedan reluctantly did so and that ended up in Tracy coming to join the game.

Peter, who had been outside having a sneaky cigarette, returned as Tracy squeezed into the booth where they were all sat.

"What's going on over there?" He asked, Steve sighed and then finally realised what Michelle had been trying to do.

"What a cheater" He exclaimed shaking his head at how stupid he had been to think Michelle was going to play fair.

"Who?" Peter asked still baffled

"They are playing truth or Dare" Steve said outraged "Oh that Michelle thinks she is so clever, that's why she was looking for you, She wanted you to play"

"Me?" Peter said watching as the game continued

"Yeah" Steve said wondering if he should tell Peter more, Peter looked at Marc who was sat opposite Carla "You're not gonna go over there are ya"

"Hmmm I think I'll stay here thanks" Peter said because he really didn't like the idea of sitting so close to Marc as he really disliked him.

"Good" Steve said smugly.

Eventually it was Alya's turn she spun the bottle, She whirled it round excitedly and it pointed at Carla.

"I'll take a dare" Carla said smiling confidently because she wasn't afraid of much and she was sure Alya wouldn't think something too crazy for her dare. Alya smirked mischievously at Carla and said,

"Okay... I dare you to kiss..." Zeedan looked hopeful and Carla gave her a look of warning

"I'm your boss remember" Carla warned

"Marc!" Alya said excitedly, Carla was relived it wasn't Zeedan but she was a little apprehensive about kissing Marc. Michelle could have kicked Alya and sighed heavily when she realised Peter was just a few feet away and he was watching the entire thing.

"Alright pucker up Marc" Carla sighed because she wasn't one for turning down a dare, Marc looked a little sheepish but definitely up for it. Michelle bit her lip as Carla reluctantly leant over the table. She heard loud cheers from Nick and Garry as her lips just barley touched Marc's.

It was a quick peck, nothing more but it was still enough to make Peter turn green with envy. He looked at Steve who was also watching the game of truth and dares.

"That's why Michelle wanted you to play… " Steve said awkwardly trying to make Peter feel a little better about the situation.

"Oh" Peter said. He knew there was nothing to the kiss between Carla and Marc, she even had her eyes open for god's sake but the thought of another man's lip touching Carla's even for a second still made him feel insanely jealous, He stayed with Steve and when Michelle eventually returned to the bar she tutted at Peter irritatedly.

"Fun game?" he asked a little bitterly and she shook her head at him

"I was looking for you for ages! Where were ya?" She said shoving Peter who sighed

"I was outside" He said

"Steve… why didn't you send him over?" Michelle asked

"I tried, he said he didn't want to, I couldn't force the man." Steve said "And anyways don't think I aven't clocked on to what you were trying to do and that's cheating" Steve said

"How is it cheating?" Michelle said smirking Peter looked at them both rather confused as to what was going on, Steve decided to clear things up for a bit

"She was trying to get you and Carla to kiss" Steve said, Peter raised an eyebrow at Michelle

"Really… and Why would you do that?... I mean me and Carla-"

"Yeah, yeah trust me Peter I've heard it all already tonight" Michelle said sighing because she knew Peter would say that he and Carla were just friends and she was just fed up of hearing that line. She glared at Steve and made her way back to the game frustratedly.

Eventually the game had died down and the participants just enjoyed the rest of their evening. Marc kept insisting on buying the table more drinks and was carrying on, as of they were all best friends. When he got up to buy a round for the fourth time Carla frowned

"He's getting a bit full of himself isn't he?" She said, Alya just shrugged at her with a grin

"I'd be full of myself if I'd ave got a kiss from you" Zeedan said getting up from their table and leaving Alya, Michelle and Carla sat with Leanne who had returned to the table as the game was now finished and she was safe from having to do anything embarrassing. Carla sighed and looked down at her fingernails.

"Oi cheer up you, it must be nice to have a good looking guy queuing up to kiss ya." Leanne said Carla looked over at the bar longingly to where a certain someone was stood and sighed

"Yeah... except it's not the guy I wanted though" She muttered, it had come out a little louder than she had planned and it had made Michelle's face lit up

"Well we can always start up another game of spin the bottle and get him to play." She said eagerly but Carla shook her head,

"Don't even think about it Michelle."

Whilst Carla was a little disappointed that Peter hadn't of joined in with the game she was glad as well because if she ever did kiss Peter again she definitely didn't want it to be in front of everyone or whilst they were both dressed in tacky school uniform.

Peter had made sure that he stayed put at the bar with Steve because he literally felt as if he couldn't stand being anywhere near Marc especially as he seemed to get drunker and drunker as the night went on.

* * *

It got to almost eleven when people started going home and thanking Michelle for another fun night down the Rover's. Carla had begun to sense Michelle was annoyed about something but she hadn't had the opportunity to ask her until they were sat alone at a table.

"Right go on then Chelle, what's got your knickers in a twist?" Carla asked

"Nothing" Michelle said a little defeated that her plan hadn't worked, She had thought it was fool proof but as the night was almost over, she began to realise that Peter and Carla were not going to kiss.

"You sure? Cause I'm not gonna ask ya again?" Carla said sternly, Peter came over and sat down opposite the two of them, he looked at the frown on Michelle's face and smirked, Carla narrowed her eyebrows at him

"And what are you looking so pleased about?" She asked

"Has she told you what she was up to yet?" Peter said nodding towards Michelle who actually scowled at him.

"No" Carla said turning to look at her best friend "Chelle?" Michelle just sighed and looked at Peter.

"This little game of truth of dare she organized…" Peter began "Well Michelle knows you're incapable of saying no to a dare and was planning to get you to kiss me." Peter said amused, Carla looked back at Michelle a little stunned, and then she laughed

"Well that didn't quite go to plan did it?" Carla said, "I knew you were up to something though."

"I only did it because I thought you two needed a push in the right direction that's all." She said defensively although she wasn't completely telling the truth.

"How many times do we need to say it Michelle? Honestly, Me and Peter are really trying to be friends and people like you are making it so difficult." Carla started but she couldn't help but crack up halfway though "Seriously Chelle what were you thinking?" Carla said as Peter started laughing too

"Honestly… I had a bet with Steve that I could get you two to kiss before the night is over." Michelle admitted, Carla stopped laughing at her friend and said

"Really Michelle? do you not know me at all?" She was shaking her head disappointedly at her best friend.

"Yeah Shame on you Michelle" Peter said nodding, as if he was telling off a little child. Michelle ignored him

"Look I'm sorry Carla okay." She said as Carla shook her head at her again only this time she had a smirk on her face.

"You don't understand…I'm your best mate Chelle n if you'd have just been honest then I would have probably kissed Peter for ya…" Carla said and Peter wondered if she was being serious or not. He was starting to wish Michelle had just been honest after all.

"Really?" Michelle said "Well the night's not over" She added looking at Carla hopefully. Carla folded her arms and sighed as if she was thinking about it all for a moment.

"Honestly Chelle, after all the sneaky games you've tried to play… you've ruined it." Carla said smugly, Peter chuckled a little half-heartedly and shrugged at Michelle.

"Fine" She cried "But I was only trying to help, from now on you two are on your own."

"Good" Peter and Carla said in unison, they both started laughing again and Michelle had had enough of their mocking. So she got up and went to help Steve and Liz as they began tidying up empty glasses and crisp packets.

After they had stopped laughing, there was a frustrating few minutes of silence between Carla and Peter as they sat alone, The pub was almost empty now, there were a few people at another table in the corner and Lloyd was still sat at the bar with Andrea but everyone else seemed to have gone home. Carla wondered just how much of the game Peter had witnessed and if he had witness the tiny kiss that she had shared with Marc. Eventually she cleared her throat and asked Peter

"So how come you didn't come over and join in with the game then?"

"Well I think you know how I feel about Marc and I didn't quite fancy being that close to him to be honest." Peter said to Carla, he was not quite looking her in the eye properly though as he said it.

"Did ya see I had to kiss him" She asked awkwardly, watching Peter for a reaction, He just nodded casually as if it was nothing.

"Yeah I saw, poor you, bet you hated it." He said, he hadn't meant it to come out like he was being sarcastic, he just didn't want to talk about the kiss. Carla misunderstood, sighed and got up out of the booth, She looked back at Peter before walking off "Carla I didn't mean it like" he started but she was already on her way into the toilets.

When Carla had come out of the cubicle and washed her hands she decided she was going to go and talk to Peter about Marc, She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say but she knew she definitely didn't want him thinking that kissing Marc had meant anything to her. As she flounced out of the ladies she practically crashed into Marc, She thought that he had gone home but there he was in front of her, He smiled at drunkenly and put an arm around her,

"Marc" Carla said recoiling a little because the amount of alcohol on his breath was an all too familiar feeling for her.

"Carla, You are so beautiful" Marc slurred practically putting all his weight onto her.

"Yeah thanks and all that but I've been meaning to talk to you" Carla paused there was really no point in having this conversation with Marc whilst he was like this and the way he was looking at her made her feel slightly funny. "Marc come on, I think you should go home."

"No I don't want to go home, I want to be with you, I honestly can't stop thinking about you Carla." Marc breathed and he put his other arm around Carla so that he was practically hugging her, "You look so damn sexy in your school uniform" He said it a way that now made Carla feel a little nervous. Suddenly Michelle appeared next to them.

"A little help?" Carla said pleadingly to Michelle, Michelle gave Marc a little shove and took one of his arms,

"Come on Marc"

"Oi let go of me you." He said but he was so intoxicated he had no strength to stop Carla and Michelle escorting him over to the nearest table. He sat down and rested his head on the table as if he were going to sleep.

"What was he doing to ya?" Michelle asked looking at Carla concerned,

"Nothing, he's just hammered that's all" Carla said although she was still a little freaked out. She wasn't sure what to do as Peter came over, he looked down at the drunken Marc and then raised an eyebrow at Carla and Michelle.

"He should probably go home, you got his address Carla?" Michelle said Carla went into her phone and found Marc's address in one of their emails as Steve then came over, he looked at Marc who was still slumped across the table.

"What happened to him?" Steve asked amused, Michelle shook her head at him

"He's totally wasted" Michelle said giving Marc a little poke, Carla frowned at her as she did so.

"Chelle… what are you doing?" She asked as Michelle poked him again and then gave a little chuckle and shrugged, Carla started laughing too "Just leave him alone Chelle." She said and she looked at Steve

"D'ya fancy taking him home?" She said Steve frowned at her a little

"and what am I supposed to do, just guess where he lives?" He said

"Oh just drop him off a few miles away from ere n he'll be fine" Peter smirked

"Not funny." Carla said and she showed Steve the address on her phone, he sighed

"Okay that's only twenty minutes or so" Steve said and then went out back to get his keys. It was a struggle to get Marc to leave the pub though, he tried to get away from Steve and it took some help from Lloyd to get him into the cab but they managed it in the end. Once they had left Michelle looked at Carla who looked at little distracted

"You sure you're alright babe?" Michelle asked she wondered if Marc might have scared Carla a little, Carla was more concerned about what Peter was thinking and said

"Yeah course, He were just drunk that's all" She insisted and she gave Michelle a reassuring smile.

"Right well I guess I better be going, Me Dad's probably wondering where I am?" Peter joked winking at Carla as he said it hoping that she would see he was okay with her and not annoyed about the kiss. "Bye" He said to her, She nodded at him but she wasn't sure if she wanted to say goodbye just yet.

"Bye Peter, thanks for coming." Michelle called as she went behind the bar and continued to tidy up.

"Bye Michelle" He said "Sorry for not playing along well enough" He added as he walked towards the door, Carla took a deep breath and said

"Peter" He turned around and looked at her, She smiled at him a little self-consciously

"I didn't like kissing him… not one little bit." She said firmly. Peter grinned at her and nodded as she said "Y'know just so you know"

"I know" Peter said smiling "I bet you wish I had played that game after all" He joked before heading towards the door,

"God you don't half fancy your self don't ya?" Carla called after him, Peter turned back to look at her before leaving and said

"Not as much as I fancy you though." and with that he just left the pub, leaving Carla stood still. She knew it was a silly little comment but she couldn't help but grin stupidly at it and when she turned round she found Michelle staring at her.

"I'm not saying anything." Michelle said and she got back to tidying up the pub.

* * *

**_Wow, I cannot tell you how much I disliked this chapter_**

**_I don't actually know why but I just found it so hard_**

**_to write compared to the ones before &amp; after it._**

**_I hope you can't tell._**

**_I also hope you don't feel as if I'm dragging_**

**_out Peter &amp; Carla being "friends" either_**

**_:)_**


	16. The Great Gatsby & The Borrowed Jacket

_**Thank you for all your lovely reviews on the previous**__** chapter. **_

_**I really appreciated them so... **__**here is another.**_

_**It's a long one so you might wanna grab a cuppa :)**_

* * *

"I promise I'll be here Chelle." Carla said as they both entered the pub after having a late breakfast down the cafe. Michelle and Steve had been planning this quiz night for weeks now and after much stress, it was finally here. She wanted Carla to come along to keep her company whilst Steve played quiz master.

"The quiz starts at seven so make sure you get here a good while before then so we can get a good spot." Michelle said walking behind the bar and leaving Carla on the customers side. She gave Steve a quick kiss and went over to a punter.

Carla glanced around the pub and spotted a miserable Peter sitting on his own in one of the booths. She looked around her to check if any one in the pub might have been sitting with him but it seemed like he was definitely alone. It had been a week since the school disco and the way Peter had left things between them (by saying that he fancied her) had left her feeling extremely frustrated.

Carla knew it was just a flirty comment but it made her feel really exciting to know that she definitely had that effect on Peter. She hadn't seen him much in the week as she had been busy down the factory so she had been looking forward to spending a little bit of time with him today.

"Alright there Peter" Carla said. He didn't answer her so she moved a little closer to him. She was worried because it didn't look like he was alright. He had a glass in his hands, she inspected it closely. "Peter?" He rolled his eyes at her concerned tone of voice.

"I'm not drinking if that's what you're looking so worried about." he snapped, Carla nodded

"Oh I see... You're in that kinda mood are you?" she said, she was able to tell just by his tone that something was definitely bothering him.

"Well maybe I wouldn't be in a mood if people just left me alone." He said bluntly, Carla rolled her eyes and turned her back on him, choosing not to argue back because she was not in the mood to entertain one of Peter's mood swings.

It took him all but a few seconds to realise that he had probably upset Carla, He was taking his bad mood out on her and she didn't deserve that. She was stood still at the bar, with her back to him, making sure that she didn't give him the time of day. He sighed and leant forward

"Carla" he said apologetically, She ignored him the first time so he said her name again, only this time a little louder "Carla!"

Michelle who was busy pulling a pint looked at her and rolled her eyes "Carla"

"I know" Carla said sighing and then Peter spoke again even louder then before

"Carla I'm sorry!" he said, She turned around because people were beginning to look at them both. She sighed and sat down next to him reluctantly, taking her bag off of her shoulders and placing it on the table.

"I'm sorry."

"Alright you've said that twice now, so come on..." she nudged him with her elbow "What's wrong?"

"I'm just having a bad day…" he said, Carla raised an eyebrow wondering if he was just being dramatic.

"Peter it's only half past twelve in the afternoon, Just how bad can your day ave been?"

"Well I've been up since about four, so right now it feels like it's about five pm." Peter said yawning practically on cue.

"Four? How come?" Carla asked,

"I had this dream... A nightmare if I'm honest" Peter said stiffly

"About what?" Carla asked edging closer to him so that their knees were now touching.

"The tram crash, Prison, You..." He paused again because he wasn't sure what would happen if he mentioned the next part "Tina, basically everything bad that has happened round here and how it was mainly because of me" he said Carla watched him sympathetically not even flinching at Tina's name.

"Peter… the tram crash was not your fault" Carla said quietly although she couldn't really comment on the rest and Peter knew why.

"The rest were though… Anyways I woke up in a right state and since then I've been having some… worrying thoughts"

"Thoughts" Carla swallowed. She was dreading what he might say next.

"Yeah thoughts… thoughts about having a drink." he said hating that he felt this way after doing so well for so long.

"Yeah well I'm sure that sitting in a pub all alone isn't helping to control those thoughts Peter" Carla said softly "It's understandable to feel like this sometimes, You've been doing so well, Please don't let a bad night ruin things for you."

"I know and feeling like this just makes me think… it was all for nothing." Peter mumbled, Carla shook her head at him

"Do you remember what you said to me down the factory that time? Y'know about how the pain will still be here after all the drinking is done?" She said trying not to freak out too much and keep calm for Peter's sake. He nodded at her

"Yeah I remember all that but you know what they say, Taking your own advice is the hardest pill to swallow." Peter said sighing again.

"Peter you will get past this" Carla said firmly "Seriously this is just a bad day and you just have to remember that you are strong enough to beat any cravings that you might ave." She took hold of his hand that was rested on the table "Peter, I honestly believe that you can do this, you've got to try and stay as positive as you can and if you get through today I know that you'll wake up in the morning feeling a hundred times better." She said smiling at him reassuringly, He sniffed and tried his best to give her a smile back

"It's me Dad's birthday today... It's his first one without Deirdre and I'm in ere feeling sorry for me self instead of with him." he sighed while Carla nodded.

"I remembered and I've got his card and present in me bag, I was gonna drop it round in a little while. So why don't you finish off your orange juice and come with me?" She said still smiling at him supportively.

"Sounds like a plan" Peter said feeling relived that Carla still understood him so well. Then again she always had done when it came to the drink.

She let go of his hand and he gulped down the rest of his juice as she got up off the sofa. Michelle watched as Carla and Peter made their way over to the door. She smiled at them both

"Seven o'clock Carla" She reminded because Carla had tendency to become distracted especially whilst she was with Peter.

"Yes Chelle" Carla called back.

"What's at Seven o Clock?" Peter asked as they left the pub

"Oh that quiz that Steve and Chelle have been planning." Carla said as Peter took his keys out of his pocket so he could open his Dad's door.

"Oh yeah me Dad's put me, him and Tracy down for a team." he said, Carla smirked at him

"Really? I mean your Dad's a clever man but you and Tracy..."

"What are you trying to say eh?" Peter said grinning as he walked into the house. Carla followed him inside and closed the door behind her.

"Dad?" Peter called as they walked down the hall, he and Carla walked into the back room to find Ken sitting at the table wearing a pair of white headphones. Tracy and Amy were also sat with him, both looking rather amused. Ken took his headphones out of his ears as Tracy frowned at Peter.

"Peter where have you been?" she said because when they had all woken up Peter was nowhere to be seen.

"Never mind about that" Peter said because he didn't want to worry any of his family. He patted his Dad on the back and said "Happy Birthday Dad, Don't worry I haven't forgot you, I promised Simon I'd wait for him before giving you our present" He said, Ken was now holding up the headphones.

"Tracy and Amy bought me this... iPod" he said with his eyebrows raised slightly, Carla held in her smirk as she could tell Ken wasn't exactly overjoyed with this gift, especially because Tracy seemed to have a knack of acquiring some dodgy electrical goods recently.

"It's about time you joined the twenty first century Dad. You can still listen to all your old tunes on there and that way we don't ave to hear them" Tracy laughed nudging Peter who was now stood next to her.

"Happy Birthday Ken" Carla said handing him a card and then bending down and kissing him on the cheek. Peter patted his Dad on the back again as she stood up straight again.

"Eh Dad if that ain't a good birthday gift than I don't know what is" he said playfully winking at Carla as Ken opened his present from her. She had bought him a notepad but it wasn't just any old notepad, each page had a different quote from a book or a poem. There were three hundred and sixty five pages, just enough for the whole year.

"Thank you so much Carla. I love it" Ken said smiling at her appreciatively, Carla was delighted that Ken liked her present so much because she had obviously put a lot of thought into it.

"You're welcome." she said

"You will stay for a while won't you Carla?" Ken asked his eyes full of hope,

"Of course I will." She said and Peter pulled a chair out for her to sit down on.

"Right you sit ere then." he said taking her by the shoulders, she giggled as he pushed her into the seat.

"So what are you're plans for the rest of today then Ken?" She asked resting her arms on the table in front of her.

"Well Tracy's supposed to be cooking lunch and then we've got that quiz down the Rover's a bit later" Ken said rather excitedly as he had been looking forward to this quiz all week.

"Tracy's cooking eh" Peter said looking both surprise and concerned because Tracy wasn't the best cook.

"Yes I am." she said proudly, although she frowned when she saw Peter's face "Why are you pulling that face? I don't see you offering to cook for us" She said peeved.

"Do you ave to cook? Can't we just go and get some fish and chips instead?" Amy asked.

"Ha! Even your own daughter doesn't want to eat your food!" Peter scoffed

"That's not true you love my cooking, don't you Amy?" Tracy said looking at Amy desperately for back up.

"I do, I just think Granddad would prefer it if we had a treat" Amy said smartly, although she wasn't quite looking Tracy in the eye as she spoke.

"Hmmm I'm not sure I believe you Amy" Peter started "But it's your birthday Dad so if you want chips we'll get chips."

Ken decided that it was probably better to get chips for lunch, So Peter and Tracy went to the chip shop leaving Carla with Ken and Amy. Carla wasn't too happy about being left with Amy but soon enough Simon turned up with a card and present. He was delighted to see that Carla was round and sat next to her at the table after he had given Ken his present, which was a set of old books that Ken had loved when he was a younger man.

As Amy got up and said she was getting something from and room, Carla looked at Simon and said

"Where's your Mum Si?"

"Where d'ya think?" Simon said rather bitterly with his elbow on the table "She's working at the bistro of course" Carla had sensed that Simon wasn't too happy with how much Leanne worked these days but he had never really said much on the matter until now.

"She works a lot doesn't she" Carla said cautiously, not trying to say too much because she had been getting on quite well with Leanne and she didn't want anything that she might say getting back to her.

"Yeah she does, I mean I go to school and when I come home she's at work and sometimes she's there until after nine. I barley see her" He said

"Have you spoke to your Mum about this?" Carla asked but Simon just shook his head. "Maybe you should" She said

"Me Mum will only say she's working for us, so we can stay in the flat and stuff"

"Well if you ever feel lonely you can always come over to mine, we could watch a movie or play the Wii, If you've done all your homework that is." Carla said

"Thanks Carla" Simon said and then he grinned "I know I'll be okay though"

"And why's that then" Carla said dubiously because Simon's grin was intriguing.

"Well I've got me Dad and You, aven't I?"

"Yeah Course"

"Even If you're not back together… yet" Simon said, Carla tried her best not to be affected by this comment but she just couldn't keep a smirk from forming on her face.

"Yet?" she said

"Yeah yet. Santana said her older sister always used to say that she was just friends with her ex boyfriend all the time." Simon said

"So…?" Carla said still grinning at her stepson

"Well they got back together in the summer, Santana said that She reckons you and me Dad will too."

"Well if Santana says it then it must be true eh" Carla said ruffling Simon's hair.

"Oi" he said backing away from her but she kept trying to reach for him playfully, so he got up off of the chair almost laughing.

"So does that mean that you're gonna get with Santana then? Seeing as your just friends." Carla teased

"No way... It's different" Simon said

"How exactly?"

"It just…is" He said blushing and sitting back down next to Carla on the chair.

"Oh come on Si this is me you're talking to, I thought we said we'd tell each other stuff?" Carla said reminding him of the deal they'd made months ago. "You like her don't you" She said Simon sighed and then looked up at Carla.

"Yes" Simon admitted, Carla smiled at him smugly

"Awwww" She cooed making Simon blush again

"Don't say nothing though, It's a secret" he said

"Who am I gonna tell? It's not like we run in the same circles is it Si?" Carla said almost laughing again and putting her arm around Simon lovingly. "I've got me eye on someone too. If that makes you feel any better."

"Oh yeah" Simon smirked sure that she was talking about his Dad "Who's that then?" Carla gave him a knowing smile and was about to reveal all as Ken came back in followed by Tracy and Peter who was carrying a bag full of fish and chips. Peter looked at Carla who still had her arm around Simon and smiled at them fondly.

"We'll continue this conversation later." Simon said giving Carla a wink and making Peter laugh.

"And what conversation was that eh?" Peter asked fascinated, Simon and Carla both gave each other a look and started laughing.

"Never you mind" Carla said as Tracy went into the kitchen and came back with plates for everyone. Peter shared out the fish and chips between everyone and he sat down on the other side of Carla.

"I have to say I'm glad you mentioned getting chips so I didn't have to cook" Tracy said sitting down with her plate on the sofa next Amy who had come in from her bedroom to have some lunch.

"Yeah so are we" Peter laughed, Tracy threw a chip at him but Peter managed to dodge it by moving to the side suddenly almost knocking Carla off of her chair in the process.

"Watch it," she cried clinging onto the table, Peter picked up one of his chips with a wicked look in his eye.

"You better not throw that at your sister Peter" Ken said firmly because he knew that Peter and Tracy could act very childish. Peter put the chip into his mouth although he had been planning to use it to get his own back on Tracy.

Once they had finished up their fish and chips, Carla insisted on helping to wash up, even though she hated it she thought she should really do something to help out. Ken dug out an old monopoly board and suggested that they all played together. As it was his birthday they all agreed and as Carla came back in from the kitchen, they realised there weren't quite enough seats for everyone and that they were one short, which led to Peter kindly offering the space on his lap for Carla to sit on. She raised her eyebrows at him and declined his offer as Simon eventually got up off his chair and offered it to Carla, saying he would kneel up at the table instead.

"Well at least your son knows how to be a gentleman." Carla said

"I were only joking you know" Peter said as Simon got up out of his chair

"Yeah because if Carla had of gone and sat on your lap you would have told her to get off" Tracy said sarcastically. Carla sat down next to Peter as Ken got out the Monopoly board

"Who's going to be the banker?" He asked

"Not me Dad" Simon said instantly, Carla chuckled as Peter looked offended

"Honestly you help yourself to a few extra notes during one game and you're never trusted again." he said

"I'll do it" Tracy said but it was Peter who objected this time.

"Oh no you don't Tracy, let's have Carla do it" He said because he remembered Tracy could be quite crafty whilst playing board games too.

"Really" Carla frowned "I hate having all that responsibility."

"I'll do it then" Simon sighed and he took the money tray off of Ken.

It was a very quick game of monopoly due to the fact that there were so many of them and it was over in less than two hours with Peter as the winner. He was very smug about his win although Tracy still reckoned that he cheated somehow.

Ken flicked through the channels on the TV as Simon and Amy went out to take Eccles for a walk. Tracy was still sitting at the table flicking through a magazine and Peter and Carla were both sat on the sofa.

"How are you feeling?" Carla asked turning to face Peter as he yawned, he nodded at her and then shrugged

"Yeah"

"Yeah? what does yeah mean?" Carla asked puzzled

"It means I'm fine" Peter assured,

"Good... Because I'm not gonna lie, you almost scared the life out of me earlier." Carla said "and it's not because I don't trust you, it's because I know how scary that feeling of not being in control can be."

"Honestly Carla, thanks to you I'm feeling so much better." Peter insisted as Ken pointed at the TV excitedly.

"Guess what's on in a minute?" He said, Carla and Peter looked at him blankly "The Great Gatsby." Ken said delightedly

"On you're birthday too" Peter said because he knew how much Ken loved the film that was about to come on.

"You guys don't mind if I watch it do you?" Ken asked looking back at Tracy, which Carla found ridiculous as it was his house and he was asking his grown up kids if he could watch something on his own telly.

"Nope" Tracy said

"Don't be silly Dad" Peter said he then looked at Carla "You don't have to stay ere just to be polite you know." He said because he was sure she'd have better things to do with her afternoon. She shook her head at him

"I know, I'm fine besides I love The Great Gatsby." She said smiling, Ken looked at Carla, surprised.

"Really, I didn't know you were a Fitzgerald fan." He said

"Well… I'm not really…" Carla said awkwardly "I'm a Leonardo Di Caprio fan though." She laughed

"Oh well this is actually the 1974 version with Robert Redford playing Gatsby" Ken said, Peter was trying his very best not too laugh at Carla as she sat next to him. She shot him a quick look and said

"Oh right" Ken could tell she was a little disappointed "Well I've always wanted to get round to watching this one, so there's no time like the present is there?" She said casually.

"Are you sure?" Ken asked, worried that he would be boring her, She smiled at Ken warmly and nodded.

"Yes Ken" she said looking at him still sitting up at the table "D'ya wanna come and sit here on the sofa with Peter?" Ken shook his head at her

"No I'm fine here Carla, honestly" he said certainly. Carla sat back on the sofa as the film was beginning to start, Peter leant forward slightly

"You sure you wanna stay now?" he whispered into Carla's ear, She nodded without turning to look at him and because the TV was at an angle in the Barlow's back room she had turned her body slightly so she was able to see.

By the time they were fifteen minutes into the movie, Carla had already decided that she wasn't comfortable anymore, She glanced over at Ken who was already absorbed into the film and then at Tracy who was still reading her magazine. Peter could tell that Carla was finding it hard to sit comfortably. He moved back a little, so that his back was up against the arm of the sofa.

"Carla" He whispered, She turned her head to look at him

"Yeah…" She whispered back,

He beckoned for her to stand up so she did,

"Peter what are you doing?" She wondered as he sat all the way back and then put both legs up onto the sofa. She raised an eyebrow at him as he beckoned her to sit back down in the space between his legs but she desperately wanted to sit back down with him.

"Hurry up then." He said still whispering because he didn't want to disturb Ken, Tracy was watching them and rolled her eyes as Carla sat back down in between Peter's legs. She leant against him and he put an arm around her. It felt a little weird at first to be cuddled so close to Peter in front of his Dad and his sister but after a few minutes, Carla let her self relax against him and she smiled to herself as they continued to watch the film.

* * *

Ken smiled as the end credits of The Great Gatsby began to run onto the screen.

"I really love that movie, what did you think of it Carla?" He asked turning to look at her, She was fast asleep in Peter's arms and he was sleeping too. Ken smiled at the two of them and then looked back at Tracy "I reckon we should get down to the pub so we can get our table ready before the quiz starts" He said, She got up and nodded it was then that she realised that Peter and Carla were both asleep on the sofa.

"And are we just going to leave those two here?" she said, "Peter's supposed to be on our team" Ken sighed

"Tracy it's only half past five? We'll let them sleep for a little while longer eh" Ken said. "I know Peter had rather a rough nights sleep last night"

"Fine" Tracy said and she picked up her bag and went with Ken to the pub.

It was a few minutes to seven when Carla woke up first. She smiled to herself as she lay on top of Peter. She knew that she shouldn't be allowing herself to get so close to him as they were supposed to be just friends but she let her self have a few minutes more before trying to wake him up.

"Peter" She said giving him a little shake "Peter wake up" He stirred a little and then opened his eyes. He grinned at her "We're beginning to make a habit of this aren't we." Carla said sitting up a little. They both looked around the empty room "Where is everyone?" Carla asked, Peter looked at his watch

"I reckon they've probably gone next door" He said as Carla got up,

"It can't be time for the quiz already can it?" She said picking up her bag Peter looked over at the clock.

"It's almost seven" Peter said standing up and stretching "We better go before me Dad and Michelle go mental." He said

"What about Simon and Amy?" Carla said as they made their way into the hallway.

"They should be next door as well, Liz said they could stay out the back whilst the quiz was on" Peter said opening the front door. They both walked outside and as Peter closed the door Carla shivered.

"Ah it's freezing" she said "I should ave bought me jacket."

"Car it's only next door." he said sighing

"Yeah but what if it's cold inside? I'm gonna run home and grab a jacket just in case."

"You can't we're already late" Peter took his keys and opened the door again and went back inside, he came back out clutching his black jacket

"Here" he said handing it to Carla, she grinned

"Has Tracy not got something I could borrow?" She asked putting on Peter's jacket. He just smiled at her and entered the pub.

When they walked in they were both greeted by Michelle who was standing by the door, She sighed when she saw Peter and Carla come in together.

"You're late" She said to Carla

"I know I'm sorry Chelle I fell asleep"

"You feel asleep?" Michelle asked suspiciously

"What can I say? This mans arms are like my kryptonite" Carla said squeezing Peter's biceps with each hand. He grinned as Michelle rose her eyebrows.

"Peter your Dad's been waiting for you." she said pointing over to the table where Ken was sat with Tracy.

There were various teams that had entered the quiz. Including The Barlow's there were The Roy's Rolls team that consisted of Roy, Anna and Garry, The Nazirs had a team and so did the factory workers. Carla glanced over at underworld team, which consisted of Sean, Sally, Beth and Sinead. She had to admit that she wasn't feeling too optimistic about their chances of winning and then she saw who else they were sitting with, It was none other than Marc. He was sat with them grinning away at Carla when he realised that she had seen him.

"What's he doing here?" Carla asked sighing,

"He said he's come to apologize for his behaviour last week." Michelle said

"God really? He's already said Sorry to me like a thousand times" Carla said as Michelle was watching her.

"Who's jacket is that?" Michelle asked because whilst it looked rather good on Carla, it was obvious that it didn't belong to her.

"Peter's" Carla said and she didn't give Michelle the chance to reply with a smart comment because she walked swiftly over to the underworld table.

"I didn't realise you were one of me employees." she said irritatedly because after last week and the fact that Marc had started texting her a lot, he had become quite a bother.

"Well I thought I'd come and support the team, seeing as I'm putting so much money into the business after all... I'm kind of paying your employees." He said smirking, Carla didn't like his tone at all and looked at Sally and the others.

"And you don't mind him gate crashing your team?" they all shook their heads and smiled at Marc admiringly. Carla rolled her eyes "Right well good luck" she said giving Marc a look as Steve was getting ready to start the quiz. She went back and sat down next to Michelle who had sat on a table chair behind Steve. "You know he's really starting to get on my nerves" Carla said still watching Marc "and not in a good way."

"Is there a good way of someone getting on your nerves?" Michelle asked

"Yeah of course there is."

"Really?"

"Yeah I mean you can still like someone who gets on your nerves. Like Peter gets on my nerves and he just does these little things that drive me crazy but I still... You know" Carla trailed off because Steve cleared his throat, Michelle smirked at Carla as the quiz begun.

Carla couldn't seem to get Marc out of her head at first. Who did he think he was, acting like he was the only client the factory had? They didn't even need his business if Carla was truly honest and she was starting to regret even working with him in the first place. Yes he was charming and handsome but Carla couldn't help but feel there was something familiarly off about him, something she didn't quite trust.

After the quiz had finished Steve collected the answer sheets up and began to mark them out the back with Liz. Michelle was stood serving more drinks to customers and Carla was near by of course.

"Who do you reckon will win then?" Michelle asked her when she had a free moment.

"Either Roy's team or Ken's team to be quite honest" Carla said grinning at the underworld team as they spent most of the quiz arguing with each other and downing the drinks Marc kept buying them. "It ain't gonna be the underworld team that's for sure" She said as Peter came over to the bar

"Don't you have any faith in your employees?" He said handing the glasses that the Barlow's had been drinking out of over to Michelle.

"Nope... If it were a talking contest then maybe," Carla said rolling her eyes at the underworld team as they all laughed again at something Marc said.

"Cheers Peter" Michelle said collecting them up "Same again?" Peter nodded

"I reckon the Nazirs will have a good chance, They seem like a right clever bunch." he said

"I'm still putting my money on your Dad's team or Roy's" Carla said shaking her head.

"So how d'ya reckon your lot did on the quiz then Peter?" Michelle asked

"Alright actually, Tracy weren't much help but me Dad enjoyed himself and that's the important part eh" Peter said. Michelle then went over to serve a customer on the other side of the bar. Carla nodded in agreement Peter looked at her up and down grinning

"What?" She said sheepishly

"Nothing, You look good in my jacket that's all."

"You wanna be careful Peter, I've had a lot of compliments on this jacket. I might just ave to keep it." Carla warned him, she frowned when she saw Marc approaching them.

"I'm buying another round for team underworld, what you having Carla?" He said blatantly ignoring Peter just like he always did.

"Nothing thanks" Carla said bluntly, Marc was rather taken aback by her tone and looked at Peter who was standing very close to Carla at this point.

"I don't think we've officially met, I'm Marc Matthews" He said holding out his hand, Peter raised an eyebrow but he shook Marc's hand politely

"Peter"

"Peter..." Marc said waiting for Peter to give him his full name.

"Barlow" Peter said, Marc knew that he'd seen or heard that name before but he couldn't quite place it.

"Well it was nice to finally meet you properly." Marc said, They stood silently for a moment, then Carla said she was going to the toilet and had left Marc and Peter stood next to each other. She hoped whilst she was gone that Marc would go back and sit down again but he didn't, he stayed with Peter at the bar.

"You and Carla spend a lot of time together, it seems like you're both very good friends." Marc said rather awkwardly.

"Yeah we are" Peter said not actually looking at Marc and staring ahead, as if he wasn't interested in any conversation with Marc, which he wasn't.

"And that's your jacket she's wearing?" Marc said

"Yeah" Peter nodded, not too sure what this Marc guy was getting at with all these questions. Michelle came back over to Peter with the drinks he had ordered.

"There you are Peter." She said glancing around for Carla, Peter knew who she was looking for and said

"She's gone to the toilet." Michelle nodded and then she looked at Marc

"What can I get you?" she asked him and after he'd ordered a round of drinks for Team Underworld he looked back at Peter

"So how long have you two known each other then?" Marc asked getting straight back onto the topic of Carla.

"What me and Carla? erm ages. I mean ever since she moved here really."

"And you just became friends over time?" Marc asked, he then realised that Peter was beginning to wonder why he was asking so many questions. "I'm sorry, it's just... I really like Carla and I'm finding it quite difficult to get close to her you know…" Marc said, Peter couldn't help but feel smug that this guy wanted to be so close to Carla and it truly seemed like she wasn't letting him in.

"Erm... Well Carla's an amazing woman, it doesn't surprise me that you want to get to know her a bit more." Peter started not really knowing what to say but he stopped talking when she came back from the toilets. He looked at her thankfully, glad that she was back to ease the obvious awkwardness between him and Marc.

"Should my ears be burning?" Carla said glancing between the pair of them, Marc laughed and Peter nodded

"Peter!" Tracy called suddenly from the table that her and Ken were sitting at. They had been waiting for their drinks for a while now. Peter picked up the drinks he had ordered and smiled apologetically at Carla.

"Another wine please Chelle and make it quick" She said as Marc moved up so he was next to her instead. They made some more small talk until Steve came back to the bar excitedly, with the results of the quiz in his hands.

"Okay I've got the results here and I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has taken part." Steve said "In third place is the Nazir family!" The Nazir's looked disappointed but they all clapped graciously.

"In Second place… is Roy's team" he said and as Roy, Garry and Anna clapped. Carla knew who had won the quiz before Steve had even said it.

"The winners are ... The Barlow's" Steve said, Tracy and Peter cheered loudly and Ken smiled delightedly.

"Awwww never mind." Carla cried to the underworld team who weren't too far away from her. Beth mumbled something about it being a fix and Sean demanded a recount but they weren't being serious as Steve continued.

"Yes well done to The Barlow's. Your prize of a one hundred pound bar tab starts right now, Drinks are on The Barlow's everyone" More people cheered and congratulated Ken, as Tracy rushed over to the bar.

"Right I'll have two large brandy's please." Tracy said smugly. Michelle nodded and grinned as she poured the two drinks whilst Carla went and sat down in Tracy's seat, next to Peter and Ken.

"Eh Well done you two" she said patting Ken on the back because she knew it was probably him who had done the most work.

"Thank you Carla" Ken said "It's been a truly wonderful birthday" He said smiling

"Good" Carla said smiling as Tracy came back to the table with two glasses of Brandy.

"Here ya go Dad" she said handing him one, She looked at Peter "Sorry bro" He rolled his eyes at her

"Tracy you could have got Peter a drink" Ken said sighing at his daughters selfishness.

"Oh we're not going to waste our winnings on orange juice are we?" Tracy moaned,

"Our winnings?" Peter scoffed "I don't think you actually answered more than one question Tracy." She was halfway through her brandy and swallowed it down.

"Eh it's not my fault you and Dad are such know it alls."

"Ken I'm really sorry about falling a asleep earlier" Carla smiled "Blame Peter" She said pointing in his direction with her thumb.

"Me?" Peter exclaimed,

"Yes you, I were serious earlier when I said your arms were my kryptonite, they always have been"

"Are you sure he's just not really really boring?" Tracy asked pulling a face. Carla and Peter both laughed at the same time.

They all continued to talk and laugh away together until Ken eventually said that he was tired and wanted to go home. Carla got up and hugged Ken goodbye and Tracy said that she would go with him leaving Carla and Peter sitting together at the table alone.

"Thank you for today." Peter said, Carla who was still sat in his jacket smiled at him

"What for?"

"For everything, I know you didn't plan on spending your whole day with me Dad and Tracy"

"Honestly Peter it's fine, I had a great day"

"So are you gonna tell me what you and Si were talking about earlier?" Peter asked with a cheeky grin. Carla shook her head at him, looking all mysterious

"No way." She said

"Come on, I'm dying to know." Peter begged. Carla was about to speak but she paused because Marc suddenly stormed out of the pub. Michelle waved Carla over. She got up and joined Michelle at the bar

"What's up with him?"

"I didn't realise he didn't know about you and Peter." Michelle said

"Me and Peter?"

"Yeah you know, the fact that you are married... To each other" Michelle said frowning a little at Marc's behaviour.

"Oh right" Carla said sighing.

"He was watching you and he said how well you seemed to get on with Ken and I said something about Ken being your father in law and Marc didn't look happy... At all" Michelle said "I mean I can't believe you didn't tell him."

"Well it never really came up. Anyways maybe he'll leave me alone now." Carla said rather glad that Michelle had told Marc about her and Peter being married.

"Maybe… you'd think he'd take the hint though... I mean you are wearing Peter's jacket." Michelle said smirking, Carla rolled her eyes

"Don't start Michelle." She said grinning and walking back over to Peter.

"What happened?" he asked, Carla sat back down next to him and grinned

"Oh Michelle told Marc we're married." Carla said finding it a little odd because they really didn't talk about that part of their life anymore.

"And that's why he stormed out?" Peter said "Oh dear, he's not going to be happy with me then, He was asking me advice earlier because he wants to get closer to you." Peter said almost laughing and putting air quotes on the words "closer to you"

"Peter!" Carla groaned "it's not funny. Can't you warn him off or summat?" Peter laughed again

"Eh?" He said

"Tell him you're trying to win me back and if he gets in your way there's gonna be big trouble."

"Carla"

"Scare him off… Tell him you've been in prison." Carla said to Peter who was still chuckling

"I can't do that, I mean are trying to send me back to prison?" He asked as Carla rested against him hopelessly, she was silent for a moment and then she looked up at him.

"Please Peter, I've spoken to him but he just won't take a hint."

"Fine... but if I go back to prison for this, You better come and visit me." Peter joked, putting an arm around Carla again. He just couldn't help but want to hold her close to him all the time. Carla didn't mind of course and sat under his arm contently. They were both well aware of the looks they were getting but neither of them seemed to care too much. It was only Carla began to feel her eyelids get heavy again that she sat upright

"Right... I think I need to go home" Peter nodded at her because he was starting to get tired again as well, they said goodbye to everyone before leaving the pub and setting off home.

"So ave you thought about what you're gonna say to Marc yet?" Carla asked as they walked outside the pub, Peter shrugged

"Hmmm I'm not sure yet but I don't think I'm gonna go down the whole I've been in prison route." Peter said grinning as they both crossed the road, Carla had become a custom to Peter walking her home each time they had been anywhere late. As they reached her building she smiled at him

"Alright I can see how the prison thing might be a little over the top but I just have to do something because he's beginning to get a little..." Carla stopped talking

"What?" Peter asked concerned because Carla didn't look like she was finding it funny any more.

"He's just a little overwhelming at times that's all." She said shaking her head

"Well I've got a few things in mind so don't worry I'll talk to him." Peter said Carla looked at him intrigued

"What you gonna say to him then?"

"What if I tell him that I'm desperately trying to get you back" Carla nodded

"Yeah that sounds good." but Peter wasn't finished

"What if I tell him that the more time I spend with you, the more crazy I am becoming about being your husband again, What if I tell him that whenever I'm alone with you, I have to fight the urge not to stick me tongue down your throat and that if he were a good guy, he'd go away and not make it so damn difficult for me." he said, Carla felt her heart start racing as Peter moved closer to her, she couldn't tell if he was speaking truthfully or not "Does that sound like a good idea?"

"Yes" she got out quietly.

"And If he doesn't listen then maybe I'll mention the whole prison thing." Peter smirked putting his arms around Carla.

"Thanks Peter." Carla said a little sadly as she cuddled into Peter, wishing that he didn't always fight this urge to kiss her. She wasn't brave enough to say this though and when he kissed her on the cheek instead and said a cheery goodnight, She sighed a little before going into her building alone.


	17. The Vampire & The Cat

It was Saturday the 31st of October. Carla looked in the mirror and sighed at her rather ridiculous reflection. She couldn't believe she had let Michelle convince her to come to this Halloween party, let alone actually dress up for it.

Michelle had told Carla about the party two weeks in advance and said that everybody had to dress up to be allowed in. Carla had reluctantly said yes to Michelle and had been racking her brains for a clever Halloween costume since. When the day came and Carla still didn't have anything that resembled a costume. She decided to do some damage control and go into town to do some shopping.

She walked past an accessories shop and did a double take when she saw that they were selling little Halloween sets. Carla saw black Cat ears and a fluffy tail being sold and since she hadn't thought of anything else she went ahead and bought it. She also saw a tight black dress with long sleeves while she was in H&amp;M so in a desperate bid not to let Michelle down she bought that too and teamed it up with a pair of black tights and black boots.

This Halloween party was also how Carla ended up using her black eyeliner to out line her eyes heavily and she had even given each eye a cat like flick. She had left her long hair hanging down either side of her face as she placed the cat ears on and after a few more looks in the mirror, Carla had decided that she actually looked quite fetching dressed as a cat and that it was time to face the music.

As she left her flat, She passed Mary who was obviously taking Asha and Aadi trick or treating. Mary looked like she was supposed to be one of Henry the eighth's wives, although after years of not paying attention in history, Carla had no idea which one. Asha and Aadi were both dressed as zombies and both said they would be coming to the pub later as Michelle and Steve had invited kids along to the party, just this once.

Carla smiled at them as she walked over to The Rover's. She was rather excited to see how Michelle and Steve had decorated the place. The door was covered in fake cobwebs and there was an old wooden sign on it saying, **"DO NOT ENTER!"** Carla rolled her eyes at it and grinned before she went inside.

The pub had been transformed and Carla was actually taken aback at the sight before her. Michelle had really outdone herself this time. The lights were a lot lower than usual and there were various scary motifs left around the bar. There were all sorts of different sized pumpkins with glowing candles inside. As Carla looked down there was actual smoke on the floor and she guessed that there was a smoke machine somewhere in there. She looked back up and the pub was full of people dressed up in their version of appropriate Halloween costumes however there were of course a few people who had obviously not bothered with dressing up at all.

Michelle and Steve were stood behind the bar pulling pints, dressed as Morticia and Gomez Adams.

"Right, I'm ere and you better pour me the biggest glass of wine that you can." Carla said as she approached the bar, Steve wolf whistled when he spotted Carla.

"Meow" Michelle cried handing Carla a glass of wine. "Carla, you look bloody incredible."

"Why thank you and I must say you both look fantastic." Carla said nodding at them in their co-ordinating outfits.

"You should see Amy, she's around here somewhere dressed as Wednesday, she looks so creepy." Michelle said, Carla laughed because Amy could look scary at anytime even without a costume.

"It really does look amazing in ere, you've outdone your self Chelle." Carla said as she gazed around the pub again but this time she wasn't so much as looking at the décor, as she was looking for a certain someone.

"Peter's not here yet." Steve said smirking.

"Am I really that obvious?" Carla sighed before taking a large sip of her wine Michelle nodded.

"Yep… So Where's Marc tonight then?" Michelle asked because he seemed to follow Carla around to these sort of things and had been in The Rover's twice this week, although Carla had managed to hide from him by hiding out the back.

Marc had also done his usual thing of "popping" into Underworld to "check" on his order and whilst there, Carla thought he may have mentioned Peter but he didn't, not even once.

"I dunno do I?" Carla shrugged not really giving a toss where Marc was as long as he wasn't at the pub. "It's your party, did ya invite him?" Michelle shook her head.

"Well we didn't invite anyone really? Just put the posters up around the street, I mean it was up during the whole quiz night." Michelle said pouring a costumer who was dressed as mummy, a drink.

"Well he never said anything about it to me so here's hoping he's not coming eh." Carla said hopefully, when she finished her wine, she held up her glass and said "Refill please Chelle" Michelle raised an eyebrow

"Wow. Really" She said surprised at how quick Carla had downed her drink.

"Oh yes. If I have to stay in ere with all these creepy looking people then I plan to be at least a little bit tipsy for it… then again some of them do look lot a lot better with masks on." Carla said smiling. Tracy who was in a tight red dress made her way to the bar, Carla smirked at the devil horns on Tracy's head

"Well I see you found the perfect costume Trace" Carla laughed, Tracy smiled falsely at her and said

"Thanks Carla." Amy soon joined Tracy, She had her long hair in two plaits and she was dressed in a black dress with white collars. Michelle was right because Amy did look rather scary, She stood there giving everyone her best glare and when she looked at Carla she frowned even more.

"Alright Wednesday?" Carla asked, trying to joke around with Amy but she just continued to look menacingly at Carla.

"A cat's not scary." Amy said dryly, showing that she was clearly not impressed with Carla's last minute costume. Carla raised an eyebrow and laughed at the eleven year old in front of her.

"She's right though, I mean what's scary about a Cat?" Tracy said agreeing with her daughter. Carla stopped laughing and said

"You're joking right? I'm a superstitious person's nightmare" Amy looked even more unimpressed.

"I don't believe in superstitions." She said before walking off with Tracy, Carla shook her head at Michelle as she handed her another wine glass

"She's an odd one isn't she." Carla said, Michelle laughed

"Well you can't blame her for being a little bit weird, I mean look at her Mother." Michelle joked "She's actually a right little sweetheart when you get to know her." Carla wasn't too sure if she believed Michelle especially after everything Simon had told her about Amy.

"Whatever you say Chelle..." She said as Liz came from out back dressed as Cleopatra, she was holding a huge glass bowl and she put it onto the bar.

"When's your next break Chelle?" Carla asked

"Right now." Steve said smiling and kissing Michelle on the cheek. Carla couldn't help but smile at how cute Steve and Michelle were and she tried her absolute best to ignore the slight pang of jealousy that she had felt when Steve and Michelle kissed properly for moment.

Whilst being single Carla had forgotten how much she had missed the simple things, like impromptu kisses but for the past few weeks, whenever she saw a couple have a little moment, she would get a little green with envy. It didn't help that her and Peter were so touchy feely with each other, especially as Peter seemed to always be the one to let go first. Carla assumed it was because he didn't want to cross the line but she thought she had been giving him hints for a while now that she actually didn't mind them getting just that little bit closer.

"I swear this is the best idea I've ever had, I mean look at everyone." Michelle said, gazing around the pub triumphantly as she left the bar with a glass of wine for herself.

"Yeah it's much better than your school disco idea and a million times better than that silly truth or dare game that forced me to kiss Marc." Carla said clutching her wine glass, trying to see if there was somewhere for her and Michelle to sit.

"Okay, I know he's a little annoying but it really can't have been that bad Carla." Michelle said finding it hard to believe that Carla didn't take at least a small amount of pleasure from giving Marc a quick peck.

"Oh trust me Michelle it were, especially since I've been telling him that our relationship is strictly professional since then." Carla said sipping her wine and rolling her eyes because there was nowhere to sit. She saw Leanne and Alya sitting at a table with two empty chairs. Michelle looked at Carla and could tell what she was thinking. They both walked up to the table

"Mind if we gate crash?" Michelle said, Alya and Leanne nodded as Carla sat straight down. She looked at Leanne who wasn't really dressed up but she was wearing a black dress with a white skeleton pattern on.

"That's a nice dress Leanne" Carla said admiringly.

"Thanks, I saw it on sale ages ago n thought I should buy it just in case a Halloween party ever came up." Leanne said smugly, clearly thinking it was a genius move.

"Uh I wish I'd ave thought of that." Carla said jealously, "Ere I am donning cat ears and a flamin tail." Michelle tutted

"God what's wrong with you lot, there is nothing wrong with having a big of fun and dressing up ya know."

"I love fancy dress parties" Alya said with a witches hat on her head and a wand on the table, She had even come with a broomstick and had it propped against the wall next to them.

"Anyways back to Marc…" Michelle said, "He'd probably faint if he came in ere and saw you looking like that."

"The whole thing is a little awkward, I mean can tell he likes me but I just don't know what to do about it. Yeah he's gorgeous and I went out with him that time but I really think he's got the wrong idea about us." Carla said and then she turned directly to Michelle "This is your fault"

"Me?" Michelle exclaimed, "What did I do?"

"You made us play that stupid game, he weren't too bad before then."

"Oh Carla I really doubt he took a game of spin the bottle seriously." Michelle said shaking her head.

"Oh I think he did, he always manages to slip the little kiss into the conversation and you should see the way he looks at Carla" Alya said, Carla nodded at Michelle

"See" She said sipping her wine, relived that it seemed like Marc hadn't come to the party tonight. The four women soon began chatting about the Halloween costumes that they saw around them but Carla's attention was definitely not on the conversation they were all having. She soon began gazing around the pub again, as if she was looking for someone. Leanne smirked at Michelle, who rolled her eyes back both of them knowing exactly who Carla was looking for.

"I can't wait to see Si, He's been getting ready with Peter for ages now." Leanne said, deliberately drawing Carla's attention back into the conversation.

"Why? What are they dressing up as?" she asked, Leanne smirked and nodded towards the door.

"Why don't ya see for yourself." She said, Carla turned around to find Peter and Simon entering the pub.

They were both in identical vampire costumes. Black capes, black trousers and white shirts with fake blood on it. The only difference between their costumes was that Simon had gone a little overboard with the fake blood so the majority of his white shirt was stained bright red where as Peter's just had a trickle of blood by the collar.

"Damn..." Carla whispered to herself as Peter and Simon walked over to the bar where Tracy and Amy were stood.

"Wow they look so cool." Alya said, Leanne got up from their table and walked over to Simon and Peter leaving Michelle and Alya with a wide-eyed Carla. She was still staring at Peter, transfixed. Michelle and Alya grinned at each other and it was a while before Carla turned back around in her seat

"Alright Car?" Michelle asked amused

"It's… not weird that I find Peter insanely sexy in that get up right?" Carla said unashamedly. Michelle smiled at her excitedly

"He does look good. I'm not gonna lie." Alya said also watching Peter as he laughed about something with Leanne.

"_Good_?" Carla said, thinking good was an understatement and turning back around to take another long and lustful look at Peter. There was a moment of silence between the three women, which was broken by Alya.

"Wow… Is this what happens when the notorious ice queen that is Carla Connor fancies someone?" Alya asked with a grin, not used to seeing her boss like this.

"Yep and trust me, you ain't seen nothing yet." Michelle said, "Earth to Carla…" Alya and Michelle both giggled, as Carla hadn't even heard her name being called.

Peter who was proudly showing off him and Simon's matching costumes to various people, had no idea just how much he was being watched, He bared his teeth at his sister as Carla continued to stare over at him.

"How long d'ya reckon she's gonna sit there and stare like that?" Alya asked

"Oh this is Carla, one thing she is definitely an expert at is perving on Peter Barlow… She's had years of practice after all." Michelle said picking up one of the fake spiders that was on the table and throwing it at Carla so that she could get her attention.

"Oi" Carla said, finally coming back down to earth and turning to look at Michelle "What was that for?"

"That…" Michelle said "was to get you to stop staring over there, I mean you're practically drooling my friend."

"I am not!" Carla cried picking up the spider that had been thrown at her and returning it to Michelle by chucking it back. She was finding it hard to keep from turning back around and looking at Peter again.

"So are you in to the whole vampire thing then Carla?" Alya asked, meaning it to be a serious question but Michelle scoffed.

"Not one little bit… although…" Carla said with a smirk "Peter could bite my neck any day of the week." She then picked up her glass and downed the rest of her drink, hoping it would calm her down a little bit. Michelle and Alya both giggled again at Carla's comment as she turned back to watch Peter, as if she was hypnotised by him.

"I reckon he'll do more than bite your neck if he catches you looking at him like that." Alya said with an eyebrow raised but Carla ignored her and continued in her trance. "Uh oh we've lost her again." Alya said nudging Michelle.

"She's hooked, honestly Alya take it from someone who has worked with the pair of em at the same flamin time, those two only have eyes for each other and the sooner they admit it the better."

"You worked with the both of them? Wow you're brave." Alya said with an eyebrow raised because even she could see that Carla and Peter probably found it hard to remain professional whilst in the office environment.

"Trust me it didn't last long Alya, I made sure I was out of there before too long… I mean used to worry about the strength of me desk." Michelle laughed

"Oh give over Michelle, You were out of there because you were being a right stroppy cow." Carla said turning around for a moment "and stop trying to make Alya think I'm some sort of Peter Barlow addict."

"Oh don't worry Carla, you're doing that all by your self." Michelle said laughing, surprised that Carla had actually managed to hear what her and Alya were talking about after all.

"So... When are you two gonna get back together?" Alya asked

"Right I'm gonna say this once and once only... Peter Francis Barlow is… a friend." Carla insisted although the way she had been looking at him was not in a friendly way.

"Whatever" Michelle said rolling her eyes "You and that man are not friends." She said and Alya giggled again.

"Ya know what Chelle, why don't you make yourself useful and get me another drink because I reckon your break is just about over." Carla held up her wine glass and waved it at Michelle.

"Oh no it's not, If you want another glass of wine, you ave to go over there n get it yourself." Michelle said knowing that Carla would have to go over to where Peter was standing to get it.

"You know you want to go over there, so you might as well do it sooner rather than later." Alya said rather brazenly to her boss. Leanne came back and sat down.

"Do what?" She asked intrigued

"Go over and talk to the vampire." Alya said "She's been mentally undressing him as we speak."

"Watch it you." Carla said to Alya with a look, trying to remind her that she was her boss.

"Oh go on Carla" Leanne sighed "He hasn't seen you yet and I wanna see his face when he does."

Carla tutted and stood up out of the chair she was sitting on. She was nervous but she was very good at putting on a front. She walked over to the bar confidently and casually, as if she wasn't dressed as a cat and approaching a man who was dressed as a very sexy vampire.

Peter almost chocked on his orange juice when he saw Carla. He wasn't expecting her to be dressed up at all but there she was standing there before him, looking truly irresistible in her cat costume.

"Well aren't you two a sight for sore eyes eh" Carla said leaning on the bar in front of them, Simon smiled at her showing her his false fangs.

"Hi Carla, you look nice." He said

"Awww thanks Si" She said putting an arm around him. She looked at Peter who put his empty glass down on the bar. Her green eyes were practically sparkling as she smiled at Peter bewitchingly. Simon soon spotted Asha and Ahdi as they walked into the pub with Mary, he looked at his Dad with a grin and then hurried over to the twins excitedly, to show them his costume.

"That's a very intimidating outfit you've got there Peter" Carla said with her head on one side, trying hard to ignore the feeling that she was definitely being watched by Leanne, Michelle and Alya.

"I was gonna say the same about you to be honest." Peter said looking her up and down for the second time.

"So how come you don't have any fangs then?" Carla asked, a little disappointed that Peter wasn't sporting the entire vampire look, He shrugged

"I did ave em, at first but they are incredibly hard to talk with." He said not taking his eyes of off Carla especially when she turned around to order another glass of wine. He looked her up and down for the third time and said "Honestly Carla you look…" He stopped talking, so Carla glanced at him. She saw the direction he was now looking in, he was honestly looking at the tail she had attached to the back of her dress but Carla raised an eyebrow and asked,

"Are you staring at my backside Peter Barlow?" She said it as if she was offended but she loved every single bit of attention that Peter was giving her and he knew it.

"I like your fluffy tail." He grinned as she turned her body so that she was facing him properly. "Now I'm not complaining or anything but a cat really… that's not exactly a scary costume is it?" Carla rolled her eyes at him

"Not this again…" She tutted "Ave you lot not heard about how crossing paths with a black cat is bad luck?"

"I ave indeed but me Dad reckons that in some cultures black cats are a good thing…" Peter began

"Does he now?" Carla rolled her heavily outlines eyes as Peter was obviously about to enlighten her on one of Ken's anecdotes.

"He sure does… In fact I think it were Pirates who used to think that if a black cat actually walks away from you then it's good luck." Peter smirked as Liz handed Carla her drink.

"Well in that case…" Carla turned away from him swiftly with her glass of wine in hand. She went back to where Michelle, Leanne and Alya were sitting, they were all looking at her with their eyes wide. Carla just shook her head and began on her drink.

"How'd it go?" Leanne asked as if they hadn't all been watching, Carla turned and looked back at Peter who was now chatting to Liz, it was almost as if he could tell she was watching because his eyes met hers instantly. He grinned at her wickedly and then turned his attention back to Liz. Carla licked her lips and turned back to her own friends. "Well…?" Leanne said to Carla, who had drunk a few wines by this point and felt brave enough to be honest about the situation for once.

"I want him so bad." Carla admitted Leanne and Alya both started laughing again but Michelle just smiled at hearing Carla finally admit it.

"Well it's about time." She said.

* * *

The evening continued to be a success as more and more people arrived, Michelle had gone back behind the bar eventually and after another little chat with Leanne and Alya. Carla had got up to stand at the bar with Michelle for a little while. Smoke gathered around her feet as she stood there and then she found herself chatting away to some of the factory lot and even posed for some silly pictures with them. She kept feeling her little black bag vibrate and she pulled out her phone, She looked down at it and there was a message from Marc that read

**"Happy Halloween! I wish I was there to see your sexy little costume but alas I'm on another boring old business trip. I'll be back on Monday though so I'll see you then. Marc."**

Carla tutted as she read the message and She was a little creeped out by it to be honest, especially since she hadn't heard from Marc at all today and had hoped that he had finally taken the hint. Carla didn't notice that someone was creeping up behind her until it was too late.

"Is Marc coming tonight then?" Carla jumped as that familiar voice spoke into her ear. She put her phone away quickly and turned around to face Peter, He was insanely close to her and it was making her feel incredibly frustrated, being stood so close to him without actually be able to touch him.

"Reading over my shoulder are we?" She said because it was a little convenient that Peter had mentioned Marc. He shook his head nonchalantly at her

"Nope, I just wondered if was going to have to warn him off whilst dressed as a vampire that's all. So…?" Peter said staring at Carla intently "Is he coming tonight?" She shook her head

"No."

"Good" Peter smirked and then he walked off just like that. Carla breathed out frustrated and went back over to the bar. Michelle had been watching the whole thing just shook her head at her best friend.

"He was looking at you like he wants to eat you Carla." She said

"Don't Chelle." Carla said breathing heavily. Michelle then handed her a plastic cup of something.

"Drink up"

"What's this?" Carla asked peering into the cup suspiciously, She realised it must have come from the glass bowl that Michelle was standing next to.

"It's that Halloween punch that Liz made." Michelle said " and It's on the house so go on… drink up." She said pouring some more into a cup. Carla sniffed the dark liquid gingerly and then took a sip, she recoiled instantly

"Woah" she cried "That is one strong drink, Is Liz trying to get every hammered?" Carla then took another sip all the same, Michelle laughed

"I know right, Me and Steve were sure it might have been spiked but Liz reckons that's what it's supposed to taste like."

Carla took another sip and then another and then another and within a few minutes it was gone. She put the cup back onto the bar and glanced around to room trying to find Peter again.

"D'ya want another one?" Michelle asked taking Carla's empty cup, Carla shook her head

"No ta." she said because she was beginning to feel slightly woozy and she wasn't sure being drunk at this particular party would be a very good idea.

Later on in the night whilst on her way out of the toilet, Carla saw Simon sitting on a chair typing away on his phone, He was smiling down at it as Carla sat down next to him.

"Ave you asked her out yet then?"

"Who?" Simon said although he was blushing and he knew that Carla knew about his not so little crush.

"You know who… Santana." Carla said Simon shook his head

"Not yet"

"Oh come on Si… Honestly what's wrong with you Barlow men eh? I mean what exactly are you waiting for?" Simon chuckled and looked over at his Dad who was stood with Tracy posing for pictures.

"D'ya still fancy me Dad?" Simon asked although he knew that Carla fully well did, She raised an eyebrow at Simon.

"I... might do…why?" She asked having to remind herself, that she was talking to a twelve year old and not one of her friends.

"You just keep staring at him that's all." Simon said

"So it is obvious then?" Carla asked with a light sigh, even his young son could see she was rediculously attracted to him.

"Don't worry, he still fancies you like mad too." Simon said

"Well that's good to know…" Carla said with a slight grin "Now then back to Santana..." Simon frowned at his failed attempt to get off the subject of Santana. "You told me you were gonna ask her out last time we spoke."

"I know I did but I just don't know how to go about it that's all, me Dad says I should just be honest but he's not exactly one to talk, I mean…" Simon trailed off as Peter came and sat down at the table with him and Carla.

"Am I interrupting again?" He asked because he seemed to have a habit of doing that. Simon and Carla both looked at each other and smirked "I'll take that as a yes." Peter said.

"Si was just telling me that you reckon he should just be honest with Santana." Carla said her eyes focusing on Peter who nodded

"I did indeed."

"Yeah well it's not that easy Dad, I mean she's so beautiful and I'm just… me." Simon said making Carla's heart melt. Peter shook his head

"What are you on about Si, You're devastatingly handsome, just like your old man… aint that right Carla."

"Old is the word." Carla joked Simon laughed along with her, Peter tried to frown but the sight of his son and Carla bonding so well always made him smile with joy.

"I wish I had your confidence Dad." Simon said "I'm okay when me and Santana are hanging out as mates n stuff but I always get nervous when I think about asking her out, it's like I get butterflies or something."

"That's totally normal Si but seriously from what you've told me about this girl, it really does sound like she likes you too, so I reckon that you should just go for it, I mean the worst she could say is No." Peter said

"Yeah but then I would be dead embarrassed and It would be well awkward… It would probably ruin our friendship and I really don't want that to happen, She's well special Dad." Simon said making Carla's heart melt all over again

"Awwww how cute is this kid?" She said to Peter, leaning over and ruffling his hair, this was an action that coming from someone else, Simon normally hated but somehow always allowed Carla to do it. "He's a right chip off the _OLD _block." Carla grinned poking Peter as she said old. Simon started laughing again leading Peter to shake his head.

"Y'know I'm starting to not like hanging out with the two of you, I mean it always ends up with you both ganging up on me." Peter wasn't being serious of course and the three of them ended up staying sat together until Michelle had eventually dragged managed to drag Carla away from them.

* * *

Eventually all the children who were allowed at the party began to leave as it was getting really late. Leanne took Amy and Simon back to hers, much to their disappointment and Mary had taken Asha and Aadi home ages ago. Carla who had been dancing with Michelle had decided it was probably a good idea to pace her self with the drinking and shook her head as Liz offered her another cup of punch.

She wasn't drunk. She'd only had a few glasses of wine and then a couple cups of the punch and Carla knew she was in total control of everything... except when it came to Peter. It was almost as if she was drunk on him, every time they spoke, every lingering look made her feel more and more weak. She eventually took her self out back to get some fresh air and was thankful to see that there was no one out there smoking.

Carla took in a few deep breaths then exhaled slowly and she was almost beginning to get her senses back when he suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Peter." she jumped at the sight of him. He didn't say anything to her. Instead he just lit a cigarette and began to smoke it. She watched him, her heart pounding. She stood there trying not to look at him as he smoked, She almost went back inside so she didn't have to endure the sight of him smoking but her legs just wouldn't take her towards the door. When Peter finally reached the end of the cigarette, Carla sighed heavily with relief. He put the butt into the bin and turned back to look at Carla, he licked his lips slightly.

"I've still quit smoking." he said, Carla raised an eyebrow at him, It was very cold outside but she beginning to feel incredibly hot as he stood there before her.

"Well you could have fooled me." she said, on the outside remaining cool but practically trembling on the inside.

"That was me last one..." he said he eyes staring deeply into hers "I reckon I should find something else to suck on." he said moving behind her. Carla swallowed nervously as he moved her long hair off of her right shoulder and round to the other side leaving one side of her neck bare.

"Are you scared?" He asked his husky voice sending a chill up her spine, He was way too close to her now, his body was pressed up against hers and she was struggling to keep her cool.

"I'm… terrified." she managed to get out and then she gasped as she felt his teeth sink into her neck. He bit her ever so gently, with one arm around her waist and the other in her hair as he started tenderly kissing her neck.

Carla was totally helpless by this point and the feeling of Peter's hot lips against her cold skin felt so incredible that she just closed her eyes and let it all just happen.

Peter wasn't too sure how Carla would react at first but as she leant against him clutching on to the arm that was around her waist, he had guessed that she was enjoying it. Her nails dug right into his arm and every so often she would let out a deep moan, it was so enchanting that it was all Peter could do not to turn her around and kiss her roughly. He didn't want to take things too far because he had really been enjoying having Carla back as his best friend and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardise that.

It was only because he could blame it on it being Halloween that he even had the guts to go this far with her.

He eventually stopped kissing her and began sucking her on neck instead, Carla was all too aware of what he was doing and although she was sure she would regret it in the morning, She let him continue to overpower her especially when he increased the pressure of his lips on her neck.

Neither one of them was too sure just how long they were stood there for but Peter soon stopped sucking on her sensitive skin and started softly kissing her neck again. When he was done he moved her hair back to where it had previously had been. She opened her eyes as he backed away from her slightly. He was breathing deeply now and as Carla tried to catch her own breath. She turned around to face him, slightly disorientated as he began walking away from her.

"Oh I don't think so Peter." she gasped grabbing a part of his black cape. She tugged on it, forcing him to come back to her.

"What?" He said casually as if he hadn't just had his lips pressed against her neck, She grinned at him and pushed him towards the wall behind them

"What was that?" She said her head on one side, He shrugged with a smug look on his face.

"I've wanted to do that all night long." he said putting his hand up to her hair and moving a piece of it so it wasn't hanging in her face so much.

"Oh did you now?" Carla said

"Don't worry we're still… friends" he said adding air quotes to the word friends, Carla looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"And you do that to all your friends do ya? Am I gonna see a Steve come out ere next for his turn?" Carla asked jokingly but Peter shook his head slowly at her.

"Only you" he said Carla laughed a little and looked down at the ground

"I'm not happy with you at all Peter Barlow" she said but she was grinning so much that he refused to take her seriously "Don't look at me like that" She said after eventually looking back up at him. "You can't just do that to me and then walk away." Peter put an arm around Carla's waist again and pulled her towards him

"Do you have any idea how mind blowing you look?" He asked running his hand down her back and letting it rest on the small of her spine. Carla took a deep breath in and then out as she pushed her self up against Peter a little.

"Flattery will get you nowhere Peter, you crossed the line." She said as firmly as she could, Her voice and her eyes were saying two different things as they stood there in the cold October weather, their bodies pressed up against each other.

"Carla" Peter said and he shivered as he felt her move against him again, She had a hand rested on his chest and was toying around with one of the buttons on his shirt.

"Yes" She breathed taking extreme pleasure from the fact that Peter was obviously losing control on the situation. She bit down on her bottom lip as he bent his head towards hers, he stopped before he reached her lips, wanting her to go the rest of the way.

"Do it… you know you want to." he whispered

"Do… what?" Carla asked closing her eyes because there was no way she was going to be the one to make the first move. Peter was just about to close the space in between their heads when they both heard someone come outside. Peter sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically before he looked over at the door

"Uh oh am I interrupting something?" Steve said awkwardly, clutching a lighter and a packet of cigarettes, He took a look at Peter whose arm was still around Carla's waist. She looked as if she wanted to kill Steve as Peter removed his arm and grinned

"No. Not at all" He said "Me and Carla were just hugging for warmth." Carla sighed frustratedly and flounced back inside leaving Peter and Steve outback.

It was going to be a very long night.


	18. Haunted Flashbacks

Waking up with a hangover was something Carla had gotten used to a very long time ago. She groaned as she turned over on her bed, only the space below her suddenly gave out and she unexpectedly crashed onto the floor below.

"Ow!" Carla cried as her eyes flew open. It was then that she realised she hadn't actually been on her bed or even in her own house. She looked up at the ceiling, which wasn't her own and took a moment to brace her self, a moment to prepare her self for waking up somewhere other than her own bed.

Luckily Carla was only in Michelle and Steve's living room. She would have been lying if she wasn't a little relived that she was there and not somewhere else.

She heaved herself up off the floor rubbing her elbow irritatedly, as Michelle walked into the room with her pyjamas on.

"Morning" Michelle said way too cheerily for Carla's liking, especially at this time of the morning.

"Morning" Carla replied, guessing that she had obviously fallen asleep on their sofa and they had just left her there until the morning.

"So last night was fun eh..." Michelle said going into the kitchen and putting the kettle on. Carla sat down at the table and rubbed her tired eyes.

"Yeah." She said blearily not quite remembering much after leaving Peter outside. She remembered going back in feeling rather flustered after being interrupted by Steve, She then remembered that Tracy had gotten ridiculously drunk so Peter had found himself rather occupied with looking after her and he eventually left the party to take his sister home, much to Carla's disappointment. She remembered feeling like there was no point in staying sober now that Peter had left and that there was a lot of dancing with Michelle too.

"You were a little more than tipsy by the end of it so I suggested you stay over." Michelle said because she could tell Carla wasn't quite sure what had happened "You didn't want to stay ere but the moment you hit the pillow, you were fast asleep."

Carla saw her little black bag on the table and pulled out her mirror. She looked in it hoping that her reflection wasn't too tragic. She didn't look too bad considering the night she'd had. She just looked a little tired and had most of her make up smudged under her eyes. She was also still wearing her cat ears although they were comically askew and had parts of her tangled in them too.

Carla took the cat ears off and ran her hands through her hair to try and untangle it a little. She looked in the mirror as she did so and It was then she noticed the round purple bruise on her neck.

"Oh crap." Carla said not realising Peter had actually managed to leave his mark on her. Michelle came out from the kitchen to see what Carla was complaining about.

"Erm where did that come from?" Michelle asked in awe as Carla inspected her neck in the mirror.

"Where d'ya think?" Carla said closing her mirror and pulling her hair back into place over her shoulder.

"Peter Barlow" Michelle said with a smug grin, She then leant forward to take a look at the love bite herself.

"I'm gonna kill him…" Carla began but she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit pleased at Peter's handy work. She blushed as she thought about how much pleasure she had actually taken from just a few minutes under Peter's spell.

"Steve said he thought he might have interrupted something last night…" Michelle said sniggering "How did that happen then eh?" She said making her way back into the kitchen.

"It just did, One minute we were outside and he were smoking the next he were sucking on my neck." Carla said she smirked as she said it though she then got up and joined Michelle in the kitchen. Michelle raised her eyebrows at Carla's dopey and lovesick expression as she filled a mug with hot water and then another.

"And...?"

"And that's it. Steve came out and then I came back inside." Carla said "I'm not gonna lie though if Steve hadn't of come out… I don't know what would ave happened… Chelle It were so amazing, I found it so hard to keep me self under control."

"So why did ya then? Why didn't you just go after him later on in the night?" Michelle asked pouring milk into their coffee mugs, Carla shrugged

"I dunno... I mean he were busy with Tracy and… we're supposed to be friends right?"

"Oh for god's sake Carla, Are ya not getting tired of saying that?" Michelle said putting two sugars into her coffee.

"Saying what?"

"Oh Peter and me are just friends" Michelle mocked, putting her on her best Carla like voice. Carla laughed and picked up her coffee cup to take a sip.

"We are just friends though" She said after swallowing down some coffee, Michelle rolled her eyes at Carla and shook her head

"Carla you are so flaming annoying at times." She said, "People don't go around giving their friends love bites."

"I know that Chelle, It were just a Halloween thing, nothing serious." Carla said sighing "I mean it's a little ridiculous if you think about it, a woman of my age running around with a love bite." She said moving her hair out of the way "God, Is it really noticeable?" she cringed

"Honestly?" Michelle said with an eyebrow raised, Carla nodded at her for a honest response "Yes" Michelle said bluntly

"Fantastic" Carla said sarcastically and moved her hair back in front of the bruise.

"It'll be fine when your hairs in front of it." Michelle said trying to make it better as they returned to the table in the living room.

"And what about when I'm at the gym n stuff?" she asked picking up her phone off the table as it buzzed, she looked at the screen and saw that she had a message from Marc, Carla sighed again only this time Michelle knew it was for reasons other than Peter.

"What's up?" Michelle asked sipping her coffee, Carla showed her the screen, which showed the messages she had received from Marc

**"Good Morning! I was wondering if I could pop over to the factory at around one o clock I have some things I need to speak to you about. Marc x"**

"Why won't he give it up, His second order is practically done and dusted so what could he possibly need to talk to me about now?" Carla complained resting her head in her hands.

"Maybe he wants another one?" Michelle guessed

"No way, He's a right pain in the backside, I'm gonna tell him we are fully booked for the next few months or something, I'm not doing any more business with that man." Carla said firmly

"I'm so surprised he didn't turn up here last night" Michelle said because she had been expecting him to, At first she was joking around when she called him Carla's stalker but she could see he was beginning to get a little too much for Carla.

"Did I not show you the text he sent me last night?" Carla asked getting last nights message from mark up on the screen to show Michelle, she read it and then frowned "He were on a business trip that's why he didn't come."

"Oh" Michelle said

"I thought I'd got rid of him when he found out me and Peter were married but he still texts me all the time." Carla began scrolling through all the messages that he had been sending her.

"Hmmm he does seem a little obsessive doesn't he?" Michelle said reading through the messages "Are you sure you've told him you're not interested in that way?"

"Yes. I told him at the school disco, after that stupid game of spin the bottle, He ain't taken the hint yet but I'm hoping Peter will sort him out" Carla said

"Peter?" Michelle laughed

"He said he'd warn Marc off for me, He said he's gonna tell him how he wants to get me back and he'll stop at nothing until he does so." Carla said rather proudly.

"Well as much as all of that is true… D'ya really think Marc's gonna listen to that?" Michelle said with her eyebrows raised

"Why not? Peter can be quite aggressive when he has to be, I told him to mention that he was in prison but he wasn't quite up for that" Carla said almost laughing now

"Eh why don't you just show him your neck that will probably do it?" Michelle said sniggering

"Give over, I'm not showing anyone, It's so embarrassing." Carla said "It's like I'm back in school again."

"But you weren't so ashamed of a love bite back then, You used to run around showing em off to everyone." Michelle said

"Yeah well I was only fifteen at the time Chelle I didn't know any better and anyways it were just to keep up with you"

"Oi!" Michelle said giving Carla a shove and laughing.

Carla stayed at The Rover's with Michelle for a few hours, having another coffee and taking some painkillers to nurse the hangover that loomed over her. She left the pub eventually and went straight home to try and figure out what she was going to do about Marc.

* * *

As Carla got ready for work on Monday morning, she made sure she had covered her neck with her hair so that the bruise wasn't visible. She had thought about covering it up with make up but she didn't want to get it all over her newest white shirt. She had it tucked in to a high waisted black pencil skirt and grabbed her leather jacket before she left the house.

As she started walking to the factory she saw Peter come out of number one dressed in a sharp black suit. She wolf whistled at him as he closed the door, he turned around grinning, knowing that it was Carla straight away

"And where are you off to looking so fly?" Carla asked looking him up and down

"I've got a job interview at eleven." Peter said proudly.

"Really?" Carla asked astonished

"Oi, there's no need to look so surprised." Peter said pretending to be a little offended

"No it's not that it's just so out of the blue, I mean you never even said?" Carla said worried that she had upset him. Peter grinned at her and then started laughing, "What's this interview for then?" Carla sighed ignoring his attempt at a joke.

"Well I went for one of those betting websites, they need someone to keep an eye on the odds and to research the competitors. I used to do that in my shop so I reckon I'd be okay at it for someone else." Carla nodded at him encouragingly as he continued "I applied on Friday morning they'd got back to me by the afternoon and said I could come down for an interview this morning." He said

"Right so how come you didn't tell me all this?" Carla asked her head on one side, Peter smirked at her and then licked his lips slightly, Carla watched him and couldn't help but smirk back.

"I was gonna tell you at the Halloween party but I guess we got a little distracted." he said

"Speaking of which…" Carla said moving the hair away from her shoulder slightly "I've a bone to pick with you Mr Vampire..." She pointed at the purple bruise that was still very visible on her bare neck. Peter leant forward a little and took a closer look, he touched it gently and then looked at Carla amused.

"Nice" Peter said rather proud that he had left his mark on her.

"Nice?" Carla frowned as best she could, making Peter laugh at her even more. "Stop Peter… I don't think it's very funny, I'm a single, forty year old woman with a love bite." she said but she was grinning at how ridiculous she sounded.

"Well I didn't hear you complaining at the party, in fact every noise that came out your mouth was pretty damn encouraging." Peter said with his hand still on her neck. Carla's jaw dropped at this comment, just as Beth and Kirk came out of their house and spotted how close Carla and Peter were stood. Beth nudged Kirk as Peter grinned at Carla and said, "Tell you what, as I'm a decent guy and I believe in equal opportunities, I'll let you give me a matching love bite… that way we're even." Carla laughed silently to herself and then she spotted Beth and Kirk.

"Don't you two have somewhere to be?" She asked them sharply, Beth smirked and said

"We sure do… only Sally has the day off today doesn't she? Which means that we are waiting for you to open up." Carla raised an eyebrow at Beth and then looked down at her watch.

"Well regardless you still need to be outside that building for nine am sharp… so run along and I'll be over in a minute."

"D'ya wanna give me the keys? I'll open up if you want…" Kirk offered as Beth was still grinning from ear to ear.

"No I'll do it, thank you Kirk." Carla said slightly amused at Kirk's offer to open up for her.

"Are you sure? I mean you look as if you've got a job to do ere first." Beth said. Peter laughed but quietly as Carla rolled her eyes at Beth.

"As I said Beth, I will be over in a minute. Now unless you want to be unemployed by the time I get there, I suggest you make your way to work now." Carla said in full on boss mode.

Beth and Kirk hurried off towards the factory but they were both still grinning. Carla shook her head at them and then looked back at Peter who had eventually stopped laughing.

"So… are you gonna take me up on my offer then?" Peter asked. Carla shook her head at Peter now and decided that the smartest thing to do right now would be to go to work before Beth had enough time to start gossiping.

"I better be going to work now." She said and she went to cross the road.

"You not gonna wish me luck?" Peter shouted as she started to walk away from him.

"Good luck Peter." She said turning back and giving him a little wink. Peter smirked and waved goodbye to her, He definitely had a good feeling about getting this job and also about how well he had been getting on with Carla.

Even though she tired to act as if she was annoyed at him she really didn't seem like she was bothered that he had left a love bite on her neck. It definitely wasn't something he had planed to do but he was glad it seemed to have a positive effect on Carla. He looked down at his watch and decided there was no shame in being incredibly early for his job interview.

* * *

Carla fiddled with a pen as one thirty approached and she waited for Marc to arrive for this "chat". She hoped he was going to maybe say that he had enough orders from them and wouldn't need anymore but she had a horrible feeling that he wasn't coming to talk about business and she couldn't keep being so polite to him when it seemed that it wasn't just the knickers she had for sale that he was interest in.

"Carla?" A voice said into the empty factory as everybody had been on lunch since one o clock.

"I'm in ere" She said and the Marc appeared in the doorway looking as eager and as charming as ever.

"Hello gorgeous." he said sitting down opposite Carla at the table, She gave him half a smile and sighed,

"Hi"

"How are you this fine morning?" Marc asked and Carla just shrugged at him

"So what can I do for you then Marc?" She said dryly, hoping that if she showed no enthusiasm he might finally take the hint.

"Well I have to be honest... this is not really a business visit." he said smiling and actually looking a little sheepish, Carla was a little surprised to see him embarrassed as he never seemed like anything could actually affect him.

"Really?" Carla said almost acting as if she was surprised to here this "What… are ya here for then?" Carla asked although as he moved his chair closer to hers, she had a feeling what this was going to be about.

"Well I'm going to be one hundred per cent honest with you… I haven't been able to get you off of my mind since we met." Marc said still smiling away even though Carla looked far from impressed "I know we've been out for drinks before but I wanted to ask you out to dinner properly… Like a date." Marc said. Carla gulped and really wished that she wasn't in this situation.

"Wow… erm this is really flattering Marc but I don't feel that way about you to be honest." She said delicately because as annoying he was, she didn't want to hurt him.

"I know you've said that before but I've seen the way you look at me and I think there is definitely something between us." He said undefeated.

"Really?" Carla asked, not believing that he could think something like that especially since she had been giving him odd looks since the school disco.

"Yes, I mean sometimes things like this just take time, you might not feel something for me right now but you will." Marc said Carla shook her head at him, feeling slightly weird about what he had just said… She was sure that she had heard something like that before, it was like this was the second time someone was saying that type of thing to her.

"No Marc I don't think so" Carla said softly but firmly at the same time "You're a great guy but I just don't think we would work."

"Well you won't know unless you try, why don't you just give us a chance, Let me take you out and you'll see." He said desperately, moving closer to Carla as he said it.

"Marc we've been out, there would be no point all I would be doing is stringing you along." She said moving away from him a little, wishing that she had of asked him to come later when everyone would have been back from lunch. So that she wasn't so alone with this man that she barley even knew.

"I know you like me, I mean why else would you agree to go out with me?" Marc said, he looked as he was hurt by what Carla was saying to him, like he couldn't understand why she didn't want to be with him.

"I said I'd go to dinner with you because you were new to the area and I felt sorry for you because it was your birthday." Carla said although she had to admit that at first she did enjoy his company a little.

Carla sighed again as Marc didn't seem to be showing any signs that he was going to give up. She ran a hand through her hair frustratedly, this was a big mistake because Marc spotted the round dark bruise on her neck immediately.

"Is there someone else?" He asked his tone of voice changing completely, He looked angry now rather than desperate, Carla realised what she had done, what Marc had seen and sighed.

"No."

"So what is that disgusting thing on your neck?" Marc shouted making Carla jump, She took a deep breath and stood up.

"Right I think you should probably leave." She said bravely but inside she was really beginning to get a little worried that she was alone with Marc in the factory.

"It's him isn't it? You let him brand you, you let him put that filthy mark on your neck." Marc said disgusted.

"Just who are we talking about ere?" Carla asked although she knew Marc wasn't stupid and that he was talking about Peter.

"That pathetic alcoholic!" Marc said standing up in front of Carla now.

She was rather stunned to hear the word alcoholic come out of Marc's mouth, She had no idea that he even knew that Peter had had a drink problem. "Am I right?"

"Y'know I really don't ave to explain my self to you." Carla said standing her ground.

"It is isn't it?" Marc was almost laughing now "Oh Carla you can do so much better than that cheating waste of space." He said nastily, he watched, as Carla looked even more shocked.

"How do you even know any of this?"

"Never mind that…" He cut her off again, doing his best to sound as calm and as casual as he could but the look on his face still intimidated Carla. "Look I realise I'm coming across quite… abrupt but doesn't it show how much I like you?" Marc asked, as if all of his behaviour was perfectly acceptable.

"How do you know that Peter cheated on me?" Carla asked but her voice and her body was beginning to shake because she couldn't work out how he knew so much about her relationship with Peter, Michelle had been joking all those times but Carla though that maybe he really had been stalking her after all.

"Oh come on Carla, everyone around here knows what he did, I only had to mention his name in the same sentence as yours and it got brought up." Marc said "You can't actually be considering giving him another chance."

"Well it's nothing to do with you…" Carla said as Marc put his hand on her shoulder.

"I get it now…" He said in this eerily calm way which made Carla shiver "You were using me whilst he wasn't here, like a distraction, like I was some sort of smoke screen but I forgive you for that Carla." He said almost smirking, Carla looked down at it his hand, which was still rested on her shoulder and then glared back up at him.

"Take your hand off of me." She said breathing heavily trying not to show him that she was so unsettled with him being there, He kept his hand where it was and smirked.

"Look I'm a man who is used to getting what he wants and I want you." In Marc's mind this was probably a romantic kind of thing to say to a woman that he desired but it had the complete opposite effect on Carla and as he moved closer to her she panicked.

She shoved Marc hard and he went flying backwards, knocking all sorts of things off of the desk. As various pens and objects clattered to the ground Marc reached out to grab something, anything to stop himself from falling completely over. Carla staggered backwards as Marc tried to grab hold of her and some of the buttons on her shirt flew off in different directions. She looked down at her bra, which was now on full display and suddenly her outfit choice had seemed way too familiar as well. She then looked over at Marc who was scrambling off of the floor, looking furious.

"What the?" he said rubbing the back of his head as if he'd hit it on the way down. He now looked confused as well as angry.

"Get out!" Carla cried because she now felt genuinely petrified of being alone with Marc. She was finding it difficult to control her breathing, and she felt as if she was totally unable to keep calm.

The way she was feeling disturbed her, It was a horribly familiar feeling even though she hadn't felt this way for years. She knew that Marc was probably being too insistent, too over friendly and she knew that probably had no intentions of hurting her but she was taking absolutely no chances.

"What the hell wrong with you?" He asked, clearly not understanding why Carla was so upset, he went to move closer to her but Carla jumped again.

"I said leave!" She screamed, trying fiercely to stop the tears that were fighting to escape. She glanced around wildly and grabbed a stapler that was on her desk "I swear if you don't leave right now!" Carla warned holding the stapler up as some sort of weapon, Marc looked at it confused and then back up at Carla.

"You're crazy!" He said and he backed out of the office quickly.

He walked out of the factory, fixing his suit and looking rather take aback by what had just happened, Luke and Tyrone who worked at the garage has spotted him leaving the factory in such haste.

"You alright mate?" Tyrone asked with his eyebrow raised.

"I barley touched her." Marc said unlocking his car door "She's a nut job" Luke looked over at the factory door and then back at Marc as he sped off in his Mercedes. Luke looked at Tyrone concerned

"Touched who? Do you think we should go in there?" he asked

"I dunno?" he said shrugging

"I think Carla is in there on her own?" Luke said because he was sure he had seen all the factory lot go on their lunch break except for her. He left Tyrone outside and walked into the factory gingerly.

"Ello?" Luke said into the empty building, he looked around but he couldn't see anyone there, He spotted the open office door and walked over to it slowly and calmly not wanting to alarm Carla if in fact she was in there.

"Carla?" he said as he walked in to her office…

* * *

Peter was sat at his Dad's house feeling rather positive about his interview he took of his suit jacket and was just about to start telling his Dad all about it when there was a rather loud bang on the front door. Ken got up and answered it and Peter heard someone say

"Is Peter in?" he got up and went to the door to find Luke on his doorstep.

"What's up?" he asked as Luke stood there biting his lip,

"It's Carla, She's at the factory I don't know what's happened but she's in a right state." Luke said. That was all he had to say. Peter raced across the street to the factory where Tyrone was stood outside

"What happened?" he asked as they got closer

"I dunno mate, that cockney guy who's always hanging around her, came storming out of there got in his car and just drove off." Luke said Peter took a step back for a moment, he was thinking the absolute worst, he'd been in this situation before and he had promised Carla that he would never let anyone hurt her like that again.

Peter shot straight up the factory steps and inside before Luke and Tyrone could say anymore.

He walked in to the empty building and he went straight towards the office, he entered it cautiously trying to remain calm, although the blood was pumping through his veins and his heart was thumping in his chest as he finally saw Carla.

She was sat on the floor, right up in the corner of her office, She surrounded by papers and pens that had been knocked off of her desk and she was sobbing quietly, her long hair hid her head as she rested it on her knees.

"Carla?" Peter said softly edging towards her, She looked up at the sound of his voice. She was relieved when she saw that it was just him. "Carla… what happened?" Peter asked looking at her smudged mascara and bloodshot eyes. He bent down so that he was know at her level.

"Marc…" She sniffed and wiped her eyes, She repositioned herself on the floor and it was only because she had moved her legs down, that her ripped opened shirt was now on display to Peter.

"I'm gonna kill him!" he said angrily, getting back up and onto his feet Carla knew what he was thinking and shook her head.

"Peter no!" She cried grabbing hold of his legs rather comically "He didn't do anything… not really." Peter looked down at Carla

"Then how the hell did that happen to your top then?" Peter asked still fuming, he didn't care what had happened between Carla and Marc, all he knew was that she was sat on her office floor in tears due to something that Marc had done. Peter thought that seemed like a pretty good enough reason to give Marc a good kicking.

"I pushed him, there were a little scuffle and he grabbed onto me, it were nothing."

"What did you push him for?" Peter asked still not understanding the situation "What did he do you Carla?"

"Nothing Peter, I just got… scared." Carla said pulling at his legs so he'd sit back down. "Please Peter don't leave me ere." She pleaded. Peter eventually sat down next to her still disturbed by the state he had found her in.

"Why were you scared then?" he asked softy, Carla bit her lip

"I weren't at first, at first it were okay but…the things he were saying to me Peter… he reminded me of..." She stopped talking and swallowed, She didn't want to say his name. She was reminded of the man who had attacked her, Frank Foster.

"Oh" Peter said knowing exactly who and what Carla was reminded of by the pained looked on her face. She nodded and sighed at Peter,

"I didn't realise it at first but even me outfit is similar… y'know to what I was wearing when…" Carla stopped talking and wiped her eyes again, She was still shaking every so often, even though she knew that everything was okay and that she was safe.

"Carla… what on earth did he say to you?" Peter asked gently

"He just said some stuff that shook me up that's all and then he put his hand on my shoulder… I were over reacting… you'd think I'd ave gotten over all that by now eh" She said it almost light heartedly but Peter could tell she was still aching with pain over the horrible situation.

"Yeah well… I don't think you ever get over something like that." Peter said looking sympathetically at Carla.

"It's me own fault I spose" Carla said looking down at her hands "Maybe I did lead him on… just a little bit. I guess I shouldn't have been so friendly with him or-"

"Hey…" Peter said forcing Carla to look up at him "Don't you dare blame your self for this Carla, Just because you were nice to the scumbag it doesn't mean he has the right to put his hands on you." he was still fuming and he was desperate to get up and find wherever Marc had gone so he could give him a piece of his mind, Carla nodded at him slowly and bit down on her bottom lip.

"He asked me out n I said no…" Carla paused and sighed, she didn't want to talk about what Marc had said. As true as it all was, she hated talking about Peter cheating on her. Carla also knew that if she did mention it to Peter, it would probably hurt him a lot too. The affair with Tina was still unspoken between the pair of them, they had talked it all out before Peter left the first time around and Carla felt there was nothing else to say on the matter.

"Then what happened?" Peter asked watching Carla empathetically.

"Well he tried to convince me to go out with him and then saw the delightful love bite you left on me neck… He put two and two together, He got quite angry about it actually and It just shook me up a little."

"I'm so Sorry about that…" Peter said feeling guilty that he had obviously caused Marc's anger "Maybe I should ave warned him off when I had the chance eh" he said giving Carla a little nudge with his elbow,

"I don't think it would ave made a difference to be honest Peter." Carla said sniffing and wiping her eyes again.

"Are you worried that he might come back?" Peter asked

"No… I think I really freaked him out, you should ave seen his face when I pushed him over. I really don't think we'll be seeing him around here anytime soon." Carla said shaking her head.

"Well that's good… because if I do see him I'll smash his face in." Peter said although his temper had mellowed and wasn't being entirely serious. Carla smiled half-heartedly at him and then sighed heavily. She had been trying hard to keep the tears from starting to fall but they still came tumbling down her cheeks. "Carla?" Peter said putting an arm around her lovingly. She cried into his arms for a few moments before eventually sitting up again.

"Today's the first time I've thought about… _him_ in ages. I think that was what scared me more, the fact that the memory of… _him_ could come back to me so easily." She said referring to Frank but not actually saying his name, Peter wiped the tears away from Carla's cheeks tenderly.

"Carla, You're safe now, He can't hurt you anymore, you have to remember that." he said rubbing her arm encouragingly.

"He's dead" Carla said softly and then she repeated her self "He's dead…" She then realised how foolish this situation was and stopped suddenly stopped crying. Peter watched her as she wiped her eyes furiously "We're not doing this." She said and she got up off of the floor. She yanked at Peter's arm and pulled him up off of the floor, he looked at her a little amused and confused "I am not going to sit here and get upset over Frank Foster" She said confidently "I mean we've actually been avoiding saying his name? As if he's Lord Voldemort or something." Carla said almost laughing at her reference; Simon had got her watching the Harry Potter movies recently on their movie nights in and she had gotten really into them, so into them that she had even started on the books as well.

"Fear of a name increases fear of a thing itself" Peter said nodding softly as he stood opposite Carla.

"That's right Dumbledore." Carla said smiling at Peter's appropriate quote.

There was a moment of silence between them and Peter watched as Carla leant against her desk and fiddled with her silver bracelet the same way she always did when she didn't know what to say or do, or whenever she was lost in thought.

"You alright Car?"

"I am now…" She said and then suddenly looked as if she had forgotten something really important. "Oh my god Peter how was your interview?" She asked staring at him and hating that she had got so wrapped up in Marc to remember that Peter had had a job interview.

"Oh don't worry about that, I wanna make sure you're okay." Peter said and Carla frowned.

"I'm fine Peter, tell me how it went." She said bossily. He smiled at her and nodded positively.

"I actually think it went really well, I was early and I got to meet everyone, I think I made a really good impression, what with all my experience n all."

"Good" Carla smiled "I've got me fingers crossed for you, even though I don't think you'll need it." She then reached over, took Peter by his tie and pulled him in towards her "I've always said you look good in a tie." She said grinning down at it. Peter chuckled and then put his arms around Carla hugging her tight, just as there was a chorus of loud voices making their way back into the factory. Carla sighed into Peter's chest, knowing that the pair of them embracing like that in the office wouldn't do anything to stop the factory workers gossiping about them, especially since her bra was still on show.

"You sure you're okay Carla?" Peter asked quietly as the sewing machines began whirling.

"I said so didn't I?" She said amazed that they hadn't been interrupted by Beth yet or someone else being nosy.

"Good because I wouldn't be able to get on with the rest of my day knowing that you were still upset." Peter said delicately. Carla looked deep into his brown eyes and then glanced behind him at the machinists getting straight to work.

"You know it's a good thing those blinds are open because if they weren't…" Carla said gazing at him, her eyes were wide and her voice was deep, Peter didn't move an inch away from her "If they weren't we might have had to pick up where we left of at the Halloween party on Saturday night…"

"Is that so?" Peter asked, entranced by the way Carla was looking up at him.

"Yeah… but as I said those pesky blinds ave gone and ruined it for us."

"I can close em… if you want." Peter said his breath hot on her cheek, He looked deep into Carla's eyes and he was literally moments away from closing the space between their lips when Kirk burst into her office loudly, making them both jump.

"Mrs Connor can I have some petty cash? We've run out of loo roll again, I don't know where it all goes… alright Peter." He said casually, not even noticing the way that Carla and Peter had sprung apart so quickly when he had walked in. Carla grinned as she went into the drawer of her desk and pulled out some cash.

"Here ya go Kirk." she said not daring to look at Peter in front of Kirk, although Kirk probably wouldn't have noticed, he didn't even realise Carla's shirt was wide open.

"Thanks Mrs C" Kirk said cheerily and then he tripped over some of the pens that had fallen off of Carla's desk during the struggle with Marc. Peter and Carla both stifled their laughs as Kirk left the office. Carla looked down at her open shirt and then back at Peter.

"I spose I better go and make me-self decent." She said picking up her leather jacket from the back of her chair. She put it on and pulled it together so that it wasn't so obvious that her top was open.

"I'll walk you home." He said and so he did. They left the factory together, Carla told everyone she was going on her lunch break and that she would be back later.

"Oh look." Tyrone said nudging Luke upon spotting Carla and Peter walking down the factory steps. "Here's the hero of the hour." Peter smirked at Carla who rolled her eyes.

"Who him?" Carla joked pointing at Peter

"Now now Tyrone let's not call me a hero… I much prefer knight in shinning armour." Peter said

"Yeah… you could say that…" Carla grinned, "Although I was thinking more along the lines of… Shrek, He did rescue Princess Fiona after all." Tyrone snickered and Peter shook his head pretending to be sad about Carla's joke.

Luke was more serious about the subject and asked

"Everything alright then?" Carla nodded and said

"Yeah… thanks Luke, I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to shout at you… I were just so worked up."

"Hey no problem, I'm just glad I could help." Luke said and he gave Carla a quick wink before getting back to work.

"Oi did he just wink at you?" Peter asked in a jokey fashion, Carla rolled her eyes again as they continued to stroll down the street together. She couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, even after the afternoon that she'd had.

Although nothing had really happened with Marc, having Peter come to her rescue so quickly was an exceptionally pleasant feeling for Carla. It wasn't the first time he had saved her, He truly was her knight in shining armour and although she would never admit it and as corny as it sounded, Carla was definitely that hoping soon they would finally share true love's kiss.


	19. Wine, Cocktails & Jealousy

It was Friday morning and Carla strolled into Roy's Rolls at around eight am, She was kind of hoping that a certain bearded ex (sort of) husband of her's might have been sat in there getting breakfast, he wasn't but Michelle was sat in there instead so Carla guessed that that was the next best thing.

"Hiya." Michelle said as Carla sat down in front of her, she had already filled her in on what had happened with Marc at the factory on Monday but she hadn't told Michelle about just how close she had got to kissing Peter… Again.

"Morning..." Carla said, "You're an early bird ain't ya?"

"Yeah well Liz and Tony were playing their records this morning, It had gotten so bad that they were actually singing along so I just had to get out of the pub." Michelle said grinning.

"Oh god." Carla cringed "So what you up to later then?"

"Nothing much, why?" Michelle said eating a bacon sandwich and sipping tea.

"Well I reckon me n you need to get a few drinks in, what d'ya say we go down the bistro n get a few bottles of wine, y'know just like we used to." Carla said grinning and reminiscing about how her and Michelle would often go to the bistro after a long day of work at the factory.

"Well I'm definitely up for a girly night out but I'm rather surprised that you don't have plans with a certain man and his son this evening, I mean I barley see you these days, since you spend so much time with them." Michelle said with an eyebrow raised but she wasn't being entirely serious.

"I do not…" Carla said defensively but she knew Michelle was right and the only reason that she wasn't having a movie night in with Simon tonight was because Leanne had grounded him for being rude to her so that meant he wasn't allowed out at all. Carla thought about going over to his place or still having the movie night at Ken's but she knew it would be undermining Leanne's authority to do so, so she told Simon they'd do it some time next week. "So are we going to the bistro tonight or what?" Carla eventually asked.

"Yeah go on then, it's been a while since we've got drunk n judged everyone." Michelle laughed.

So that's what they did. Carla and Michelle met up outside the bistro at seven thirty pm. Carla was dressed in a pair of black jeans black boots and a black shirt the same outfit she had on at work that day only she'd undone the first few buttons on her shirt to make it just a little more dressed up. Michelle had opted for a navy blue dress and black jacket and a pair of killer heels.

They had been sat in a table in the corner and had an amazing view of everyone in the restaurant. They of course ordered a bottle of wine and had already been having watching various different people in the bistro, they watched two people have what looked like a horrendous date and they watched Sally and Tim argue their way through their starters also.

As Steph brought their bottle over and Carla had said thank you, Michelle was busy watching Nick and Leanne, who were both giggling about something together behind the bar.

"Eh what do you think about Nick and Leanne?" Michelle asked, Carla glanced over at them as she poured herself a glass of wine.

"What d'ya mean?" She asked

"Well it's just they've been getting on well recently that's all... I reckon there's still something there." Michelle said as Carla poured a glass of wine for her.

"Really?" Carla said as she wasn't too sure "Leanne seems really happy with Kal."

"I know I'm just saying they've been through a lot together and it just seems like they still have a little spark." She picked up her glass and sipped the wine. As Carla did the same Peter appeared in the doorway of the bistro. "Oh speaking of Sparks…" Michelle said nodding in his direction "I don't suppose he knew you were coming ere tonight." She said thinking it was little too convenient that he had turned up.

"No... He couldn't ave. I haven't even spoken to him today and anyways look he's got his whole family with him." Carla said as he walked further into the restaurant followed by Simon, Tracy, Amy, Ken and then there was also a blonde haired woman with them too.

Carla felt her mouth go dry, she watched the blonde woman closely as Steph showed the Barlow's to a table. Simon and Amy sat down next to each other at one end of the table, Peter had sat opposite Simon and then the blonde woman sat between him and Ken. Carla looked at her and then back at Michelle.

"Errrrr who's she?" Michelle asked before Carla could get the words out.

"I dunno I've never seen her before…" Carla shrugged trying to act casual, as the blonde woman took off her jacket.

Peter was sat with his back to Carla and Michelle's table, so he couldn't see them but Simon spotted Carla when he looked up from his menu. He smiled and began waving at Carla excitedly, She waved back pleasantly although she was still a little surprised to see a stranger at what seemed to be a Barlow family dinner. Peter turned round to see what Simon was waving so happily at and grinned when he saw Carla sat in the corner with Michelle. He nodded over at them before turning back to his son.

"Maybe she's a family friend." Michelle suggested as she could tell Carla was still trying to work out who the mysterious blonde woman was.

"Maybe…" Carla said, "I mean I've never seen her before but I guess she could be." Michelle had known Carla forever and could easily tell when she was feeling jealous. Michelle smirked at Carla who then snapped, "What's so funny?"

"Woah! Jealously is so not a good look on you." Michelle laughed, Carla shook her head at her.

"I'm not... Jealous… I'm just wondering who she is that's all." Carla said but she had to admit that the intense feeling she had rising inside her body was definitely jealously and jealous was definitely not her style.

"Why don't you just make an excuse to go over there and see if Peter introduces you?" Michelle suggested.

"As if..." Carla scoffed "Forget em anyways. This night is meant to be about you and me avin a good time." She raised her glass in the air and said, "Ere's to us." Michelle joined in with Carla's toast and as they clinked their glasses together, Peter turned around again he smiled over at them cheerfully, although Michelle was sure the smile was more for Carla's benefit.

They'd got through the entire bottle of wine very quickly between the two of them and it wasn't long before they wanted another one. Carla looked around to see if she could get the attention of a waiter but there was no one to be found and Leanne was at the bar on her own.

"I'm gonna go and get us another bottle." Carla said finishing the last drop that was in her glass.

"Sure." Michelle said smirking because it just so happened that the bar was close to where the Barlow's were enjoying their meal.

Carla walked over to the bar where Leanne looked rushed off her feet. Leanne saw Carla standing patiently at the bar and quickly made her way over to her.

"Hi Carla what can I get you?"

"Just another bottle of red wine thanks." Carla said she glanced over at the table where the Barlow's were sat.

"Okay, I'll bring it over when I can..." Leanne said putting some money in the till, Carla could see how busy she was and gave her a small smile.

"Oh that's okay, I'll wait ere for it, you're rushed of your feet." she said, Leanne nodded thankfully

"Okay, God I'm gonna kill Nick when he gets back in ere. Five flamin minutes he said." Leanne complained as she handed Steph some drinks on a tray.

"Why where's he gone?" Carla asked

"Oh we ran out of change so he said he'd go and get some but that were almost half an hour ago." Leanne said.

"So I hear you grounded Simon." Carla said but she wasn't completely focused on Leanne, she had her body turned to the side so that she was still able to check on The Barlow's and talk to Leanne at the same time.

"Yeah, he came strolling home from school at eight o clock the other day, it was my night off but he didn't quite know that so I think he reckoned I'd be ere n he would get away with it, anyway it wasn't so much the time he'd come in that got him grounded, it was the attitude on him. He's only out tonight because it's a family thing, Peter was planning on leaving him at his Dad's but I was like no, drag him along too." Leanne explained but she knew Carla wasn't really listening as she started over at Peter's table.

"Oh right…" Carla said distantly then she asked "Leanne… You don't recognise that woman do ya?" She was now facing Leanne properly, Leanne shook her head with a grin.

"Nope." She said as the jealously Carla felt was evident by the look on her face.

"Yeah… Me neither." Carla said going back to stare over at Peter and his family's table. The blonde woman was talking to Ken now but Peter was watching her, almost as if he was hanging onto her every word. Leanne went and got the wine that Carla and Michelle always drank and came back to find that Carla was still transfixed on this mystery woman.

"Here's your wine." Leanne smirked as she handed Carla the bottle.

"Cheers Leanne." Carla said taking it off of her. She then walked back to the table where Michelle was sitting. She put the wine on the table and slumped back in her seat.

"So did ya find out who she was yet?" Michelle asked, wondering if Leanne might have recognised the woman.

"No." Carla moaned. It wasn't long before Peter and his family had begun laughing at something the blonde woman had said. "Well she's obviously a riot." Carla said scowling over at them all.

"Wow you really are jealous... I love it." Michelle exclaimed as she saw Carla's face.

"I'm not jealous..." Carla lied, she knew that she wasn't fooling Michelle one little bit. "Okay… I just want to know who she is, I mean she must be important if she's out with the whole family."

"Maybe she is family?" Michelle said opening the new bottle of wine as Carla shook her head.

"I've been to plenty of Barlow family functions in the past to know that, that woman is not family." Carla said holding up her glass for Michelle to refill. Michelle glanced over at the blonde woman and started laughing.

"Eh maybe she's another one of Peter's wives." She joked.

"That's not funny Chelle" Carla frowned still watching Peter.

The Barlow's had eventually decided what they wanted to eat and ordered their food with Steph. Leanne came over after ten minutes or so and stood next to Peter. She had been watching Carla for a while now and decided to intervene in the situation.

"Don't look now but ya do realise that a certain wife of yours is watching your every move." She said

"Really?" Peter said unable to stop himself from turning to look at Carla, she was quicker than him though and had managed to divert her gaze before he had caught her staring.

"I said don't look." Leanne said slapping Peter on the arm

"Ow!" Peter cried, "I couldn't help it."

"Leanne's right though, Carla's been watching you like a hawk, it's kinda scary actually." Tracy said as she was sitting facing Carla and had seen her looking over.

Carla, who was unaware that some of the conversation at the Barlow's table had turned to her, was trying her very best to act like some sort of rational human being but when she tried to casually glance over she saw Leanne being introduced to the blonde woman. She almost slammed her glass down on the table, making Michelle jump. Leanne saw Carla and Michelle's reaction from a distance, and as the woman who's name was Sophia started chatting to Tracy, Leanne turned back to Peter and said

"So are you gonna put Carla out of her misery and introduce her then?" Peter turned his head, gave Carla a cheeky grin and then turned back again before she even had time to register it. "You're loving this aren't you?" Leanne said rolling her eyes.

"Just a bit." Peter said

"Honestly Peter go and get her, besides Sophia wants to meet her." Ken said looking at Peter in disappointment.

"Hey you're acting as if this was all some big plan, I didn't know Carla would be in ere did I?" Peter said but he was feeling slightly pleased that Carla seemed to be getting more and more jealous by the second. Leanne went back to work as Peter eventually got up off his chair, he had rested his hand on Sophia's shoulder as he did so. Michelle did an over the top gasp and looked at Carla.

"Oh my god he just touched her!" She cried trying to wind Carla up some more.

"Don't." Carla said as Peter made his way over to them. He looked at the two bottles of wine on their table and shook his head.

"All this wine and no food… You'll regret that in the morning." he said winking at Carla as he walked past their table and into the toilet.

"Oh he totally knows what he is doing to you." Michelle said as Carla sighed and put her head on the table.

"This is torture." She said bitterly, Michelle was highly amused by all this and nudged Carla.

"I gotta say Peter is looking good tonight…"

"He always looks good…" Carla said still with her head on the table.

"So… are we thinking that this woman is maybe a _new_ friend of the family then? Maybe she's a mate of Tracy's or… Peter's?" Michelle couldn't help but laugh again when she looked at Carla who was slumped dramatically over the table.

"This is not funny Chelle, I mean what on earth is happening to me? I am so not the jealous type." Carla said through her hair, She sat up and sighed as if she was extremely disappointed in the way she was acting. "Even if she is a friend of Peter's, why am I so jealous of her, I mean all she's doing is sitting next to him… and almost touching him…" Carla said enviously, although she knew exactly why she was so jealous, she knew why and the thought of it made her feel sick. Michelle just shrugged at her still finding the situation rather amusing.

"Eh go and ask Simon who she is, he'll tell ya." Michelle said because according to Amy, Simon wanted his Dad and Carla back together pronto.

"I can't do that how obvious would that be?" Carla said she looked over at the table where the blonde woman was now chatting about something with Tracy. She was silent for a few moments as she continued to watch them. "Maybe she _is_ just a family friend." Carla said still watching her

"God Carla you are obsessed. If you don't go over there I will!" Michelle cried

"Don't you dare." Carla said firmly. She caught Peters eye as he came out of the toilets. He smiled at her and then looked at Michelle.

"Michelle... you don't mind if I borrow Carla for a minute do ya?" he asked, Michelle raised an eyebrow at him.

"Not at all." Michelle smirked holding a glass of wine in her hand. Carla looked at Peter, she was so relived that he had finally come over to her but also anxious.

"What for?" she asked, Peter reached out and took her hand.

"You'll see…" he said mysteriously as he pulled at Carla's hand, making her get up off her chair. Michelle watched as Carla and Peter began walking to the table where his family were sat.

They were still hand in hand when they reached the table and it made Carla feel very nervous as they stood there in front of everyone like that. The Barlow's and their "_friend"_ all looked so content as they sat there and Carla felt like maybe she was interrupting something special. Simon had been chatting away but when he saw his Dad and Carla holding hands he stopped talking, Amy started giggling and Tracy raised her eyebrows at them. Peter cleared his throat and said

"Carla, I just wanted to introduce you to Sophia, Sophia this is Carla." Sophia, smiled warmly at Carla. She looked a little older than Carla had realised close up but she was still incredibly pretty.

"Hi Carla it's so nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you" Sophia said holding out her hand, Carla was surprised because she had heard absolutely nothing about this Sophia yet obviously Sophia knew a lot about her.

"Nice to meet you too." Carla said shaking Sophia's hand. Ken and Simon were both smiling at Carla, they could tell she was a little uncomfortable with meeting this stranger.

"Sophia's our grief councillor, she's been helping us deal with everything since... Well you know" Peter said. "I wanted her to meet you because you've been so helpful recently." He said and everything suddenly made a little more sense to Carla she grinned as she stood there next to Peter.

"Oh right…" Carla said

"What?" Peter asked upon spotting Carla's grin. Carla shook her head

"Nothing." She said but she couldn't help the smirk on her face. She felt incredibly stupid for being jealous of the woman that was being paid to help the Barlow's "I've just had a bit too much wine that's all ignore me" Carla said practically laughing, Peter didn't look like he believed her and gave her hand a quick squeeze.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you because from what I hear you've been a real asset to this family" Sophia said

"She really has." Ken said nodding at Carla appreciatively

"Oh trust me it's my pleasure." Carla said modestly. Steph then appeared with plates of food and Carla took this a good opportunity to go back to her table. "I better get back to Michelle before she ends up drinking all the wine… ave a good night everyone." Carla said smiling at them all and winking at Simon.

"You too Carla." Ken said smiling at her, She glanced at Peter before she went to walk away but then he smirked, pulled her close to him by the hand he was still holding and he leant into her ear.

"This won't be the last you see of me tonight." He whispered

"Good." Carla replied sultrily and then she sauntered back over to Michelle who had been watching everything very closely.

"So who is she then? I saw ya shake her hand, What's this keep your enemies closer?" She joked as Carla sat down smiling, she felt so much lighter and much more relaxed, now she knew who Sophia actually was.

"No." She grinned.

"Well come on then, Tell me. I must say you seem to ave calmed down a lot since you've been over there."

"She's their grief councillor." Carla revealed wishing she hadn't been so stupid.

"Oh right..." Michelle said "So why is she out to dinner with them?" She asked, Carla shrugged and picked up her wine glass

"I dunno, their just being nice I guess. Hear this, she said she's heard all about me and that I'm a real asset to the family." Carla said proudly, Michelle grinned

"Oh yeah I bet Peter had a lot of nice things to say about you." She said Carla rolled her eyes.

"Are we gonna talk about anything else tonight?" She said sighing, "I mean as much as I love talking about Peter Barlow there are other things we could talk about." She said. So they talked about other things, they talked about Steve, then they talked about the factory they even talked a little bit about Rob but they eventually wound up going back to a conversation about Peter.

"I know you said you didn't want to talk about him but I'm sorry you have been giving each other the eye all night." Michelle said, because every time Peter had turned around or got up, there had been an electric moment of eye contact between him and Carla, one that Michelle had seen many times from them before.

"Oh behave." Carla said pouring the last of the wine into her glass,

"Seriously Carla what is going on with you two?" Michelle asked Carla looked down at her lap still clutching her wine glass.

"Nothing." She said not looking at Michelle properly.

"Carla you're so annoying" Michelle said shoving her playfully "What's the point in us sitting here as best mates if we're not going to be honest with each other eh?" Carla laughed and looked up at her best friend.

"Nothing is going on Chelle. I mean it. We're friends"

"Yeah well friends don't give other friends lovebites." Michelle said grinning

"Yeah well… I've explained that already avent I? It were just a silly Halloween thing nothing serious." Carla said but she could tell Michelle wanted more from her.

"Do you wanna know what I think?" Michelle asked, Carla shook her head

"Not really no." She laughed but Michelle continued anyway,

"I think that you still love him and he blatantly still loves you and it's only a matter of time before you get back together." Michelle said, Carla glanced over to the Barlow's table and then back at her friend.

"Woah? Chelle... Can we not talk about love please. We decided to be friends for a reason." She didn't want to think about the love word, just the thought of it made her feel sick but the more time she spent with him the more she realised that she was beginning to feel just like she had done many years ago.

"You do know that because of you the word friend actually does my head in." Michelle said, "And are ya actually telling me that other than the lovebite there's been nothing else romantic between the two of you."

"I'd hardly call a love bite romantic Chelle." Carla said,

"You know what I mean." Michelle said getting irritated. Carla downed her last bit of wine and sighed,

"Okay…"

"I knew it." Michelle said excitedly

"Calm down Chelle, It's nothing really. We almost kissed at the factory that's all."

"That's all? When did this happen?"

"It were right after I kicked that Marc out." Carla admitted

"Go on then..." Michelle nodded

"Well as I said he'd calmed me down because I'd got me self proper worked up over that cocky little Marc and then there was this serene moment of pure silence between us, even the factory girls were quiet for once... I gave him a quick hug and we were just there y'know, he were stood so close to me, like I could feel his breath on me skin." Carla said longingly.

"So?" Michelle asked intrigued, Carla sighed

"Well I realised that the blinds were open... not that it mattered because the next thing I knew I had Kirk at me office door asking for some petty cash." Carla said, Michelle rolled her eyes and put her head in her hands.

"It had to be Kirk didn't it" Michelle said and Carla started laughing and shaking her head.

"Bless him, I don't think he even knew that he'd walked in on something but I'm glad he did." she said, Michelle finished her glass and looked at Carla seriously.

"Are you though?" She said, Carla nodded but Michelle was looking at her in complete disbelief.

"Alright So maybe a kiss from Peter wouldn't be totally unpleasant..." Carla said as she looked over at Peter as he got up from the table and went over to the door of the bistro. He then headed outside and Carla had assumed it was for a cigarette even though he had told her that he had quit smoking. "Okay It would have been amazing" She said wistfully "But honestly Chelle let's be honest, it wouldn't have been just a kiss would it, we would ave been going at it on that desk, faster than you can say underworld."

"Would that ave really been the worst thing in the world?" Michelle grinned,

"Yes it flamin well would ave, the blinds were open and everything." Carla said almost laughing again. "Oh I dunno Chelle, we're both enjoying our selves so much right now, teasing each other, waiting for the other one to make the first move, but maybe it should just stay that way y'know." Michelle then got up from her seat and shook her head.

"Carla all I know is that you two are perfect for each other. I'm telling you babe it's gonna happen, Sooner or later you and Peter will be in each other's pants again." and with that Michelle went towards the toilets. She stumbled as the amount of wine her and Carla had got through, began to take affect. Carla shuffled in her seat for a while and before she knew it she was getting up and making her way towards the exit of the bistro.

Peter was halfway through his cigarette when the door behind him opened and Carla appeared. She grinned at him and went and stood next to him

"Hi" Peter said exhaling smoke from his lips, Carla who at this point had consumed enough wine to make her a little braver than normal but not enough so that she was drunk, linked her arm through his.

"Hi" She said softly, She rolled her eyes as Peter lifted his cigarette up to his lips

"I know…" Peter said sighing

"So what happened to you quitting those things?"

"I've tried but I just can't seem to stop." Peter said, Carla shook her head at him and then took his cigarette from his fingers, he watched her as she flicked it onto the ground in front of them.

"Does that help?" She asked as Peter chuckled at her.

"If only I had you around each time I wanted to smoke eh."

"You know call me crazy Barlow, but I reckon that not actually buying cigarettes in the first place probably helps with this whole stopping smoking process." Carla said smiling at him smugly.

"Yeah but it's not just that is it, It's having something between me fingers you know, I've read that you should always have some sort of oral substitute." Peter smirked as he moved the hair on Carla's shoulder to take a look at the handwork that he had left last week.

"Don't get any ideas." She said to Peter. He smirked as the bruise was still there even though it had faded considerably. "Why don't you try some lollypops or something?" Carla said Peter placed her hair back into place.

"Lollypops? I'm a grown man." he said but he was considering the idea of it "I suppose I could give it a shot, might get some down The Kabin tomorrow." Carla nodded and they stood together quietly for a moment.

"Sophia seems like she's really nice." Carla said, Peter nodded

"Yeah she really is, She's been a massive help and I really feel as if seeing her is the best thing we've ever done as a family." he said and he looked at Carla, who just couldn't help but think about how foolish she had been earlier. "What are you grinning at?" She started chuckling to her self.

"It's nothing..." she paused "I just didn't know who Sophia was at first that's all." Carla said,

"I told you we had a councillor didn't I?" he said as Carla stood before him looking rather embarrassed now.

"I know I just thought she was maybe… one of your friends that's all… I mean she seemed to be very fond of you especially." Carla said looking down, Peter grinned finally catching on.

"Were you maybe a little bit jealous?"

"Say if I were jealous..." Carla started she moved closer to him "What would you ave to say about it?"

"I'd say good." Peter said, licking his lips.

"Good?" Carla exclaimed

"Yeah good, now you know how I felt about Marc."

"You had no reason to be jealous of Marc, Peter." Carla said her hands now on her hips.

"And you have no reason to be jealous of Sophia." Peter said mimicking her actions.

"Well..." Carla said "It's a good thing I'm not jealous then aint it." Peter looked Carla up and down like he usually did whenever she was stood in front of him, he didn't even try to hide the fact that he was checking her out this time. She grinned down at the ground because looking at Peter in the eye made her want to do things she knew she shouldn't.

"I think… I better go back inside." Carla said and she began to walk towards the door of the bistro.

"Why's that eh?" Peter asked after her still grinning at her like a Cheshire Cat, Carla turned on her heels once she was a safe distance away and looked at him.

"Because I've had far too much wine to be standing here alone with you." She pointed at him as he moved closer towards her, He glanced around them and they were indeed alone, He saw her sparkling eyes and her seductive expression and asked

"Don't you trust me?" Carla shook her head at him.

"Oh it's not you I don't trust Peter…" She said biting her lip and making Peter feel weak.

"Oh I think you've under estimated your level of will power." He said walking closer to Carla.

"Trust me… I aven't, besides I better go n re-join Michelle before she puts out a missing person ad." Carla grinned and went to walk back into the bistro but before she did she added. "Don't even think about lighting another cigarette."

Peter knew better than to defy Carla and start smoking another cigarette so practically stumbled in after her. She walked straight past his table and went back to her table where Michelle was sitting waiting for her. She rolled her eyes when she saw that Peter was also on his way back to his table.

"I should've known." She said as Carla sat down.

They were both in the mood for some more drink but they decided against another bottle of wine as three bottles would probably end up with them plastered, Instead they ordered some cocktails each. Michelle finished her first one before Carla had even got half way through hers and she went to order another one. By the time Michelle and Carla had finished and the bistro was near closing, Michelle was more than just a little bit tipsy she was totally drunk.

The Barlow's were almost finished too and Peter watched as Michelle struggled to get up and Carla grabbed hold of her. Ken, Sophia, Simon, Amy and Tracy had just finished with their puddings and were getting up to leave the restaurant.

"Peter lets go, we've already been in here long enough." Tracy groaned she could tell he was watching Carla who was now struggling to hold Michelle upright.

"I'm gonna help Carla with Michelle why don't you guys go ahead." he said walking over to them and leaving his family behind.

"Oh dear." Peter said as Carla had her arm wrapped around tightly around Michelle's waist. "Do you need help?" he said laughing.

"Yeah you could pay the bill!" Michelle cackled, Carla rolled her eyes and smiled at Peter, thankful that he had stayed behind to help.

"We're fine Peter." She said because she knew being around drunken people must be really hard for Peter.

"You don't look fine." Peter grinned as Michelle started pushing Carla towards to the door even though they hadn't even paid yet.

"Wait Chelle" Carla cried, trying to stop Michelle but she was freakishly strong and almost had Carla at the door. Peter was now laughing and Carla knew she could probably do with a little bit of assistance. "Here... you hold Michelle upright and I'll go and pay Nick." Peter took a drunken Michelle off of slightly tipsy Carla.

"Hi Peter…" Michelle slurred practically putting all her weight onto him as Carla walked to the bar "Car where are you going?" She cried, Carla shook her head in disbelief and laughed.

"I'm paying the bill woman." Nick came over to where Carla was stood at the bar, he looked at Peter and then looked at the drunken Michelle.

"Good night was it?" he said smiling and handing Carla a chip and pin machine so she could pay.

"It sure was, although I'm not sure how Michelle has got so drunk." she said putting her card in and paying for their wine and cocktails.

"Peter…" Michelle started practically hanging off him

"Michelle…" Peter chuckled holding her as best she could, she was a lot taller than him in her heels and it was a bit of a struggle to keep her steady.

"You know we love you right?" Michelle slurred, "Me n Car have been watching you all night and we love you..." Michelle drunkenly put her arms around Peter and hugged him tight. Peter laughed as Carla joined them with an eyebrow raised.

"Interrupting something am I? What on earth would Steve say?" Carla joked

Michelle let go off Peter and gave Carla a playful shove

"Eh are you getting jealous again?" She asked putting an arm around Carla.

"I reckon we should get her home don't you?" She said to Peter. Carla knew a drunken Michelle had a tendency to start talking about things she shouldn't, so she wanted to get her tucked up in bed before she could say anymore.

They took Michelle back to the rovers where Steve was waiting up for her. It was only a short walk from the bistro but it took a lot longer than expected, as Michelle was not in the best state to be walking upright.

Once they'd got Michelle inside and safe with Steve, Peter as usual, walked Carla across the road to her building. The heel on one of her boots got stuck between two cobbles and it made Carla almost buckle. Peter automatically caught her, his arms going immediately under hers and picking her back up again.

"All that wine and no dinner doesn't seem like a good idea now does it?" he said as he started helping her walk across the road.

"No it does not." Carla said as he got her safely across the road. "Thanks Peter." She said getting her keys out of her bag.

"So what are you doing tomorrow?" Peter asked Carla shrugged "Me and Si are going to see the fireworks show down the cricket club, if you wanna come."

"Really? I thought Simon were grounded?" Carla asked

"He is but I talked Leanne round… It's a family thing anyway, Tracy and Amy are coming with us as well, so can I tempt you to join us then?" Carla frowned a little at the sound of Tracy's name.

"Hmmm I don't know I mean... if it were just you and Simon then I would definitely be up for it but..."

"Hey I thought you and Tracy we're friends now?" Peter asked, Carla shrugged

"Well I would say friends exactly, I mean she saved me life so I ave to be nice to her but she kinda ... I dunno…" Carla didn't want to bad mouth Tracy in front of her own brother, He nodded understandingly

"I get it, Tracy's not exactly who you want to be spending your Friday night with but" Peter said but Carla interrupted him.

"Alright, alright I'll come but only because I like spending time with you and Simon" She said pushing him slightly, He grabbed her and hugged her tight. She giggled into his chest and then yawned,

"I'm knackered" She said "It's been a hell of a long day."

"I reckon you should get inside and go to bed then." Peter said, Carla sighed pleasantly into his chest.

"Do you wanna come?" She asked enticingly as she let go of Peter, she read his amused expression. "Not like that Peter…I just mean as friends y'know, we can cuddle." Carla said almost laughing because the idea of her and Peter getting into a bed together and only cuddling was slightly unrealistic.

"Hmmm as tempting as it sounds, I think I'll pass on the whole cuddling thing." he said almost hating himself for turning her down like that, especially since that night she had stayed over at his place was one of the best nights sleeps he'd had in ages.

Carla looked at him rather disappointed as she had been on the same wavelength as him when it came to how good that night of sleep had been and it had been so long ago she was beginning to forget the feeling of his body so close to hers.

"Oh alright then." She said sadly, She turned on her heel then went on to stumble into her building. She wasn't anywhere near as drunk as she was acting but she hoped it would save some embarrassment if she pretended she was highly intoxicated.

"It's not because I don't want to…" Peter called after her, She turned around and looked at him hopefully "I mean I would love nothing more than to get into bed with you and… cuddle, but you're slightly drunk and I just don't think it's a good idea." he said softly, wishing that Carla was completely sober so that he could do what he really wanted to and kiss her.

"Don't ya trust me or summat?" she said coyly with her head on one side, Peter shook his head and grinned at her.

"Nope." He said, Carla gasped in outrage and laughed at him "but if it makes you feel any better it's not just you that I don't trust." He said and then he began walking across the road to number one. Carla sighed deeply and rolled her eyes in frustration as he got to the other side.

"Goodnight then!" She called desperately across the road after him.

"Goodnight Carla." he called back. He sighed as he watched Carla go into her building safely and he as he walked into his Dad's house he promised himself that tomorrow was going to be different, he promised that tomorrow he was finally going to make a move on Carla.

Tomorrow he was going to kiss her.

* * *

**I just wanted to say another thank you to everyone who is still interested/reading/reviewing this.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter &amp; I look forward to reading what you think of it.**

**:)**


	20. Fireworks & First Kisses

**Oh go on then, have another chapter :)**

* * *

Simon was sat at the table of his Granddad's house anxiously, he kept looking up at the clock and sighing, wondering why time was going so slowly. His Dad came into the room where he was sat and stared at him.

"What's up?" he asked as Simon was sat there looking very nervous indeed.

"What time are we going down to watch the fireworks?" Simon asked, Peter shrugged and looked at the clock.

"I dunno they start at seven thirty so... how about we get there at twenty past?" Peter said however this answer was obviously not good enough for Simon.

"Can't we go before that?" He pleaded.

"Okay… what time d'ya wanna go then Si?" Peter asked as Tracy and Amy came into the room.

"Can we get there for about half six?" He asked.

"Why so early?" Peter asked as Simon's phone buzzed on the table, Peter leant in to have a look and just saw the name Santana on the screen "Oh I see..." He said smirking "Don't suppose Santana is going to be at these fireworks, is she?"

"Don't be so nosy." Simon said but he was smiling at the screen on his phone and typing at the same time. "She might be going…" Simon then added because he knew his Dad wouldn't let up otherwise.

"We don't want to get there too early or we'll just be standing around for ages." Tracy said sitting Amy down on a chair at the table.

"There's going to be candy floss and funfair rides at the fireworks you know." Amy said as Tracy began brushing her hair.

"Exactly they'll be loads to do." Simon said still typing away, when he finished he looked up at Peter "So half six yeah?" He said Peter looked at Tracy and asked,

"Is that alright with you two?"

"I suppose it will have to be, I mean if his lordship says so…" Tracy said with her eyebrows raised. Simon smiled triumphantly and got up from his chair.

"Amazing… Dad you better let Carla know." he said as he left the back room, Tracy rolled her eyes

"Carla?" she said, sighing at Peter as she began putting Amy's hair into a French plait.

"Yeah, I invited her last night… I thought you two had called a truce?" Peter said watching Tracy.

"Well we ave... kind of… I just hate the fact that you two are practically back together and I'm stuck ere without Rob... It's so unfair" Tracy wined.

"First of all we are not back together and second of all the man killed someone Tracy I really don't think it's unfair that he does the time for it." Peter said a little peeved, as he texted Carla to tell her to meet them at six.

"It's unfair on me." Tracy muttered as Peter finished his text, he just ignored his sisters selfishness and went upstairs to get changed as he was still in his pyjamas at this point and if Simon's odd behaviour was anything to go by he would be getting a grilling if he wasn't ready on time.

* * *

At five to six Simon was sat in the back room again with his Granddad, Simon was all ready to go and he had been that way for almost fifteen minutes now. He was dressed in his navy blue coat, blue jeans and black boots, he had thought about his outfit very carefully as he wanted to look as cool as possible but it had to be without his best trainers because it was bound to be muddy down at the cricket club and he had no intention of ruining them.

Amy eventually came in and sat down next to him, dressed in a red jacket and black leggings. She watched Simon as he was still fixated on his phone, his hand were still texting away and every so often a little smile would appear on his face.

"What you doing?" She asked

"Nothing." Simon said hoping Amy would stop being so nosy, unfortunately for him Amy was, as always, in the mood for causing trouble.

"Are you texting that Santana girl again?" She persisted, trying to read over his shoulder.

"Mind your business." Simon snapped as Tracy came into the room in a matching red jacket to Amy's.

"Oi don't talk to her like that." Tracy said sitting down next to Amy who was pretending to be upset at the way Simon had just spoken to her.

"Like what?" Peter said as he entered the room in a black jacket and blue jeans, He was also clutching his favourite grey flat cap, which Carla used to call his granddad hat. He would never admit it but he had also chosen his outfit specially and as the time for them all to leave got closer, he realised that he and Simon both had feeling nervous in common too.

"He just told Amy to mind her business." Tracy said

"She was reading over my shoulder, it's well rude." Simon said

"You're well rude!" Amy snapped back

"Oh just be quiet Amy!" Simon said getting more and more wound up by the second.

"I don't know why that girl is texting you so much you're well ugly." Amy laughed

"Shut up!" Simon said getting up off of his chair angrily.

"Right I've had enough of this, we are not taking you two anywhere if you're going to continue to argue like this." Tracy said because even she could see that Amy was definitely trying to wind Simon up.

"That's right…" Peter said "and anyway our Simon is not ugly, he looks just like his Dad." Peter grinned.

"What time is Carla getting here?" said Ken as the doorbell rang practically on cue. Simon who was already up out of his chair sighed and went to answer it. He opened the door to find Carla stood in black shiny boots, black jeans and black winter coat with gold buttons. She looked really cosy with her white scarf wrapped around her neck and was smiling at Simon as he welcomed her in.

"Hiya Si, You looking forward to tonight?"

"If we ever get there." He said sighing "I wanted to meet me mates there at half six." he said as they went into the back room.

"Hold on a minute, this is supposed to be a family trip to the fireworks." Peter said as Carla followed Simon in. She went over and gave Ken a quick hug.

"Hi Ken." She said smiling at him warmly, He gave her a nod as Amy looked up at her Mum and said,

"That's not fair, if he gets to hang around with his friends then so do I."

"It is fair because I'm older than you, I'm in year eight and you're only in year seven." Simon said smugly but neither Peter or Tracy were having any of this.

"It doesn't matter what year you are in, you are both staying with us." Peter said

"But Dad..."

"No buts Si, We are going as a family and we are staying as a family." Peter said he smiled at Carla who was now stood awkwardly between him and Simon who was now frowning miserably. "Hi." he said

"Hi." She said also smiling

"As you can see Simon and Amy are in a delightful mood." Peter said rolling his eyes at them,

"Yeah because of you lot." Simon mumbled a little louder than he had planned.

"If I were you Si I'd really change the attitude." Peter said giving Simon a stern look "Otherwise you'll find your self grounded, yet again." Simon knew the smart thing to do would be just to nod at his Dad so he did.

"You not coming Ken?" Carla asked as Ken was sat in his favourite dressing gown and slippers.

"No I rather fancy an early night tonight thank you but I want you all to enjoy your selves and I don't want to hear that you two have been arguing the whole time." Ken said looking at Amy and Simon in a way that only grandparents can look at their grandkids "Behave, both of you."

"Yes Granddad." They both said in unison, making Peter and Carla snigger quietly.

"Right shall we get going then?" Tracy said getting up and sighing. Peter looked at Simon and said

"You ready mate?" Simon nodded and couldn't have got out of the door fast enough. Amy and Tracy followed him leaving Carla and Peter in the living room with Ken.

"What is up with him?" Carla asked referring to Simon

"Oh I reckon he's feeling a bit nervous, it seems as if his little girlfriend will be at the fireworks tonight." Peter said.

"Awww bless him." Carla said as Peter grinned.

"I saw him texting her earlier, I think he's gonna finally make a move n ask her out." He added because he had spoke to Simon earlier on in the day and had been trying to encourage him to be more honest about his feelings, whilst Simon was only twelve Peter could tell that he really cared for Santana and that his feelings were genuine.

"Oh and I'm sure you were your usual comedian self when you found that out weren't ya." Carla said to Peter as he put on his hat.

"Hey if I can't embarrass me own son who can I embarrass?" Peter said and then he and Carla waved goodbye to Ken before leaving the house.

Tracy was the one who drove them all down to the cricket club and she had spent half an hour just trying to park the car, Simon tutted as she drove around in another circle.

"How long is this gonna take?" He asked,

"Well what do you expect? It seems like the whole of Wetherfield has come down ere tonight Simon." Tracy sighed, She had Amy in the front seat next to her and had made Peter, Carla and Simon sit on the back seat. Peter complained but from what it looked like to Tracy they were having a great time all squashed together like that. Peter had obviously sat Carla in the middle of him and Simon and every so often they could be heard giggling about nothing. So much so that Tracy had turned the radio right up just to drown out the sounds of their soppy laughter.

She eventually found somewhere to park and by the time they had queued up to get into the park was almost seven pm. The cricket club had practically been transformed. There were a load of funfair rides, bouncy castle slides and games to play. There were also various stalls, which were selling candy floss, popcorn, toys that light up and proper food too. There was a huge bonfire, which was cornered off for now and the area where the firework display was going to be, was also sectioned off too. There were also two bar tents which were full of adults who were obviously trying to get their drinks in before the big display began.

"Wow." Amy said as they finally got inside, She gazed around at everything her eyes wide, even Simon was impressed, he had been checking his phone every so often because he was waiting for a text message but he eventually put it safely into his pocket and decided that as he was being forced to stay with his family, he may as well try to enjoy it.

"Right what should we do first?" Peter said but he soon noticed that Carla and Simon were transfixed by something in the distance.

"The Waltzer's!" They both cried in unison and they ran off into the direction of the funfair ride that consisted of small round carriages that were fixed onto a rotating platform.

"Errrrrr you are not getting me on that." Tracy said with an eyebrow raised as funfair rides were one hundred per cent, not her thing.

"Awww come on Mum." Amy said, she desperately tried to drag Tracy onto the ride but Tracy was having none of it. Peter gave Tracy his hat to look after, paid for the rest of them to get on the Waltzer's and as he sat down next to Carla in the seat he looked at her a little apprehensively.

"You're not nervous are ya?" she asked as a man came along and lowered the bar so they were all safely locked into the ride.

"No way…" Peter said grinning but Carla wasn't so convinced and she was actually a little nervous about the ride her self, so she quickly took hold of Peter's hand and held it tightly.

Tracy watched as the ride began, It started slowly spinning and then it got faster and faster, One of the guys who was in control of the ride began spinning the carriages sending them all in different directions. Carla screamed as the carriage they were in was spun around so fast everything went blurry, She clung on tightly to Peter who closed his eyes as Simon and Amy cheered. He definitely regretted getting on the Waltzers but if it meant having Carla's hand tightly gripped onto his like the way it was than it made it all worth it.

When the ride was over and the safety bar was released, Amy and Simon jumped off the ride and ran over to Tracy who had been cheekily filming them on her mobile phone. Peter got up out of the chair and turned to look at Carla, She was busy fixing her hair that had become rather windswept from the ride.

"Come on... unless you want another turn." he said holding his hand out to help her get up, She took it and clambered out of the carriage clumsily. "Are you okay?" Peter asked as he and Carla began to walk down the steps that lead off the ride.

"Yeah I just feel a little…" Carla toppled forward slightly "dizzy." she said as Peter grabbed hold of her by the arms and looked at her amused.

"I got you." He chuckled, Carla nodded and took hold of his hand again, She didn't say anything but she kept hold of it as they made their way over to the others, Amy and Simon were both cracking up at the video that Tracy was showing them.

"Look Dad, Aunt Tracy videoed us on the Waltzers." he said and then he looked down at Carla and Peter who were hand in hand and grinned even more.

"The look on you two's faces though…" Tracy cackled, showing Peter and Carla the video she had filmed.

"Yeah thanks for that Trace" Carla said sarcastically, she reached over, took the cap that Tracy had been holding and placed it back onto Peter's head. They didn't say anything but they held an mesmerising gaze with each other for a moment instead. Tracy and Amy both rolled their eyes, whilst Simon looked around the cricket club and already had his eyes set on another ride, Peter eventually looked away from Carla and noticed how Simon was eying up another spinning ride.

"Eh Si, how about we get a good spot for the fireworks and we can go on some more rides later?" He suggested because he wasn't sure he could handle another ride just yet.

"Yeah and Plus look what I've got…." Carla said pulling a packet of sparklers out of her bag that she had bought down the shop earlier.

"Cool!" Amy said excitedly.

"I saw em earlier and I knew we had to ave em…" Carla started but then she frowned a little "Although now I think about it, I didn't bring any matches or out so I'm not sure how we're gonna light em." Peter went into his coat pocket and pulled out his trusty lighter, He handed it to Carla, who raised an eyebrow at him, he could tell what she was thinking.

"I just keep that in me pocket just in case of sparkler related emergencies like this one." He lied, pretending as if there wasn't a sneaky pack of fags in his pocket as well.

"Mmmhmm sure." Carla nodded looking at Peter suspiciously and handing a sparkler to Amy and Simon. They all had an enormous amount of fun with the sparklers and took lots photos of each other waving them around in the air, as if they were magic wands. Amy was busy waving her sparkler around in the shape of a heart and Simon was writing out the letters in his name, whilst Carla and even Tracy both lit their own so that they could join in. Peter didn't want to miss out on the fun and made sure he got a sparkler too.

When the lights had fizzled out on all of their sparklers they all decided it was probably time to go and get a good spot for the fireworks but not before Peter asked a passer by to take a group picture of them all on his phone. He smiled at it admiringly and said thank you to the stranger for taking it. Carla leant over to see the photo and smiled at the sight of it too.

"Awww I love that, you better send it to me later." She said. Amy and Simon began bickering over who was going to choose where to stand as they made their way over to the display area, Tracy rolled her eyes at them, saying that she would still take them both home if they continued to fight.

"Did I tell you I got the job in the end?" Peter said casually, as he walked next to Carla in the dark, She stopped in her tracks and looked at him.

"No you didn't, Peter that's amazing!" She said throwing her arms around him, delighted that he had got the job. "Why didn't ya tell me about this earlier?" She asked.

"I were going to but I got distracted by the kids and their arguing." Peter said as Carla let go off him.

"Aww I'm so proud of ya." Carla said because she had always believed he'd be able get his life back on track.

"Thanks, If it weren't for you I wouldn't have even applied for it." Peter said gratefully, as they got to an enormous section of muddy grass, It was practically inescapable and Carla turned her nose up at it as Simon and Amy trudged through it with Tracy going through it reluctantly, on her tip toes.

"Uh really?" Carla said looking around for some sort of path but there was really no other way around it. Peter had already started to make his way through the mud but he stopped and turned to look at Carla.

"Come on love." he said laughing as she folded her arms and screwed up her face.

"I'm not going through that it's horrible, it'll ruin me best boots."

"Well why did you wear your best boots to a fireworks display anyway Carla?" Peter started "You should ave worn a pair of wellingtons or something." Carla gasped dramatically at him in outrage.

"Oh as if I Own a pair of wellingtons Peter." Carla said to him and he laughed some more "Give us a piggy back." She begged, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling at Peter so enticingly, that he found himself making his way back through the mud. Carla giggled as she hopped onto his back "Thanks Darlin." she said leaning over his shoulder a little so she could reach his cheek, She planted a kiss on his cheek as he walked through the mud. Peter carried Carla over to where Tracy, Amy and Simon had stopped to wait for them.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked with her eyebrows raised at the sight of Carla and Peter.

"I was just assisting Lady Muck over ere." Peter said as Carla got off his back, She grinned at Peter as she went and stood next to Simon.

"This looks like a good spot eh Si?" She said gazing ahead at the crowds of people who were also getting ready for the fireworks. Simon smiled at Carla gladly, he was pleased that he had been made to stay with his family after all because they were actually a lot of fun. Carla soon spotted someone familiar in the distance and nudged Simon gently.

"Si…" She whispered, "Isn't that Santana?" Simon's eyes lit up and he looked in the direction that Carla had been pointing in, It was Santana, she was wearing a black furry coat and had her long dark hair tied up into a neat bun.

"Yeah." Simon said casually, although his little heart was thumping. Santana was stood with a little girl who was the spitting image of her, only younger. She had the same green eyes and dark hair, only hers was shorter and almost hidden under a white woolly hat. The little girl was holding a flashing wand and was waving it around wildly, obviously excited for the fireworks display.

"Why don't you go over and say hi?" Carla suggested but Simon looked over at his Dad.

"Me Dad wants me to stay here though…"

"I'm sure he won't mind if you go and say hi just for a little bit." Carla said Simon nodded and looked at Peter again who was chatting away to Tracy about something.

"Dad I'm just gonna go over there and say hi to my friend, I'll be back okay?" Peter nodded at Simon and then smirked when he saw who Simon was saying Hello to. Soon enough Simon was walking back towards them all, being followed by Santana, the little girl and their mum.

"Everyone…" Simon said a little nervously "This is Santana." He thought it was time he introduced her as she was someone who he had spent a lot of time talking about but his family still hadn't actually met her. "This is me Dad and me Aunt Tracy." Simon said pointing at them as she'd already met Amy at school and Carla in town.

"Hello." Santana said also a little nervous.

"It's nice to finally meet you." Peter said smiling at her, Simon could tell that his Dad was struggling to stay serious and not make some sort of embarrassing joke.

"You too." Santana said, "This is My Mum Juliana and my little sister Carmen." Santana pointed to the little girl stood next to her who was also wearing a fluffy black jacket like her sister's and a pair of bright red shiny Wellington boots, Carla didn't quite know why but she was instantly drawn to this little girl.

"Hi Carmen, I'm Carla." She said smiling and bending down to her level "I love your little wellington boots." She said and Peter grinned because they had literally just had a conversation about boots like that moments ago.

"Thank you... I like your boots too." Carmen said shyly, Carla smiled at her again and asked,

"How old are you Carmen?"

"I'm four." Carmen said still clutching her flashing fairy wand, "Do you like my magic wand?" She asked smiling sweetly.

"I sure do… I'm really jealous of it actually." Carla said as it flashed light blue, pink, purple and then yellow before going blue again. Carmen then waved it in front of Carla's face twice surprising her and saying

"I'm turning you into a princess." Carla gasped, looking down at her coat as if was turning into a princess dress as they spoke.

"Wow!" Carla said, completely taken by this delightful little girl. She looked up at Juliana and said, "She's adorable."

"Yeah well she's not so adorable in the mornings when she needs to get ready for school." Juliana said smiling down at her daughter, Carla looked back at Carmen who was now waving her wand at Amy turning her into a princess.

"You're a princess too now." Carmen said to Amy, she went to turn Tracy into a princess also but it was as if she thought twice about it because she then looked back up Carla anxiously.

"Does she want to be a princess?" Carmen whispered, Carla grinned and bent back down so that she could whisper back to her.

"Nah… She's more of a wicked witch, I'd stay well clear of her to be honest Carmen." Carmen giggled at Carla and waved her magic wand again and again.

Peter was watching them both with a huge smile on his face, when Tracy leant over and whispered into his ear.

"If you're still trying to convince me that you want to be friends with that woman then you're doing a lousy job." She said because the way Peter was watching Carla could only be described as the look of love. Peter just ignored his sister and watched as Carla continued to talk to Carmen.

"So Carmen are you excited for the fireworks?" she asked,

"Yes!" Carmen nodded eagerly and then she looked up at her Mum, "And after the fireworks, I can have some candy floss right Mum?" She said as if they had made some sort of deal earlier. Juliana rolled her eyes and laughed

"Yes Carmen as long as you're a good girl." She said taking her daughters hand, Carla stood upright as her legs were beginning to ache, she caught Peter's gaze and smiled,

"What?" she said, not realising he had been watching her the whole time. He just shook his head sheepishly and then looked at Simon and Santana who were whispering about something.

"We might as well all stay together to watch the fireworks." He said nodding towards the huddled up-close twelve year olds. Juliana nodded and said

"Why not..." she leant into Peter and Carla "Our Santana is forever talking about your Simon, it's so good to finally meet you all." She whispered Tracy who was getting a little bit fed up of this lovely gathering, sighed and said she was going to the bar to get herself a drink and had taken a reluctant Amy with her.

"Don't offer anyone else one will ya Trace?" Peter said irritated by his sisters rudeness "I'll go with her, does anyone else want a drink?"

"Don't go! The fireworks are gonna start in a minute!" Carmen cried, looking rather worried that Peter might miss the fireworks if he went anywhere.

"She's right." said Carla who looked at her watch, "It's gone half seven."

"Alright then drinks after." Peter said standing next to Carla. Santana and Simon were stood a little to the left to them, in an attempt to look like they were two cool kids who were out at the fireworks alone.

Tracy eventually came back empty handed and said that the bar was far too busy and Amy got scared of missing the fireworks. It had got much colder since they had first arrived at cricket club and they were all beginning to feel rather chilly as they stood waiting for the fireworks to start.

"These fireworks better start soon… It's freezing out ere." Carla said and she linked her arm into Peters and leant comfortably on his shoulder.

"How about I warm you up then?" Peter said pulling Carla in for a hug instead. She giggled as he squeezed her and held her close. "How's that?" Peter asked grinning as he rubbed Carla on the back as if he was trying to keep her warm.

"That is...perfect." Carla said with her arms wrapped tightly around Peter. She felt so cosy and relaxed there that she stayed put.

"How's Michelle doing today then?" Peter asked remembering the state he and Carla had taken her home in.

"Let's just say when I saw her earlier she had a bucket for a head." Carla said as when she had been over to see Michelle she was throwing up for most of it. Peter still had his arms around her and squeezed her even closer towards him, Carla found her self leaning against him and closing her eyes. Santana spotted what they were doing and turned back to Simon.

"Look at your Dad and Carla" She said excitedly because she knew all about them thanks to Simon.

"I know… they do this stuff all the time, It's crazy they aren't back together yet." Simon sighed shaking his head.

"I don't know I reckon it will happen pretty soon." Santana said with a knowing smile. There was a sudden bang and the first firework flew into the sky making everyone jump, Santana reached out for Simon's hand and held it as the firework display finally got started.

Carla and Peter did the opposite and let go of each other so that they could stare up into the sky. Various fireworks flew up into the air in all sorts of directions. There were lots of different kinds of fireworks in the display and as each new firework design exploded into the air, it made the crowds cheer and clap in amazement, There was even a few that went up in the air and burst into a pink heart shape.

"Wow! Did you see that heart one?" Carmen shouted excitedly to her Mum who was holding her in her arms, She then turned to Carla "Carla! Did you see that heart one?" she asked, Carla nodded and chuckled at the fact that Carmen had chosen to acknowledge her, as if they had known each other for ages.

The firework display was accompanied by music and it was truly spectacular. As it was beginning to draw to an end, Carla glanced over to Simon to see if he was enjoying it. She gasped slightly and nudged Peter as Simon and Santana were in the middle of what looked like their first kiss. Their lips were just barley touching as Peter's draw actually dropped open a little.

"The little..." He said but he couldn't finish his sentence, he was so stunned.

"Awwww, They are so cute." Carla whispered although she could hardly contain herself. "I think I'm gonna cry." She said almost laughing as Simon and Santana broke away from their kiss. They both looked up so they could continue to watch the fireworks. Peter grinned proudly at his son and whispered to Carla

"And he reckons they are just friends." He said to Carla who was also now looking back up at the night sky again, in awe of the fireworks with a huge grin on her face. She looked totally and completely thrilled as the big finale of the fireworks began bursting in the sky.

It really was incredible and If there ever was a perfect moment for Peter to kiss Carla than this was it...


	21. Kiss The Girl

Peter took a deep breath as he moved towards Carla, she was still gazing up at the fireworks and it seemed as if she was definitely unaware of what he was about to do. Peter wasn't sure how to go about kissing Carla and he found this odd because he'd kissed her thousands of times before.

He hesitated...

He hesitated for too long because Carmen, who was still in her Mum's arms at the time, waved her wand so wildly at the firework finale, that it went flying off into the darkness.

"Oh no!" Carmen cried loudly, making Carla and Peter both jump. "My wand!" she said almost in tears.

"Don't worry we'll find it" Carla said and she ran off into the darkness to look. Peter sighed heavily, hating himself for wasting such precious time. Carla soon found the wand, it was flashing away on the floor just a little further up from where they were stood. She picked it up and gave it back to Carmen.

"There you go." Carla said smiling.

"Say thank you Carmen." Juliana said and Carmen said thank you to Carla as an announcer said that they hoped everyone enjoyed the firework display and that people were welcome to stay for the bonfire, to go on more of the rides, to eat some food and to have a few drinks.

"That was great wasn't it" Amy said, Tracy nodded in agreement, she was also actually impressed at the show that had been put on. Simon and Santana, who were both acting sheepish came and stood next to their parents again.

"Can we go on some more rides now Dad?" Simon asked, Peter couldn't help but smirk at Simon but he didn't say anything about the kiss he had just seen.

"Sure, What do you wanna go on?" Peter asked as Carla began talking to Juliana about something.

They all ended up separating for a while Amy, Simon, Santana, Peter and a reluctant Tracy went off to go on some more of the rides, leaving Carla with Juliana and Carmen. They were sat down on a picnic bench and whilst Carmen munched her way through some candy floss, Carla and Juliana took some time to get to know each other over a cup of mulled wine.

"Mulled wine? It's only November, what are they thinking?" Carla said taking a sip.

"Well y'know what it's like as soon as Halloween's over its all about Christmas" Juliana said smiling at Carla in such a friendly fashion that Carla already felt as if she was talking to an old friend. "So… how long have you and Peter actually been together then?" Juliana asked

"Well... I liked him for ages and we finally got together about three years ago but…we've actually been separated since last year." Carla said a little awkwardly.

"Oh I'm sorry..." Juliana said apologetically "I have to say you wouldn't think it, I mean you both seem like you really get long quite well, what happened?" Carla hesitated for a moment, not feeling so confident anymore. It wasn't because she didn't want to talk to Juliana about Peter but it was more the fact that she really wasn't used to talking about where things had gone so wrong with him. She barley even spoke about that side of things with Michelle, let alone anyone else.

"Erm…" Carla began but Juliana then shook her head.

"Look at me being so nosy, you can tell me to shut up if you want." She said,

"No it's fine…" Carla said but she still didn't want to know what to say, She obviously wasn't about to start talking about Tina but she also couldn't really say they she and Peter just didn't get along because as Juliana had just pointed out, they got along like a house on fire. "I guess things just didn't work out." Carla said vaguely, Juliana nodded understandingly, as if she knew exactly what Carla was getting at.

"Santana tells me that Peter's was away for a while for some of this year and how happy Simon is that he's back up here now." Juliana said she looked down at Carmen who was still occupied by her candy floss and her magic wand.

"Yeah… he went to live in Portsmouth for a bit, God knows why." Carla joked, taking another sip of wine. Even though this was still an awkward situation she still felt slightly at ease when she spoke to Juliana.

"Santana also said that… Peter's had a few problems with alcohol in the past." Juliana said delicately. Carla was stunned that Simon had obviously told Santana about Peter's issues, she had no idea that he had ever told anyone. "I'm sorry..." Juliana said again, guessing that Carla was surprised that she would even mention such a thing to her. "It's just that Carmen and Santana's Dad, he has a lot of issues with alcohol as well."

"Really?" Carla asked looking at Carmen who was still chomping through a bag of candy floss.

"Yes, We aren't together any more, we haven't been for a few years now, I tried to stick by him I really did but in the end it just got too much y'know." Juliana said sadly.

"I sure do." Carla nodded because she knew exactly what it was like to deal with an alcoholic husband.

"Anyways, I think that's probably why Santana and Simon get along so well, they both know what it's like." Juliana said with a smile on her face now as she spoke about the smitten twelve year olds.

"Do you still see their Dad?" Carla asked, because she was intrigued to find out more about this lovely little family that Simon had introduced them all too.

"The girls still see him every weekend but I literally just drop em off at the door n leave. It's a nightmare, we actually can't stand to be in the same room as each other for longer than a few minutes." Juliana said

"Wow…" Carla said trying to imagine how hard it must be to have to live that way.

"That's why I think it's so great that you and Peter get along so well y'know. It seems as if Simon is really fond of you too, It's almost like the perfect situation, You and Peter can just have fun together without worrying about your relationship ruining it." Juliana said as Carmen flung the empty bag of Candy floss at her.

"Yeah well it all took a while, I mean me and Si never really hit it off back when Peter and me first started out but now... I couldn't imagine not seeing him all the time." Carla said wondering what it would be like if she couldn't see Simon as often as she did. She couldn't imagine her life without Peter either, He'd been back in her life for six months now and it was as if he'd never left.

The idea of not having Peter and Simon around was something that Carla hadn't really paid any mind to before, she just assumed that every thing would stay as perfect as it was now but as Simon, Santana, Amy, Tracy and Peter came running over to the table, fresh off of the vortex ride, Carla thoughts were consumed by the idea that one day Peter and Simon might not always be a part of her life.

Santana who was carrying a hot dog, handed it to her Mum and smiled,

"I bought you this, cause you didn't eat earlier, Thanks for bringing us here tonight." she said giving her mum a quick hug.

"Thanks babe." Juliana said smiling at her daughter, Simon and Amy were also eating hot dogs and Tracy had a box of chips that she was making her way through.

"That ride was insane." Peter said enthusiastically, although he was a little red in the face as he said it.

"We're going to get on it again, Carla you have to come n ave a go this time." Simon said breathing out heavily and taking a break from eating his hot dog. Carla looked over at the ride that swung up high into the dark sky and then back down again whilst spinning.

"Hmmmm I think I'll be giving that death trap a miss." Carla grinned, as she finished her cup of wine.

"Can I go on a ride Mum?" Carmen asked, craning her neck and looking around at the smaller rides that were available for kids her age.

"I don't know Carmen, Maybe in a little bit…" Juliana said as she hadn't finished her wine or the hot dog that Santana had brought her.

"Oh please Mum, Tana went on the rides!" Carmen wailed

"We'll take Carmen if you want?" Peter said because he'd noticed how tired Juliana had looked. "Won't we Carla?" he said nudging Carla as he said it,

"Course we will, if that's okay with you Juliana." Carla said Juliana nodded,

"Do you want to go with Peter and Carla for a little while Carmen?" She asked, Carmen's eyes lit up at the idea and she said

"Yes!" as she jumped up off of the bench.

"Nothing too fast or she'll probably be sick after all that Candy floss" Juliana said to Carla and Peter.

"Come on then!" Carmen cried excitedly, she was holding both hands up in the air, as if she was waiting for Carla and Peter to grab on to them. "Be good." Juliana said waving as Carla and Peter walked off with Carmen in between them.

First of all thet took her over to a little train ride, that went around in a circle at a very slow pace.

"How about this Carmen?" Peter said, Carmen looked at the train and inspected if for a while and then shook her head,

"No that's a boring ride, I wanna go on something like that." Carmen said pointing over to a ride that swung people upside down three times before spinning around.

"Erm… I don't think you're tall enough for that one little lady." Carla grinned "But don't worry neither is little Peter." Carmen giggled and looked up at Peter, he shook his head at Carla and said,

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you also went by the name of the BFG." Peter said, because the only reason Carla was standing only slightly taller then him was because of the boots she had on.

"What's a BFG?" Carmen asked with her face screwed up as she tried to figure out just what Peter had been referring to.

"It's a Big... Friendly...Giant!" Peter growled and he bent down and started tickling Carmen, She giggled and squealed as Peter picked her up off of the ground "Quick lets run away from the BFG!"he cried and he ran off with Carmen as if Carla really was chasing them. She felt her heart ache at the sight of Peter and Carmen bonding so well and quickly followed them over to a carousel, where Carmen had made Peter stop.

"Yes, yes this one!" She cried, "Come on, come on! lets all get on it together." Carla and Peter both seemed pleased that Carmen had chosen a rather tame ride for them all to get on. Carla paid the man in charge, as Carmen went and chose a carriage to sit in.

"Come and sit with me Peter!" Carmen insisted, "I'm the princess of this ride and you can be my prince." She said as Peter sat down next to her. Carla climbed up onto the horse, which was placed next to them, Peter raised an eyebrow at her as she clung on the pole that the horse was mounted onto.

"D'ya have something to say Peter?" Carla said smirking at him,

"Not at all." Peter said smiling as the carousel started up. It went round and round rather slowly but fast enough for Carmen to have a good time. Peter got his phone out and said "Say cheese Carla" She poked her tongue out instead, as he took the picture of her. After the ride was over and they had all got off, Peter still had his phone in hand.

"How do I upload this thing to Internet?" He said laughing at the Photo of Carla that was on the screen

"Oh no, don't you dare!" Carla cried grabbing his phone off of him,

"Oi give me that back!" Peter laughed, reaching out to grab his phone back from Carla. Carmen who wasn't old enough to understand Carla and Peter's flirtatious banter, looked worried as Carla and Peter fought playfully over his phone. Carla saw the look on Carmen's face and quickly handed Peter his phone back with a giggle.

"Are ya fighting?" Carmen asked her bottom lip poking out slightly,

"Of course not." Carla said shaking her head and smiling reassuringly at Carmen.

"Why did ya take his phone?" Carmen asked reaching out and taking Peter's hand,

"Because she's a naughty girl that's why" Peter said smirking at Carla.

"Oh you don't believe that do ya Carmen?" Carla said, Carmen shook her head at Carla.

"Y'know what Carmen, Carla was jealous because you called me your prince and she said that I'm only allowed to be _her_ prince." Peter grinned as they all started walking again.

"Really?" Carmen gasped watching Carla again.

"It's alright Carmen, I guess I don't mind if I ave to share Peter with you." Carla said as Carmen reached over and took her hand too.

"I know!" Carmen said, her eyes bright as if she had just had a light bulb moment. "Peter can be my prince in the day time and you can have him at night times because that's when I go to bed." Carmen said ever so innocently, she was far to young to notice the suggestive looks that Peter and Carla were giving each other thanks to her comment. They were so enchanted by each others gaze that they had almost walked into the man who was in charge of the teacup ride.

"Oh god sorry." Carla said and then she smiled down at Carmen "Hey what about a go on these Carmen?"

"Yes please!" Carmen jumped for joy but Peter didn't look sure about the teacups and said.

"I'm not sure, this looks kinda fast..." Peter looked at them apprehensively, thinking about what Carmen's Mum had said about the amount of candy floss Carmen had eaten over the course of the evening.

"Oh she'll be fine, won't ya?" Carla scoffed, ignoring him and paying the man who was in charge..

"I'm really brave, don't worry bout me, I'll be kay, I promise." Carmen insisted, looking determinedly up at Peter, as if he thought the ride might have been too scary for her.

"I dunno…" Peter said as they got to the front of the teacup queue.

"Trust me mate, your little girl will love it." The man said smiling at Peter and Carla, obviously thinking that they were all a little family. Peter still wasn't sure about the idea but Carmen and Carla both gave him an angelic smile and Carmen's smile was even completed with an adorable hand gesture and a

"Pleeeeeeeease." Peter had no choice but to give in and let them both get on the teacups together. He watched as they got locked into their cup and the ride got started. Carmen giggled as she spun around in the teacups with Carla, "Faster faster!" She cried as Carla spun the wheel in middle of the ride to make it go even quicker, it was almost as if Carmen trying to show Peter that she was an extremely brave girl for getting on such a ride.

They soon found out that the teacups were definitely not a good idea, because as soon as Carmen got off, she frowned and then threw up, luckily it went on the floor and not onto any of her clothes. Carla looked panicked as Peter rubbed Carmen's back gingerly. She quickly ran off to the nearest stall and grabbed some water.

"Is she alright?" Carla asked as she came back, She was still slightly concerned as Carmen eventually stood up straight and coughed a little.

"She's fine... I told you two those teacups weren't a good idea didn't I?" Peter said to Carmen as he handed her the water that Carla had bought her. Carmen took a little sip and gave Peter half a smile then she looked at Carla.

"It's kay Carla, I just had too many candyflosses thats all." Carmen said sweetly, she then took another drink of water. Peter smiled at her fondly and then looked up at Carla who said,

"I should have listened to you, I'm so stupid." She was still feeling so bad that Carmen had actually ended up being sick.

"Car, it's okay you didn't know that this would happen, did ya?" Peter said

"Yeah but her Mum said not to let her get on something fast because she would be sick and what did I go and do?" Carla said sighing, as if her mood had completely changed, she was now frowning and feeling like she was a complete failure.

"Carla, it's cool. Kids are sick all the time." Peter said standing up and looking at her, She just sighed and tucked some hair behind her ear. Peter could tell she was upset about something but Carmen then took his hand.

"Can we go on another ride? I won't be sick I promise."

"Maybe not eh?" Peter said,

"Ohhhh please!" Carmen begged "Pinky promise?" She said making Peter chuckle,

"Oh that cute little smile is not going to work this time Princess." He said but he took her over to one of the games, where he ended up winning Carmen a lilac unicorn teddy instead. Carmen felt more than satisfied and clutched her new toy as they walked back towards the picnic benches. Peter watched Carla who had been unusually quiet since they had left the teacups. When they eventually got back to the benches were everyone else was sat. Carmen ran straight over to her Mum and said

"Mum! Look what Peter won for me! It's a unicorn." She went and sat right on her Mums lap then she added, "Hey guess what, I was sick right on the floor you know but Carla and Peter made me feel better and gave me a big drink of water."

"Oh dear… I told you all that Candy floss wasn't a good idea, didn't I?" Said Juliana, she looked at Carla and Peter apologetically "I'm really sorry, I hope she didn't get any on you."

"No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken her on the teacups." Carla said

"Oh don't even worry about it, I bet Carmen gave you her best puppy dog smile, She manages to wrap everyone around her little finger, even me." Juliana said hugging her little girl and giving her a little tickle. Carmen screeched with laughter and clung onto her Mum tightly. Carla had to take a look away from them both, before she ended up bursting right into tears. Peter saw all of this and desperately wanted to take Carla somewhere private so he could speak to her, but then as Carmen snuggled closely into her Mum she said,

"I'm tired Mummy." Juliana looked down at her watch, it was just gone half past nine at night.

"I reckon we should probably get going in a minute Santana, it's quite late for your sister to be out." Juliana said looking at Carmen as she yawned, Santana nodded at her Mum and then looked at Simon who was sitting opposite her.

"We're still okay for Sunday yeah?" Santana said a little quietly so that only he could hear.

"Yeah." Simon said giving her a quick smile. She got up from the table and they all said their goodbyes to each other. Simon and Santana hugged as Carla slumped onto the bench miserably and Peter sat down opposite her, He watched as she rested her chin in her hand.

"Carla..." he said, Tracy watched them both and then got up off the bench she looked at Simon, who smirked and nodded.

"Right how about I go and get the car and then you guys can meet me outside?" Tracy suggested. Peter assumed Tracy's suggestion was because the car was parked a few roads away and it would save them all walking far but little did he know that Tracy, Amy and Simon had their own agenda.

"Okay…" Peter said Amy got up off of the bench and said a rather suspicious sounding,

"Oh... I'll come with you Mum."

"I'll go too, it's well cold." Simon said, leaving Carla and Peter sat alone on the picnic bench, neither of them realised what was going on and just nodded as Tracy walked off with Simon and Amy.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked although he thought he thought he had an idea.

"I just feel so bad that Carmen was sick that's all, I mean her mother had the sense not to let her get on the rides and there I was, not thinking responsibly enough." Carla said sighing, she looked miserably down at her hands but Peter lifted her head back up, with two fingers propped under her chin.

"Listen to me... That was not your fault, I was there and I let her get on the teacups just like you did." Peter said softly, Carla went to speak but he shook his head "Carla, come on love, you are one of the most responsible people I know, Look how much you've been there for Simon and anyways you were absolutely great with Carmen, It was a real pleasure seeing you like that y'know…" Peter then trailed off feeling a little disheartened.

"That guy... the one who ran the teacups... he thought she was ours." Carla said sniffing "I guess for that little moment, I could pretend… as if she _was_ ours and that we were this perfect little family." Carla said but she was now looking at Peter worriedly "Is that really weird?" she asked.

"Not at all." Peter said smiling at her admiringly "She's a beautiful little thing, she totally could have been your kid." Carla felt her cheeks get hot at Peter's compliment, even though he was always saying wonderful things to her and even though it was so cold out. She looked down at her hands quietly and sighed again. "Carla… what is it?" Peter asked because he could tell something was still bothering her.

"I've just been thinking about something Juliana said earlier, She were saying how great she thinks it is that we get along so well." Carla said taking a deep breath, she hadn't planned on mentioning any of this to Peter but she felt like she just needed it off of her chest. "It just got me thinking about not having you and Simon around n it scared the life out of me to be honest."

"Well trust me you don't have to worry about that." Peter said smiling "I don't think me or Simon could keep ourselves away from you even if we tried." He said but this wasn't enough for Carla.

"Peter… Promise me… promise me that no matter what happens in the future, that I'll never lose you or your slightly mad family again."

"I promise." Peter said taking one of Carla's hands and staring faithfully staring into her eyes. She truly felt as if Peter was being completely and utterly honest with her and gave him a soft smile.

"Okay." She said quietly.

"Shall... we go and find the others then?" Peter suggested.

"Sure." Carla nodded and they got up to make their way out of the cricket club.

They had been waiting outside for almost fifteen minutes before Peter'd had enough, He called Tracy and she didn't answer her phone, Peter assumed it was because she was driving and so he'd eventually got through to Simon instead.

"Simon where are you lot?" Peter asked, as Carla stuffed her hands in her coat pockets.

"Almost home Dad." Simon answered, sounding rather pleased about it as well.

"What?" Peter said a little confused "Why didn't you wait for me and Carla?"

"It were Aunt Tracy's idea not mine." Simon said down the phone,

"Is this some sort of joke?" Peter said gritting his teeth, Carla had been watching the whole thing and began to get concerned when Peter tutted irritatedly again.

"She said all the roads were turned into a one way system, so she couldn't come back the same way we came even if she wanted to. She also said that you and Carla would probably enjoy some alone time together anyway and I agree." Simon said sounding very smug down the other end of Peter's phone.

"Tell Tracy I'm gonna kill her when I get home." Peter said and he hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" Carla asked,

"Basically Tracy's gone home without us." Peter said.

"The little cow, what's she done that for?" Carla said peeved because it was now so cold, that they could see their breaths as they spoke.

"She reckons we could do with some alone time." Peter said because there was no point in making something up.

They both began walking for a minute until they got to a bus stop. Peter peered at the map and saw that a bus that would stop right near the street was coming in a few minutes.

"We can get the bus back..." He suggested although he knew exactly what Carla would say to this idea.

"Sorry no, don't do buses." She said just as Peter had predicted.

"Oh come on, the bus we need is on its way in a minute or so, it wont take too long and it beats waiting around for a cab." Peter said but Carla still shook her head and frowned as he sat down on the seats at the bus stop anyway.

"Peter, I hate the bus, y'know that." she groaned as Peter grinned at her from his seat.

"Oh come on don't be such a diva Carla, It'll be fun to ride alongside the commoners for a night." He said and he pulled her towards him by her scarf, She laughed and let her self be pulled right up against him. She was literally centimetres away from him and Peter wondered if now was a good enough time to kiss her, although he wasn't sure if a bus stop was the best place to do it.

Carla smiled as she leant her head forward, right onto Peter's shoulder and rested it there. He wondered if she knew what he had been thinking and had put her head there to maybe avoid his kiss, but as Carla sighed ever so peacefully as she leaned against him and wrapped her arms around him, he soon realised he was probably reading too much into it. They both stayed silent in each other's arms until they heard the bus coming up the road.

"Ohhh such fun times ahead..." Carla said dryly, as the bus stopped in front of them. Carla got on it first and when the bus driver looked at her to pay her fare, she turned to Peter, because she'd spent all her cash at the cricket club. "I hope you've got some change on ya." She said hoping that he didn't and that they would have to get off. Peter fumbled into his pocket and managed to get together enough change for both of them to ride the bus.

"Yeah nice try." He grinned as he took their ticket from the driver. The bus was rather empty apart from the group of middle-aged men who were sat at the front of the bus, they were rather drunk and they were all dramatically singing Wonderwall by Oasis. Carla sighed and looked back at Peter.

"You see this is why I hate the bus." She said but Peter just rolled his eyes and gave her a little nudge forward.

"Just find us a seat." He said chuckling. Carla continued to make her way down to the very back of the bus and sat in the seat next to the window. "Look at you picking the back seat, what ave you got in mind eh?" Peter joked as he sat down next to Carla.

"In your dreams Barlow, first you made me hang out on a muddy cricket pitch all night long and now you make me get on a bus… Oh you're getting nothing from me tonight my friend." She teased poking him playfully in the side.

"Oh well if that's the case then lets get off this bus right now and I'll get a limo to take us home." Peter joked and he pretended like he was going to get up and get off of the bus.

"Sit down you idiot." Carla said amused, pulling him back into the seat next her. "So come on then, when d'ya start this new job then?" She asked, as they had got distracted earlier when he'd first told her about his new job.

"Monday actually, I gotta admit I've been living the life of luxury for so long, it's a little daunting starting something new. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous." Peter said as the group of men who were drunkenly singing, got louder and were now singing at the top of their lungs. Carla rolled her eyes at them and then looked back at Peter.

"You'll be fine, I'm sure of it… I reckon we should probably go out and celebrate your new job properly, How about on Friday?" Carla suggested.

"I don't think we can, I think Simon and Amy have a birthday party that night." Peter said, assuming that Carla was talking about going out with the family, She raised an eyebrow and looked at him alluringly.

"Who invited them?" She said with a sly smirk.

"Oh well in that case, lets do it." Peter said finding the look on her face very pleasing. The singing got much louder and much rowdier as the bus made it's way down the dark streets of Wetherfield but eventually, as the men got off the bus one by one, it died down and the bus became rather quiet again. Carla grinned thinking about Simon and Santana and their little kiss.

"D'ya reckon Simon and Santana will finally be a little couple now?" She asked still finding the whole thing incredibly cute. She was happy that at least one of the Barlow men had finally decided to make a move on the women in their life.

"I dunno, I bet he still insists that they are just friends when I ask him." Peter said

"Oh you're not gonna tell him we saw it are ya? Talk about embarrassing the poor boy." Carla said because she could imagine Peter taking great joy in telling Simon what they had seen.

"Hey I let him go the whole night without embarrassing him once." Peter said but he was joking. Carla laughed at him for about the a hundredth time that night and then said,

"I really glad you asked me to come with you all… It's been a fab night."

"I'm glad you came too…" Peter said softly "Although I'll be honest, I can't actually believe that our Simon was the one who got lucky tonight."

"Well ya never know the nights not over yet." Carla said and she winked at Peter flirtatiously "Maybe you'll get lucky too." She said as the bus turned onto Rosamund Street, which was where they needed to get off.

"Oh you are such a little tease Carla." Peter said as he got up so they could get off of the bus. He was smiling but the idea of making it back to his place without even a little kiss was beginning to become unbearable.

"You gonna walk me home then?" Carla asked coyly with her head on one side, She knew exactly what she was doing to Peter and she was enjoying every moment of it.

"Don't I always?" Peter said and they began walking the short walk to Carla's flat, although Peter was almost walking behind her, trying to figure out how to remain calm, when all he wanted to do was grab Carla and kiss her.

"There we are, home sweet home eh?" Peter said awkwardly as they got outside her building. He wasn't about to just kiss Carla there and then on the street, he had been building this moment up to be really romantic and private, so he knew that if he wanted it to be that way then he had to let her go home without a goodnight kiss.

Again.

Carla shook her head fondly at him and said,

"Oh for cryin out loud." but before Peter could say anything in return she had whipped his cap off his head, pulled him towards her and kissed him.

It was a slow, soft and tender kiss, the incredible warmth of their lips made them both get goosebumps, as it was so cold outside. The kiss only lasted a few seconds and when Carla pulled away from Peter she grinned at him and whispered, "There ya go… now Simon's not the only one who got lucky tonight."

"Thanks." Peter said trying to get his breath back, when he did he pulled Carla back in, she giggled shaking her head at him and then she put her finger up to his lips to stop them from touching hers again. "Now now Peter, I was only giving you what Simon got." She said but he just hungrily kissed her finger instead, the heat from his tongue made Carla shiver with excitement. "Peter!" She cried "Y'know you should really take a leaf out of your son's book when it comes to being a gentleman." Carla said and she quickly moved her finger away from his mouth before he could do anymore damage.

"You do know, I've been trying to kiss you all damn night don't you?" Peter breathed, Carla laughed and nodded at him.

"I sure do... At first it were fun but then it got excruciating n I just had to take matters into me own hands." Carla said as Peter lingered in front of her impatiently. Carla loved the effect she was having on him and let him wait just a but longer before pulling him back for another kiss. This one was rougher, and a lot dirtier than the first, her tongue slid into his mouth just a tiny little bit and then she pulled away from him again, before he'd even had time to respond to her touch.

"What are you doing to me woman?" Peter asked desperately.

"As I said… I'm just trying to make you not feel so left out... but I'll tell you what Barlow, If ya play your cards right then… you might get another one of those bad boys very soon." Carla said and she placed Peter's hat back onto his head, he laughed silently at her, as he hadn't even realised she had took it off. "I thought it might have got in the way." She said smiling.

"I think you better go inside before I take it off again." Peter said huskily, still with his arm around Carla's waist.

"Well I would only..." She looked down at the way Peter still had hold of her and he eventually and reluctantly her let her go. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Peter replied as Carla started walked towards the door of her building. She really didn't want to leave things there but she also didn't want to rush anything. She knew there was a lot to talk about so for now she waved at him fondly.

"Goodnight Peter." She called before happily disappearing in to Victoria Court. Peter took one huge, satisfied sigh of relief as he crossed the road. He was so ecstatic that he had forgotten, that only half an hour or so he had told Simon he would kill Tracy, now all he wanted to do was go inside and tell everyone that he had finally got his kiss.


	22. Deadlines & Disasters

_**:)**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter!**_

_**I'm glad you all enjoyed it and let me tell you how fun it was to finally write a kiss.**_

_**Oh! I saw an advert for this weeks Corrie this morning. **__**Even though I knew **__**that Peter comes back, I still cheered at my Tv screen when I saw him.**_

_***Prays for a carter scene* **_

* * *

It was Sunday Morning, Carla and Michelle was sat in Roy's Rolls for breakfast. Carla was sat with the same silly grin on her face that she'd had since she'd woken up and when Michelle had started ranting about a client of hers, Carla still couldn't help but keep smiling.

Roy came over with their drinks and placed them onto the table, Carla gave him a very pleasant smile and said an equally pleasant,

"Ta very much Roy."

"So... How were the fireworks last night? Amy said you lot had a great time." Michelle asked, busy stirring sugar into her cup of coffee. She could tell by Carla's very cheery disposition that the night must have gone well.

"It were so much fun." Carla said still grinning like a Cheshire cat. Everything about last night, just made her want to smile idiotically. Simon and Santana and their first kiss, watching the fireworks with Peter and Tracy as if they were all a proper little family and obviously her impromptu kiss with Peter was playing a huge part in her good mood too. She lifted her coffee cup up to her lips and took a sip as Michelle did the same. She couldn't believe she hadn't told Michelle about it yet, they'd been sat together for a good fifteen minutes by now and from not being able to hold it in any longer Carla eventually blurted out "I kissed Peter last night."

"What?" Michelle cried, a little loudly and almost chocking on her coffee in the process, spraying it all over the table and almost all over Carla. Various people watched as Michelle had caused quite the scene with her outburst. Carla laughed as she handed Michelle some tissues so she could clean her self up. "Thanks." Michelle laughed as she took them off Carla so she could wipe her self down.

"Talk about an over reaction, I mean are you really that surprised?" Carla asked

"Well I always knew it would happen eventually, it's just I thought when it did I would ave to force the information out of ya."

"What you on about Chelle? I tell you pretty much everything?" Carla frowned, Michelle shook her head at her best friend and said

"Yeah eventually you do but you usually like to wind me up for about an hour or so before hand." Michelle said with a grin.

"Well that so won't be happening this time, Michelle I'm so happy, I've been finding it so hard not to run down the streets screaming about it." Carla said contentedly, still unable to remove the dopey look she had on her face,

"So go on then, what happened? I want every detail no matter how dirty." Michelle said excitedly as Roy brought over the bacon sandwiches they had both ordered too.

"Thanks again Roy." Carla said smiling at him gratefully, Michelle smiled too as he returned back to the kitchen.

"Go on then I'm all ears" Michelle said intrigued.

"Well we'd had the most magical evening..." Carla began dreamily

"Magical?" Michelle scoffed

"Don't laugh Chelle, it really were, the fireworks were amazing, we went on the rides and we met Simon's little girlfriend's family, It was honestly perfect." Carla said frowning at Michelle who still looked highly amused at Carla's choice of the word "Magical."

"Okay, I'm sorry… go on then, make with the kiss." Michelle said impatiently.

"Long story short, he walked me home and I'd kinda got the feeling that he'd been planning on kissing me all night but it was almost as if he were putting it off." Carla said, "So in the end I just went for it and kissed him instead, he were well surprised."

"So... Then what?" Michelle asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well we kissed again, then I went home, he went home and that's it." Carla said picking up her bacon sandwich and taking a huge bite. Michelle looked stunned as Carla swallowed down part of her sandwich.

"Seriously? You and Peter kissed... and that's it?" Michelle exclaimed, unable to imagine how either of them had left it there.

"We sure did, why what did you think had happened?" Carla asked, although she could tell what Michelle was thinking, all it took was one bit of eye contact before they both started laughing simultaneously at the thought.

"I'm not gonna lie Carla, I'm surprised that you didn't invite him up for some bedroom action, I mean this is you and Peter after all." Michelle said after they had eventually stopped laughing.

"Bedroom action?" Carla exclaimed "Honestly Michelle what kind of girl d'ya think I am?" She said shaking her head in disappointment, there was another raised eyebrow before Carla and Michelle had started laughing loudly again.

"So what does this all mean? Are you two back together then?"

"No… I don't… erm I don't think so." Carla said awkwardly, "I mean we never talked about anything like that."

"Well don't you think you should talk about it? I mean d'ya wanna get back together with him?" Michelle asked,

"I dunno." Carla shrugged half-heartedly

"You dunno?" Michelle said with an eyebrow raised "Carla come on…"

"I don't know Chelle, I mean half of me wants to run over to his place and get my husband back and the other half of me wants me and Peter to stay just as we are because we've been having the best time together and what if we get back together and it's not the same?"

"Not the same? Carla you are pretty much a couple as it is, I mean you practically see each other every day, you cuddle, you tell each other everything, you even kiss each other now… I guess the question you ave to ask your self is, do you trust him enough to get back with him?" Michelle said as Carla looked down at her bacon sandwich and fiddled with the crusts.

"I think so…"

"You think so, that isn't a yes Carla."

"Yeah well it's close enough right? I mean I'm not naïve enough to think that one kiss is gonna erase everything we've been through." She eventually said and then she looked back up at Michelle "I guess I'll never know how much I trust him unless I try though right?"

"That's true but I do think you both need to talk about this before you rush into anything, there's bound to be a lot of things that you both want to say to each other." Michelle said

"I hate talking about it though… any of it, it's too hard, why can't we just go with the flow y'know, see where this takes us?" Carla said although she knew that this probably wouldn't be the best way for her and Peter to do things. Michelle shook her head at her and sighed

"I don't think that will work but you know what it's your decision and I'm sure you know what your doing, I mean I'll give Peter his due, it's been six months since he's been back and every time I see the pair of you together, his attention is completely and utterly focused on you, he's totally besotted with you." Carla looked a little unconvinced by this comment so Michelle continued "I'm serious Carla, besides He hangs out with Steve a lot where else do you think I've got this information from?" She asked, Carla shrugged and ate some more of her sandwich before eventually looking at Michelle intently and asking her,

"Michelle… what do _you_ think? Do you think we should give it another go? Do you think I'm moving too fast? Do you think we should just be friends… help me." Michelle chuckled at all of Carla's questions and shook her head at her,

"Look Carla, as I've already said, I definitely think the pair of you need to sit and talk all of this through." Michelle said then she smirked at Carla and said with a chuckle "I gotta say though, you two pretty much act like a couple anyway so you might as well get back together and get some good sex out of it." Although she had a little titter at it, Carla chose to ignore this comment of Michelle and after they had finished their breakfast, they spent the rest of her Sunday in the Rovers with chatting away with Liz about all sorts.

Carla had been hoping that Peter might have popped in but she'd later found out from Tracy that he and Ken had been on a trip to see some distant family member, by the end of the night Carla had decided she was going to just go with the flow, She didn't want to make any decisions about the future right now and she just wanted to have fun with Peter, just like she had been doing for the past six months.

* * *

Monday morning came and Carla still hadn't seen Peter, She called him up when she had got home last night, to wish him good luck for his first day at work and they said they would maybe meet later to talk. This didn't happen though as Peter stayed very late at his new job because there was a lot for him to learn and then he did the same on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. By Friday Carla and Peter still hadn't seen each other because Carla had also been extremely busy at the factory as they had two tight deadlines that they had to get done and it seemed as if all of her staff were on a go slow all week.

Carla and Peter had both kept in touch via their phones and text messages but it was beginning to feel as if someone was trying to keep them apart and neither of them had mentioned the kiss that they had shared last week either.

So on Friday morning Carla'd had enough, she got up extra early, put on her tightest black jeans and was at Number one Coronation Street by eight thirty am. Peter came out of his Dad's house shortly afterwards and found Carla practically on the doorstep, She was smiling at him adoringly and carrying a cup of coffee that she had got from Roy's.

"Hey Stranger…" She said amorously, as she handed him the cup of coffee.

"Hello." Peter said not knowing what to do with himself, He was thinking about maybe giving Carla a quick peck on the cheek but she started talking straight away anyway, not giving him much of a chance to do anything.

"I know I was on about you getting a job but if I'd ave known it would ave taken up so much of ya time I might have reconsidered." Carla joked as Peter took the lid of his coffee so he could take a sip.

"I know, it's only for this week though just while I get used to it all, I'm definitely gonna finish early today though." Peter said firmly because whilst he enjoyed his new job he was determined to get out of his office at a decent time tonight.

"So does that mean we are still on for tonight then?" Carla asked with her head on one side intently.

"Tonight?"

"Yes, We were going out to celebrate your new job? Remember?" Carla said a little peeved that Peter might had forgotten.

"Oh yeah tonight..." Peter said but he actually had remembered. He'd just kept quiet on the matter in case Carla had of been the one who had done the forgetting and then he would embarrassed himself with bringing it up. He was secretly delighted that Carla had remembered. "So what time is this shindig then?" Peter asked putting the lid back on his hot drink.

"Well I was thinking we could meet at that nice little Italian restaurant in town at around eight?" Carla said "Just me and you…" she smirked just in case Peter got the wrong idea

"Sounds good to me." he nodded "Hey, If it's just me and you does that make it a date?" he asked edging at little closer to her so that their faces were practically touching.

"No…" Carla said shaking her head but she was still smiling at him seductively "It's just two friends going out for a spot of dinner… but if those two friends end up going home together afterwards then... so be it." Carla said with a wicked grin. Peter nodded at her understandingly and said

"Oh I see." He was smiling at Carla alluringly, almost unable to control his excitement.

"Eight o clock then." Carla said and Peter nodded at her.

"Can't wait." Peter said leaning in as if her was going to kiss here right there and then, only at the very last moment as Carla went to close her eyes, Peter just took another sip of coffee instead, without taking his eyes off of Carla. She rolled her green eyes at him as he smirked smugly at her.

"Tease." She sighed frustratedly and she then began to walk off in the direction of the factory.

"Thanks for the coffee." Peter called after her. Carla turned and gave him a quick wave before continuing on her way to work.

Carla was glad that she had something to look forward to, as she knew the day ahead at work was going to be a difficult one. They still hasn't finished an order that was due that very same day and it all had to be packed and sent off with Kirk by at least three o clock in the afternoon so that he could get it there in time. There was far too much chatter and messing around in the factory for Carla's liking so she made sure that she laid down the law with her staff and said no one does anything but stitch until all the knickers were done, She'd even made Sally get on a sewing machine to help, much her disappointment.

It was a stressful day but they eventually got everything done in time and sent the boxes off with Kirk. They already had another order that they needed to start working on and Carla decided that there was no time like the present. By the time it got to five o clock everyone was glad to see the back of the factory including Carla. She set off home to get herself ready for her "non date" with Peter. She knew that they had both been kidding themselves with the whole friends thing now and that they had defiantly crossed that line with their kiss last week. She decided that if Peter wanted to talk properly about things then she would go through it, for his sake but if not, then she would just leave things as they are for now.

Carla called the restaurant to make reservations, She went to book herself a cab for half seven with Street Cars and then she went home. She'd had a long shower and then she pondered what to wear for almost an hour, She tried on and discarded almost a dozen outfits and in the end she chose a brand new khaki green fitted jumpsuit and some a pair of black heels that she had always loved. The jumpsuit had a rather low cut front and was clung to all the right places so Carla felt like it was more than appropriate for tonight. She definitely wanted to impress Peter but still wanted it to be a casual type of evening although she was beginning to get nervous the closer it got to leaving. It was only when she picked up her phone to call Michelle that Carla saw it was almost half seven.

"Crap!" she said texting Michelle instead as she didn't have time to talk and she was supposed to be meeting Peter at eight. The text said.

**"_I'm waiting for my cab, why the hell am I so nervous? HELP ME?"_**

Michelle had texted back almost straight away and said

**"_Babe don't be nervous, this is Peter Barlow… your husband, just try to relax for god's sake. xxx"_**

Carla took a deep breath, knowing that Michelle was right, She quickly ran a straightener over her long hair as her buzzer went and her cab was here. Carla sighed wishing that she hadn't spent so long choosing what to wear, She chucked her make up bag into her handbag so she could do it in the cab on the way into town. She was sure that Peter would have driven there and that they would have been going home together so it didn't make sense for her to drive as well which is way she had ordered a cab.

"Hi Steve." She said as she got outside putting her hooped earrings in as she spoke and got into his cab, Steve raised an eyebrow and smirked when he saw her.

"Hiya" he said and he looked at the address he had been given earlier "So... are you going to be meeting anyone special at this posh restaurant?" He asked although he had spoken to Peter earlier on and it was the first thing that came out of Peter's mouth.

"I might be..." Carla said as she got her make up bag out, She gave her face a quick powder and she hastily put some lip-gloss on her lips. She was overall quite satisfied about how she looked but she wished that she hadn't of had to rush so much as she actually had butterflies in her stomach now. She had no idea why she was nervous as she'd been out with Peter plenty of times since he had been back but when she thought about it they had never actually been alone in a restaurant since before they had broken up.

Whilst in the cab Carla received another text message from Michelle.

**"_I just wanted to say that I hope you've calmed down &amp; that you and Peter ave a good time tonight xxx"_**

**"_Still nervous but thanks anyway, Oh btw your husband would ave to be me cab driver wouldn't he? The man has literally not stopped talking since I got in the car x"_**

**"_Ha ha, he just texted me actually, which he knows I hate, texting whilst driving. Anyways he said you look absolutely gorgeous and that you're gonna knock Peter's socks off, so please Carla don't even worry about a thing. xxx"_**

**"_Awww aint he sweet, He texted whilst at a red light if that makes it any better. Gotta go now we're almost there. Will fill you in on everything tomorrow. Love ya loads x"_**

**"**_**Tomorrow eh? Ha ha okay then. Love you too xxx"**  
_

Steve stopped outside the restaurant at almost five to eight. Carla put her phone away and glanced into the restaurant as it began to rain heavily, She took another deep sigh and rolled her eyes.

"Great, I avent even got me umbrella" She said miserably.

"Hey cheer up you, it's only a bit of rain." Steve said turning to her, "D'ya want to wait in ere until Peter arrives?"

"I don't think I actually said it was Peter that I was meeting?" Carla said grinning.

"Oh please, I saw him earlier and he couldn't wait to tell me about tonight and about Saturday night as well."

"And what exactly did he say about Saturday?" Carla asked intrigued

"Well he said a lot but the part he was most excited about was that you two kissed… It's about flamin time that's all I can say." Steve said smiling at Carla genuinely.

"I'll wait for him inside the restaurant." Carla said smiling back at Steve. Before she paid him and got out, she sent Peter a quick text

**"_I just arrived and it's pourin down so I'll be inside okay, can't wait to see you x"_**

Carla soon realised that she needn't have rushed so much because Peter was late. He arrived at the restaurant at half eight, leaving Carla stood in the lobby feeling like a right idiot. He came inside drenched, his hair and jacket completely soaked with no umbrella in sight. Carla tutted when she saw him she had been waiting for him for so long with out even a text message to say where he had been.

"What time do you call this?" she asked walking over to him furiously, "You're flamin lucky I'm still ere, I've been texting and calling you like crazy." Peter looked very apologetic as he took off his coat.

"I am so sorry Carla, I've literally had the worst time getting here, I was halfway here when I realised I forgot me wallet so I went back to get it and it was only when I'd almost got here again that I realised I left me phone at home as well, I didn't want to go home and get it and leave you waiting even longer." Peter said hating that he had already messed things up and they hadn't even got inside the restaurant yet. Carla shook her head at him, she was still slightly angry although she could tell he was seriously upset by the fact that he had turned up late.

"Peter I could ave paid y'know…"

"And what kind of man would I be if I let you do that?" Peter asked

"It's the twenty first century Peter, I think us women can handle paying for a meal or two, besides it were me who wanted to take you out to celebrate your new job." Carla looked at Peter's hair and frowned "How d'ya end up getting so wet?" she asked because he was literally dripping wet.

"I couldn't find anywhere to park so I had to park almost three roads from here." Peter said sighing as Carla wiped the rain drops off of his head, he took a proper look at her. "You look amazing" He said when she stopped wiping him, He wasn't sure if she was still mad at him for being late or not but she finally smiled at Peter and said,

"Come on then let's get in there before something else goes wrong."

They had to wait almost an hour for their table as the restaurant hadn't actually received Carla's reservations through their website, She suggested to Peter that they should just go somewhere else but he knew how much she loved it in there and insisted on staying to wait.

It soon became rather uncomfortable because they were sat at the bar where the bartender was making up various cocktails right in front of Peter. He tried his very best not to look and concentrate on Carla instead but she could see that he was getting more and more on edge with each cocktail that was made. She reached over and gave his hand a tight squeeze and started talking about Simon to try and lighten the mood.

Their table was ready at half past nine and by this point Carla and Peter were both starving hungry. A male waiter arrived at the table and asked if they were ready to order, Carla hadn't decided what she wanted yet but Peter had, She couldn't decide whether she wanted the lasagne or the spaghetti so Peter ordered them some starters and asked the waiter to come back in a little while. Carla continued to stare at the menu for a further five minutes,9 leading Peter to say

"Anytime tonight would be nice Car"

"What?" She said, looking up at him irately,

"I'm just saying you need to hurry up and pick something to eat that's all." Peter said cautiously.

"Well maybe if you had turned up on time we'd be eating already." Carla said with a hint of a smirk as she closed the menu.

"Hey I explained that already didn't I?" Peter said a little surprised at Carla's tone, She sighed and shook her head at Peter apologetically

"I'm sorry Peter, It's been one of those days that's all…" She said "The factory was like a madhouse today, we've had two really big orders this week and as Sean's been off sick, we've been a machinist down." Carla reached over and took Peter's hand "I'm so glad to be here with you though." She said, Peter was about to speak when someone interrupted and said

"Well isn't this nice…"

Carla and Peter both looked up to find Ann Mcintyre stood next to their table.

Ann Mcintyre was holding a huge glass of wine in her hand and was clearly already a little tipsy. She was glaring at Peter and Carla suddenly let go of his hand. Carla had no idea why she had let go of it so quickly but the way she had done it, had clearly effected Peter who looked back at Carla with so much hurt in his eyes that she couldn't quite bare it.

Neither of them could quite believe that Tina's mother had to be in the same restaurant at the same time as them. Peter swallowed nervously not knowing what to say.

"Carla, I must say, I thought you had more common sense than this." Ann said looking at Carla, although when she had said _"this"_ she then glanced at Peter in disgust. He still didn't say anything so Carla took the lead.

"I realise that it must be a shock for you to see us here Ann but you really have no right to interrupt our meal like this." Carla said calmly, although all her instincts were telling her to kick off and yell at this woman who had totally ruined their evening with in the space of seconds.

Seeing Ann was not something that they would just be able to pass off as an awkward moment, seeing Ann had brought memories of Tina right to the surface and those memories would not just go away, not this time.

"Oh please, you aren't even eating anything yet, you've got plenty of time to back out." Ann slurred, taking a sip of wine from her glass, She swallowed the wine down as if it was water and then looked at Peter with hatred again.

"Ann look you're drunk and I think that maybe you should just leave." Carla said watching her as she swayed, unable to stand still or even upright.

"I saw you both come in and at first I thought I'd leave it but you ruined my daughters life and I will never ever forgive you for that." Ann spat towards Peter, Carla looked at Peter, pained. She couldn't understand why he was just sat there not saying anything. It was almost as if he had glazed over and Ann was getting more and more angry with him by the second "Are you not even going to have the decency to speak to me?" She cried, watching Peter, He knew he couldn't just sit there like that much longer and eventually said

"Ann I am so sorry about what happened to Tina…" Ann scoffed at him and shook her head.

"No you're not." She took another gulp of wine and she actually put her glass onto the table where Peter and Carla were sat. "And neither are you." She said looking at Carla "Your brother was the one that killed her and whilst you're sitting here, back together having a great time and where is my Tina? Dead and buried… How is that fair?" Ann cried, making quite the scene now, people were staring and it was obvious that the people who were sitting at nearby tables could hear exactly what was being said to Peter and Carla. "You should ave some more self respect Carla…" Ann spat picking her wine glass up for another swig. Carla shook her head, Peter's silence was really beginning to anger her too and she'd had just as much as she could take with this situation.

"Right…" She started "I am really _really_ sorry for what happened to Tina, I truly am, but you really need to realise that she was no angel, She would sit round my flat and pretend she was a friend of mine whilst at the same time as she was banging my husband." Ann flinched and Peter looked at Carla, horrified by what she had just said.

"How dare you speak about my daughter like that, what kind of person are you?" Ann said with tears now in her eyes, Carla knew that Ann was drunk and that she should just sit down but she still continued.

"It's the truth" Carla said bluntly "Tina knew exactly what she was getting herself into, She knew that he was married and she still went after him, what kind of person did that make her?"

"Carla… just leave it." Peter said anxiously. Carla turned her head and stared at him in disbelief. What was he saying, why wasn't he helping, or trying to stick her for her? "Peter? You may be fine with this but I am not going to sit here and be harassed like this." She said shaking her head.

"He seduced her." Ann cried pointing at Peter in tears.

"Oh please, what would you even know about it? You never even saw the girl…" Carla exclaimed "Maybe that's what this is about, maybe you feel guilty because you didn't know anything the slightest thing about her and now she is dead."

"Carla please…" Peter said but no one paid any attention to him at all. The two women were both staring at each other, each of them, still in so much pain from something that happened so long ago now.

"If you kept him happy in the first place then maybe he wouldn't have strayed with Tina and she would still be here." Ann said and Peter knew that it had hit a nerve with Carla. She shot up out of her chair as a man came rushing over to the table.

"I am so sorry about this." He said apologetically, "Ann... I only went to the toilet, I told you not to do this." He said to her. Ann just shook her head at him and wiped the tears that had fallen down her cheeks.

"It's fine." Peter said quietly as the man took Ann by the arm and began to lead her away as quickly as he could. As the people in restaurant finally went back to concreting on their meals, Carla who had been staring at Ann, finally turned back to face Peter. Her eyes were stinging with tears

"How could you just sit there like that?" She asked, staring at him in total shock.

"Carla… why don't you sit down?" Peter said calmly, trying not to draw any more attention to them as the whole restaurant had been watching them as if they were some sort of trashy TV show.

"Answer me Peter…" Carla said, ignoring being asked to sit down.

"Carla what did you expect me to do? I was just as shocked as you were to see Ann but she has a right to be upset with us."

"Us?" Carla exclaimed, still unable to believe any of this was happening. "What did I ever do to that woman that justifies her coming up to me like that?"

"You shouldn't have said what you did about Tina." Peter said although he regretted it the moment it had come out of his mouth.

"Oh I only said the truth Peter, everyone always said what a lovely girl she was, no one seems to care that she was having it off with a married man." Carla said

"Yes but Carla what you said clearly upset Ann…" Peter said, he was trying to make her understand why he had kept so quiet but it was coming out all wrong.

"You shouldn't give a toss that she is upset!" Carla cried "You should care more about me, she made me upset and yet you just sat there and said nothing."

"Carla there is a time and a place though…"

"You should ave stuck up for me Peter! You should have said something, something other than practically telling me to be quiet." Carla cried

"She's still her mother Carla, how would you feel if someone said those things about your daughter?" Peter hadn't realised what he had actually said until Carla flinched, her face crumpling.

"Well I wouldn't know would I?" She said hoarsely, Tears forced their way down her cheeks as the waiter came over with their starters. She quickly wiped them away and took a deep breath trying her very best to keep her composure even though it was clear to Peter, the waiter and everyone else that Carla was truly wounded by what had just happened and by what Peter had just said

"Sit down Carla… please I didn't mean it like that." Peter begged again, praying that she would do as she was told, he soon realised that he should have thought better than that.

"No!" She said the waiter looked at her and then at Peter, he placed the dough balls and the bowl of parsley butter on the table and then said

"Should I come back and for your orders in a little bit?"

"Don't bother at all." Carla said directly as she picked up her bag that she had left on the floor.

"Carla..." Peter sighed

"This was a mistake…" Carla said regretfully as she left the table.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked anxiously after her. She stopped for a moment and said

"I'm going home and don't even think about following me." and with that Carla just left the restaurant and left Peter all alone.


	23. The Best Lunch Break Ever

_**Woah!**_

_**I hadn't realised how long this chapter was, until I uploaded it.**_

_**You might wanna grab a drink n a biscuit.**_

* * *

It was Saturday evening when Carla stormed into the rovers, to say that she'd had a bad day would have been an under statement. The night before with Peter had gone horribly, Carla'd gone home and spent the rest of the evening with a bottle of wine instead. She'd woken up to a killer hangover and to find that her whole building had no electric due to a fault.

Then she had gone to meet an old friend for brunch but the friend never turned up and when Carla called to ask her friend why, she had insisted that she had sent Carla an email to cancel.

"A large glass of red please Chelle n make it quick." Carla said leaning against the bar feeling majorly depressed, especially because when she had walked into the pub she'd seen Steve stood with his arm lovingly around Michelle and it looked as if she'd ruined a rather lovely moment.

"Well Hello Carla…" Michelle said with her eyebrows raised but she let go of Steve and poured Carla the glass of wine anyway. "So how was last night then?" she asked handing Carla her drink.

"We didn't even make it past the starters." Carla said taking a gulp of wine straight after she'd spoken, Michelle misunderstood the situation and smirked,

"Ohh I see... nice." she said watching Carla, it only took her a few moments before she realised that last night had clearly not gone well at all.

"I walked out on him." Carla said downing the rest of the wine and giving Michelle her the empty glass. "Keep em comin Chelle."

"What? Why?" Michelle asked stunned, Carla sighed heavily and said,

"It were a complete disaster, not only did Peter turn up almost an hour late after forgetting his wallet but who should come over and interrupt us but Ann flamin Mcintyre."

"Tina's Mum?" Michelle asked, reluctantly giving Carla another glass of wine, she was concerned because she knew how these types of things got started with Carla, it would be one drink after the other if she wasn't careful.

"Yep and let's just say she had a lot to say on me and Peter being out together and I was aving none of it." Carla said taking her glass and another huge sip.

"So what happened? Why did you end up walking out of the restaurant?" Michelle asked

"We had a row, Peter didn't like me sticking up for us and I just couldn't take it." Carla said looking down at her hands glumly. "I told him not to come after me and he didn't… go on then, say I told ya so."

"Me? What for?" Michelle asked,

"Well you were the one who said we should talk and not rush things, I ignored you and look what's happened?" Carla said.

"Carla, I do think that you two need to talk but don't get so upset by what happened last night, it's just a set back that's all…" Michelle said sympathetically because it looked as if all of Carla's hopes and dreams had been crushed last night.

"Is it?" Carla said looking up at Michelle, "I mean the whole Peter being late thing and him forgetting his wallet is just typical of him but I don't know I feel like seeing Ann…. maybe it was a sign."

"Oh a sign of what Carla?" Michelle scoffed.

"I dunno… maybe that we should both just stay friends after all." she said finishing her glass of wine, She looked down at the Empty glass and then up at Michelle who shook her head.

"I just think it was coincidence, ave you spoke to him?" Michelle said, ignoring Carla's request for another glass of wine. Carla shook her head and sighed,

"No, he's phoned a few times but I don't want to talk to him, not yet anyways…" Carla knew that ignoring Peter's calls was not the most mature thing to do in this situation but she didn't know what to say to him and she still hated the fact that he hadn't gone after her too. "Give us another wine Chelle… Please." Michelle sighed a little,

"I reckon you should take it slow don't you?" Michelle said, still a little worried at how quick Carla had knocked back those previous wines, it was quick even by Carla's standards.

"Alright, I promise I will make this next one last okay?" Carla said albeit a little reluctantly. She stayed in the pub for a few hours or so. Whilst there she had kept glancing at her phone but there were no more messages or calls from Peter and this made her want to drink even more. In the end Carla went home around eight pm, especially after Steve and Michelle were in a extremely lovey-dovey mood and it made her feel like a right gooseberry.

Peter on the other hand stayed well away from the pub and any other place where he might have bumped into Carla for that matter. He felt so useless and hated that he had just let Carla leave the restaurant like that. He'd tried to phone Carla a few times on Saturday and when she hadn't answered any of his calls he decided not that she obviously didn't want to speak to him and to leave her be.

He felt as if he'd totally messed things up with Carla and that she would probably be really difficult to talk back round to even being his friend, let alone his wife.

The idea of losing Carla again was a frightening one, one that almost took Peter's mind to a very dark yet very familiar place. Peter knew he had to try and make things right with Carla and soon.

The rest of the weekend had gone incredibly slowly for both of them and everyone who'd had the pleasure of running into Carla or Peter would agree that two days of them not talking to each other, had made them both very bad tempered, word went Round that they had obviously had some sort of fight and the residents of Weatherfield were almost trying to avoid them.

* * *

Monday came and Peter and Carla still hadn't spoken. This was because they were both as stubborn as each other and even though Carla had bitten the bullet and attempted to call Peter in the afternoon, he didn't answer any of them this time and so she gave up in the end.

Carla miserably strolled down the street after she had finished at work. She hated the horrible mood she had been in since Friday night and whilst she knew that her employees weren't to blame for it, she had definitely taken out some of her frustrations on them. Carla was headed to The Rover's when she bumped into Simon who was walking hand in hand with Santana. They both sprung apart when they saw her,

"Hi Carla." Simon said sheepishly, Santana nodded at Carla as well and smiled.

"Hiya…" Carla said wondering if Simon had been filled in on Friday night's events and from the way that he was looking at her, she guessed that he did know all about it.. Even with her mood, Carla couldn't help but smile at the cuteness of the two twelve year olds in front of her. "So where are you two off to then?" She asked,

"Santana's been round ours… I'm just walking her to the bus stop." Simon said proudly.

"Awwww aren't you a gent eh?" Carla said smiling at him, she was going to keep walking on so she wasn't caught being the gooseberry again but Simon then called after her,

"Carla… can we get some chips in a bit?" Carla turned back around and smiled at Simon.

"Yeah sure…" She nodded. Simon looked pleased and Carla left him and Santana at the bus stop to say their goodbyes, She wondered if they might kiss goodbye but as she was stood a little further up on the street, she saw that they decided to just hug instead. Simon beamed as he ran over to Carla and met her by the shops. "Nice evening then?" She asked putting an arm around him, he nodded as they made their way over to the chip shop.

"Yeah you?" He asked, although he could tell that Carla's mood was far from a good one.

"Not really no." She said as they went inside the chip shop. Once they had ordered and paid for their chips, they came out and sat on the bench outside. Simon who had smothered his chips in ketchup, took one and bit into it before asking Carla,

"So what happened with you and me Dad then?" She sighed and bit into a chip of her own, She shrugged at Simon not knowing where on earth to begin.

"That depends, what has he told you?"

"Nothing, all I know is that you two went out on Friday night and now the both of you are in these awful moods."

"I'm not in a mood…" Carla said almost laughing at Simon, he raised an eyebrow and took another chip out of his box.

"You sure? I saw you earlier, having a right go at Norris." Simon laughed,

"Too right I was avin a go at him, he walked right in front of me flamin car and then had the cheek to say that I was trying to run him over. The idiot." Carla said picking up a chip.

"So? Did you two argue or something?" Simon said still amused at Carla's spat with Norris but going back to talking about his Dad all the same.

"I wouldn't say we argued to be honest…" Carla began "We went out to eat and we saw… Tina's Mum."

"Uh oh.." Simon said, knowing that this must have been an extremely uncomfortable situation for his Dad and Carla to be in.

"Yeah uh oh indeed." Carla said.

"What happened then?" Simon asked

"Let's just say Ann was not pleased to see us and she said a lot of unpleasant things." Carla said "Anyway I got upset because your Dad didn't really say much to stick up for us and then when he did talk it were just awful… so I just left him there and we aint spoken since."

"That explains it then…" Simon nodded "Me Dad's been so miserable since Friday, He spent the whole of Saturday moping around and then he went off on this fishing trip with me Granddad yesterday."

"He's gone fishing?" Carla said a little disappointed because she was hoping to have sorted this mess with Peter out by the end of the day but also slightly relieved because the fact that she hadn't seen him around had been starting to worry her.

"Yeah, they're back tonight I think. Me Granddad wanted to go on his own but me Dad was having none of it, Anyways Granddad says he wishes me Dad had stayed at home because he has been acting well depressed and it's coz he obviously misses you like crazy."

"Oh yeah…" Carla said fiddling with a chip absent-mindedly "Well he don't flamin well act like it does he? I've been calling him all day today and he didn't answer once."

"He didn't take his phone." Simon said because Peter had left his phone behind on purpose, just to have some space and because deep down he was annoyed that Carla had ignored his phone calls and he wanted to make it easy for himself to ignore hers.

"Oh…" Carla said, "Well…I miss him too, more than I probably should Si." Carla looked at Simon and couldn't help but grin at him. "Did he tell you, I kissed him?" Simon shook his head

"Did ya?" He asked surprised but also pleased "When?"

"After the fireworks…" Carla said "Your Dad felt a little left out after seeing you and Santana kiss that's all…" Simon then went incredibly red.

"You saw us then?" he said sheepishly, amazed that his Dad hadn't of mentioned it to him and tried to wind him up about it yet.

"We sure did and let me just say it were the cutest thing I've ever seen in me whole life." Carla said smiling at Simon proudly "So is Santana finally your girlfriend then?"

"I dunno…" Simon shrugged "We aven't really talked about it." He said looking down at his chips anxiously. He definitely wasn't used to feeling this way about anyone and it scared him a little.

"Well maybe you should talk about it?" Carla said, "I mean d'ya want to be her boyfriend?" Simon nodded and blushed again "Then just ask her out Si." Carla said nudging him playfully.

"I'll make a deal with you shall I?" Simon said smiling at Carla, who rolled her eyes knowing exactly what Simon was getting at.

"Oh I know your game Simon Barlow…" She said as Simon laughed again "Fine…I will talk to your Dad, just as long as you talk to Santana… Okay?"

"Okay…" Simon said nervously, the thought of asking Santana out was incredibly daunting for him but he would do it a million times if it meant his Dad and Carla would finally get back on track and hopefully back together.

"Although I can't promise anything. I mean when it comes to being stubborn, me and your Dad are both as bad as each other really." Carla said munching another chip.

"You're both perfect for each other and the sooner you realise that the better." Simon said pulling another chip of his box and popping it into his mouth.

"You reckon?" Carla asked feeling a little silly, asking for a twelve year old's opinion but then again this wasn't just any old twelve year old this was Simon, the most important twelve year old in Carla's life. Simon nodded at her

"Yep, I mean if you're both acting like this after only, what, two days away from each other?" Simon said with his eyebrows raised "I definitely think it's about time you both got back together… and you don't ave to worry about me because I promise I'll be on my best behaviour."

"So there'll be no wicked stepmother jokes then?" Carla joked

"Nope." Simon shook his head, but he looked like he wanted to say something else.

"What is it?" Carla asked a little warily, Simon hesitated for a moment and then said

"I just wanted to say that no matter what happens with me Dad… I… I love you Carla." Simon said smiling at her modestly. Carla welled up at Simon's sweet words and shook her head fondly at him.

"You are one amazing kid y'know that right…" Carla said. Simon shrugged at her "I mean it Si, after everything you've been through you really are something… and I love you too." She added, putting an arm around him. Simon snuggled in close to Carla, hoping and praying that after his Dad got back, he and Carla could talk and that soon they could have their own little family back.

* * *

Tuesday came and Carla decided enough was enough, She was planning to see Peter at some point and as promised to Simon, she was definitely going to talk to him. She was feeling rather nervous about it and had gone into Roy's Roll's for some breakfast, She ordered a coffee, sat down at a table by her self miserably and It wasn't long before Roy had come over and sat down opposite. He cautiously placed the coffee in front of her and was watching her.

"Alright Roy?" Carla said bewilderedly.

"I couldn't help but notice that you were sat in here on your own…" Carla gave Roy a friendly smile and shrugged "No Peter with you this morning?" Roy said.

Carla hadn't noticed that she had been in the café with Peter so much but when she really thought about it, they usually were always in there together.

"No… he's at work… I guess." Carla said looking at her watch, Simon had text her to tell her that his Dad had got back late last night. "Can I… ask you something Roy?" She said feeling slightly nervous again. He nodded looking intrigued

"I think so…" He said, Carla took a sip of her coffee and then said

"Say, I were thinkin of… maybe giving Peter another chance… what would you... think about that?" Roy didn't look too surprised by this question and shrugged at Carla.

"Me? Why does it matter what I think?"

"I dunno, you're me friend and I really value what you've got to say… so… go on then, what d'ya think?" Carla asked anxiously because she truly did value what Roy thought of her.

"Well I don't know really…" Roy began

"That's helpful." Carla said jokingly

"Carla… I would be lying if I didn't think that it would be slightly risky to go back… there with Peter." Roy said, Carla nodded knowing that Roy wouldn't be too thrilled at the idea of her and Peter getting back together. "But if I've learnt anything over the past few years, it's that life is too short not to take risks, especially when it comes to love and I'd say that a love… like the one you shared with Peter... well the one that you so clearly still share with Peter…" Carla smiled sheepishly as Roy continued "A love like that is very rare and you should really try to hold onto it if you can."

"So… is that your way of saying that I should get back with Peter then?" Carla asked, Roy shrugged again and said,

"Only you can make that decision Carla… all I will say is that I've never seen you happier then you have been since Peter's been back and you of all people deserve to be happy, especially after the things you've been through." Carla sipped some more coffee and then grinned,

"Oh honestly, look at me eh? What d'ya think Haley would say about all of this?" She asked,

"Oh I definitely think that Hayley would probably tell you to stop worrying about everyone else thinks and just follow your heart." Roy said smiling bitter sweetly. Carla nodded at him knowing that he was absolutely right.

Peter had driven home from work at around one o clock, that very same afternoon. It was on his lunch break and it was because he'd forgotten something at home. On the way out of his Dad's house he saw a very familiar black Mercedes drive around the corner and park right outside Underworld. Peter took a look at the driver and then did a double take.

It was Marc Matthews and it actually seemed as if he had the nerve to come back to the factory. Peter stormed straight over to him, the foul mood that he had been in since Friday night, had just got one hundred times worse.

"What the hell do you want?" Peter angrily asked,

"Look I don't want any trouble..." Marc sighed as he locked his car.

"Then you better leave... now." Peter said, now breathing heavily, the last thing he wanted was for this guy to get anywhere near Carla again.

"All I want to do is talk to Carla, okay?" Marc said calmly, almost as if he really didn't want any trouble.

"No way." Peter said but Marc just rolled his eyes at him and began to walk towards the factory anyway. "Did ya not hear me? You think I'm gonna let you in there after the last time? You might not realise this but that woman has been through hell and back and you really scared her." Marc gave a little sarcastic laugh and said,

"Isn't it a little too late for this concerned husband act? I mean you weren't so bothered about her when you were busy sleeping with someone else." Peter suddenly grabbed Marc by his suit jacket.

"You ave no idea what you are talking about!" Peter said furiously, his mind was racing, he was unaware that Marc knew so much about his past and it definitely unsettled him a little. Marc tried to get Peter to let go off him but he just couldn't shake him off.

"Look all I know is that you seriously need to let go of me, I'm only here to talk to Carla!" Marc cried but Peter still had hold of him roughly.

"Tell you what, I'll let go of you if you promise to get in your car and never come back." Peter said. Marc gave him a shove and shook his head but Peter still had hold of him and there was no way he was about to let him go.

"This is strictly business." Marc insisted as the factory doors suddenly opened behind them.

"Oi!" A unimpressed Carla shouted from the steps "What on earth is going on?" Peter let go of Marc and looked at Carla, who was dressed in tight black jeans and a white vest. He hadn't seen her in days but the mere sight of her being stood there made his heart skip a beat.

Carla gave Peter a timid smile and almost had to stop herself from actually waving at him, the miserable mood she had been in for the past few days was already starting to fade away, just from being able to see Peter again.

"He just grabbed me…" Marc said looking at Peter irritatedly and then he turned to Carla "I just wanna talk to you that is all, I promise. Please just give me a chance to explain."

"You ave five minutes." Carla said briskly, Peter looked at her astonished and then back at Marc who said,

"Thank you." And he started walking up the steps to the doors "Why don't you come too if you don't trust me." He had meant it sarcastically but Peter didn't hesitate to follow them inside, there was no way on earth he was going to allow Carla to be alone with this man again, not after he had managed to upset her so much the last time.

The factory was still full of workers so Peter needn't have worried and as everyone was staring at the three of them, Carla felt the need to send them to lunch early. They were all rather pleased about this because they'd had rather a tense morning with Carla and as Beth mumbled something about a threesome, Carla's eyes widened for about the tenth time that day. All of the machinists, plus Sally and Alya quickly went off on their lunch break before they could get in any more trouble.

Carla then went into her office followed by Peter and Marc. She leant against her desk with her eyebrows raised as Marc came in, followed by Peter. He stood by the wall watching Marc like a hawk, Marc grinned at him and the looked at Carla

"What's this then? He your new body guard?" Marc said pointing towards Peter with his thumb.

"Oh yeah very funny mate." Peter said dryly.

"Look you really don't ave to stand there like that, it's really not necessary." Marc said but Peter laughed falsely and said

"Trust me it's necessary." Carla tutted at the both of them and sighed,

"Right, that's enough bickering from you two, let's cut to the chase shall we Marc." Marc was still staring Peter down but he then turned and looked apologetically at Carla.

"Well first of all, I really really want to apologise for what happened the last time I was here…" Marc said "I realise I sounded like a complete and utter arse… I should have listened to you when you said no but I just got so worked up… I obviously have some issues that need to be worked on and I honestly didn't mean to scare you like that."

"Thank you." Carla said although she shot Peter a rather annoyed look, wondering what he might have told Marc whilst they were scuffling outside. "I'm sorry that I lashed out, I'll admit I over reacted slightly."

"Don't apologise to him Carla." Peter snapped.

"Would you Shhh Peter!" Carla said rolling her eyes at him, Marc went into his suit jacket and pulled out a cheque and handed it to Carla.

"I just wanted to settle my last payment in person and apologise that's all." Marc said regretfully. He genuinely looked as if he was sorry for what had happened in the office last week.

"Well you've done all that, so I guess you can go now right?" Peter said,

"Do you wanna wait outside Peter?" Carla warned, Peter shook his head at her and folded his arms childishly.

"So after everything I take it that you don't want to do any more business with me." Marc said sorrowfully

"You got that right." Peter said, thinking that the way Marc was acting was rather pathetic.

"Right that's it…" Carla said opening her office door "Out." She said pointing out of the door and into the factory.

Peter tutted and walked right out of her office, Carla sighed and left her door open as she turned back to Marc.

"He's a delight." Marc said dryly, looking at Peter who was stood outside Carla's office, he had his back to Marc and Carla but he was still right by the door, so that he could still hear everything that was said.

"Yeah he's an idiot…" Carla said smiling at the back of Peter's head, "but he's right, I think me and you should just go our separate ways."

"I understand." Marc said he sighed heavily and gave Carla a smile "I still really like you though and I wish you all the luck for the future." Peter let out a very loud and very sarcastic laugh at what Marc had just said. Marc just rolled his eyes at him and looked at Carla "He's incredibly childish for someone so old… are you sure that you want him instead of me?" Carla smirked and nodded at Marc, as even she could see that he clearly meant this as a joke.

"Yeah I'm sure." She said watching Peter through the window fondly. He still had his back to them so she couldn't be sure that he had heard what she had just said.

"Goodbye Carla." Marc said and he shook her hand in a very professional matter before and leaving her office. He walked past Peter and didn't say anything at all, even when Peter called

"Good riddance."

"Peter get in ere!" Carla called this time. Peter entered her office apprehensively and stood opposite her. Neither of them said anything for a while but soon enough Carla shook her head at him and said "Honestly what were you thinking Peter? Scrapping in the street like that."

"I couldn't help it" Peter said "The way you were the last time he was ere, I never ever wanna see you like that again Carla… Not ever" he said.

"And just what did ya tell him about all that eh?" Carla asked, as to her, it definitely seemed like Peter had something to Marc. Peter just shrugged his shoulders stubbornly and didn't say anything. Carla sighed and then decided that Marc seemed to be out of her life for good now and to change the subject. "How was this fishing trip then?" She asked.

"It were… okay… I guess." Peter said. There was another small silence before Carla then asked,

"Peter… why didn't you come after me?"

"Because you told me not to..." Peter said frowning at her because it was true and she had asked him not to follow her and now it seemed as if he was getting the blame for it.

"And since when did you do anything you were told?" Carla said with an eye brow raised.

"Friday was a bit of a disaster wasn't it." Peter said leaning against the wall. Carla nodded still leaning against her desk opposite him.

"Pretty much." She said as Peter's face finally began to soften, the anger that had consumed him was slowly drifting away with each moment that he spent in Carla's presence.

"Carla… I'm sorry for the way I acted, I should have stuck up for you, I don't know what happened, everything was going wrong and then Ann showed up and I was just stunned, then the way you let go of my hand so suddenly and so quickly, It honestly made me feel like you didn't want to be seen with me… it kind of made me feel as if we weren't in it together." Carla shook her head at him because she so hadn't meant for Peter to have felt like that.

"Peter it wasn't that at all... It was just a shock to see Ann stood there like that…" Carla said "and I'm sorry for just walking out on ya, I was so upset and I wasn't thinking straight. I just wanted the night to be perfect for us y'know and she ruined it and then when you didn't even come after me…"

"Carla you told me-"

"Yeah yeah I know I told ya not to come after me but deep down I wanted ya to." Carla said interrupting him because he had interrupted her.

"So how come when I phoned you over the weekend, all I got was your delightful little message tone?" Peter asked and it was Carla's turn to shrug this time.

"I dunno… I didn't really know what to say to you… n then when I got over being childish about this I tried calling you but then Si told me you left your phone at home… I couldn't believe you'd gone fishing and I just wanted to speak to you and tell you that I really missed you." Peter looked down at his shoes, he was trying to still act if he was still mad at Carla for not answering his phone calls but truthfully he stopped being mad the moment he saw her.

"I've missed you too." Peter eventually said still looking down at his feet "Carla I missed everything about you, your hugs, your smile… the way we just talk about random stuff for hours on end… I really missed that actually."

"Yeah me n all…" Carla said, she took a deep breath and then said, "You're right me and you do talk about absolutely everything and anything but… there's one thing we don't talk about and I think it's about time we did…" Her heart was pounding away under her vest as she spoke and Peter suddenly looked up at her.

"What's that then?" He asked although he knew exactly what she meant. Carla swallowed and watched him closely.

"Did ya hear I what I said earlier? To Marc?"

"Yeah, I heard you call me an idiot." He said rather dismally.

"You are an idiot." Carla laughed "but you're my idiot" She said softly and finally Peter smiled at her sheepishly. She'd been waiting to see that gorgeous smile since he had walked back into the office and as it finally spread across his face, she suddenly felt more at ease. "Peter… Did ya hear what else I said to Marc earlier?" Peter shrugged at her but he had heard and he couldn't help but still smile at her.

"Yeah I heard…"

"I meant it y'know." She said and she suddenly felt so relived, as if starting to tell Peter all of this had lifted huge weight off of her shoulders. Peter stood up straight and looked at Carla longingly "I do want you and not in a let's just be friends way." She took a deep breath as Peter stood before her in silence, "I need to get one thing straight though, I aven't forgotten what you did with Tina." She said, and Peter nodded at her, he knew she hadn't forgotten and he hadn't expected her to have either.

"I know and I guess it were really naive of us to think we could just carry on, without talking about any of this at some point." Peter began but Carla shook her head,

"Are you going to let me finish?" She asked, Peter stopped talking and nodded again "What I was gonna say was whilst I haven't forgotten what you did and whilst I probably never will... I ave forgiven you, I'd forgiven you long before you'd got back ere if I'm honest, All that time when I was without you... I kept telling myself that I was better off and that I was over you but when I started hanging out with Simon I realised that I was just fooling myself… I'm not over you and I never was." Peter didn't say or do anything this time, he just listened instead, he was also rather surprised that Carla had admitted to forgiving him for making the biggest mistake of his life. "So… how do you feel about all that then?" Carla asked him, She was sure she knew but she wanted to hear him say it.

"I think it's pretty obvious how I feel Carla..." Peter began "I'm still crazy about you, even more then I was before, if that's even the slightest bit possible. You're the first person I think of when I wake up and when I'm in me shoddy sofa bed at night, all I'm thinking about is how much I wish I was cuddled up next to you instead"

"Go on…" Carla said smiling at Peter coyly, enjoying hearing the way he spoke about her with such affection.

"Y'know I reckon I'm probably the luckiest guy on the planet, I mean after everything I did, you were brave enough to let me back in your life and not only that you've been there for me and my family when you could have been off living your own life…" Peter said and he then got a little chocked up for a moment, Carla went to say something but he shook his head "Let me finish… I know that I messed up and that I have no right to be putting you in this position but If you did give us another chance, I promise you that I will never, ever do anything to hurt you again, All I want in life is another chance to make you happy." He said

"You do make me happy Peter" Carla said softly "The way we talk, the way we laugh… When I'm around you Peter everything feels… perfect." Peter sniffed and smiled as Carla had said perfect. "God, saying all this feels so… satisfying." Peter nodded at her in agreement.

"I agree n don't get me wrong, these past few months being your friend have truly been amazing but they have also been incredibly frustrating." He said thinking about how many times he had been desperate to just grab Carla and kiss her. "So... What does all this mean?" Peter asked calmly, not wanting to get his hopes up, Carla shifted on her feet and put her head on one side and shrugged,

"Well I reckon it means that we should probably stop beating around the bush and give it another go... maybe..." Carla said sheepishly,

"Okay…" Peter said awkwardly not knowing what to do next, There was a moment of silence before Carla said

"God we are so bad at this…" She laughed and Peter laughed too and then awkwardly said

"So…"

"Oh Just get over ere and kiss me Peter!" Carla cried and Peter began to move eagerly towards her then he stopped suddenly.

"Wait" Peter said " Should it be this easy?" he said smiling "I mean this is me and you so… surely there's something…" Carla shrugged at him not knowing what he was getting at "Let me get this straight."

"Peter..."

"Neither of us are seeing anyone right?" he asked even though he knew that he neither of them were.

"Not that I know of..." Carla smiled

"And neither of us are due in court anytime soon?" he said remembering the countless courtroom dramas they had been caught up in, in the past.

"I hope not." Carla laughed, shaking her head.

"And I aven't got a son that hates you?" Peter added moving closer to Carla again, She shook her head again, remembering the conversation she had had with Simon yesterday.

"Nope... in fact I think he's me biggest fan." She said as Peter put his hands on her hips

"Second biggest actually." he added as Carla put her arms around his neck lovingly, Peter closed his eyes in pure bliss not actually able to believe that any of this was happening.

"Are you sure you want this?" He asked her softly, scared that he'd wake up and this would all be some beautiful dream.

"I've never wanted anything more in me life…" Carla said gazing into Peter's eyes "You're right it's been amazing being friends but me calling you a friend does not do you justice. You're so much more than that Peter and you have been for ages now." Carla said resting her forehead against his "You've reminded me why I fell in love with you in the first place, you're kind, funny, caring and not to mention extremely handsome." Peter laughed quietly as Carla continued "How could I not want this eh? I've been aching for you to hold me like this…" She said, "It's not going to be easy, in fact it'll probably be down right difficult but I know that we can make it work this time Peter" Peter nodded at Carla fondly.

"We can… I know we can." He said then he grinned "Hey we had good run as just mates though…"

"We sure did." Carla said, "I'm mean Michelle was sure we wouldn't last longer than a week."

"And Tracy… She tells me Beth has twenty quid riding on me and you being back together before Christmas..." Peter started but Carla butted in,

"Peter… Y'know I'm still waiting for you to kiss me right?" Carla reminded softly.

Peter took a deep breath and brushed some of her long brown hair behind an ear, He tenderly stroked her cheek with his thumb, pro longing his kiss on purpose. "Peter..." Carla moaned stamping her foot impatiently, Peter chuckled at her and then he finally did it.

He kissed her. Gently at first, holding her head in his hands tenderly, He then increased the pressure a little and moved one hand back down to her waist. It was weird how them kissing felt so wonderfully familiar but excitingly new all at the same time. The kiss lasted for a few minutes and when it came to a natural end on both their parts, Carla sniffed, She had tears in her eyes and one fell down her cheek.

"This is it okay, us together, No messing around, no games, no one else… just me and you right?" She said. Peter nodded still with one of his hands still in her hair, He twirled a piece of it around with is fingers as he said

"One hundred per cent yes, I am never, ever letting you go again."

"Good, because I meant what I said the other day at the fireworks, I couldn't live without you or your crazy family." Carla laughed as Peter kissed her affectionately on the forehead and then he grinned.

"I'll tell you what this is the best lunch break ever."

"Lunch break?" Carla said and she giggled when she realised Peter was in his smart work clothes "How come you're ere then?"

"I had to go back to me Dad's because I'd left me mobile at home." Peter explained.

"Again? My my you are getting forgetful in your old age." Carla said cheekily.

"Oi.. I'll tell you something I aven't forgotten though." Peter said pulling Carla close again.

"What's that then?" she breathed,

"I aven't forgot how to make you feel weak at the knees." He said and he leant in for another kiss, She pulled him towards her as his tongue met hers and he pushed her against her desk, She soon found herself jumping up so that she was sat on it and she had both of her legs wrapped around his middle. Carla moved a hand from around Peter's neck and ran it down his body, She stopped at the top of his trousers, Peter pulled away from her and grinned "See…" he said smugly.

"The girls won't be back for ages…" Carla said running a finger along his belt.

"I know that but I've gotta get back to work soon and I want to do this properly." he said even though it was getting increasingly hard to resist Carla as she was sat on her desk in front of him.

"What d'ya mean?" she asked with her head on one side.

"We never really had a first date did we? And I reckon after Friday night we should probably try again…" Peter said taking the hand that Carla had so close to the bottom half of his body and holding it affectionately, instead of letting her continue to fiddle with his belt.

"Okay… so we'll go on this date then." She said nodding, but her eyes were filled with desire as she tried to pull him in again for another kiss.

"I'm serious Carla, I don't want this to be some fumble in your office." Peter said taking hold of Carla's wondering hands and making her giggle. "I want to take you out and do this all properly." Carla put her arms back around his neck and began stroking it with one of her thumbs.

"So are you seriously turning me down?" Carla asked and she squeezed the legs she had either side of him against his body, She licked her lips sensing that she was having an amazing affect on Peter as he breathed out suddenly, he took a deep breath and nodded at her weakly.

"As hard as it is, Yes I am" he said "Besides I gotta get back to work, it's not gonna look good if I'm already skiving on me second week is it?' He said.

"Oh I reckon we've got a good half an hour or so before you need to get back." Carla said still stroking the back of his neck.

"Half an hour?" Peter scoffed "Trust me Carla, When the time comes… we are gonna need hours." He said and he begun to kiss her passionately on the neck.

"Oh Peter..." Carla groaned "How is that supposed to make me feel eh." She said but Peter continued to place kisses up and down on her neck "So I reckon we should get this date going as soon as possible…" She said breathing rigidly after a few more torturous kisses from Peter. "What you doing tonight?"

"Mmmmm I've actually got a meeting tonight." Peter said into Carla's neck, not actually removing his lips from it as he spoke. "What about tomorrow?" He suggested,

"Can you really wait till then Peter? Because I know I can't." Carla sighed.

It was then that Beth entered the factory, she walked over to her machine and picked up her purse, which she had left behind earlier, She looked over into the open office and saw Carla sat on her desk with Peter in between her legs, kissing her collarbone with his hands tangled in her hair.

"Hi Peter, Hi Mrs Connor!" Beth called, grinning as Peter and Carla both looked out of the room, They both giggled, not even trying to hide what they were doing. "Looks like Sean owes me twenty quid." She said winking at them as she made her way out of the factory. Carla laughed and reluctantly got off of her desk.

"Well this'll be spread across the street in minutes." Peter said as Beth was hardly known for keeping her mouth shut.

"D'ya care?" Carla said

"Not really… I mean if Beth tells everyone, it'll save me from running up and down the street n shouting it from the rooftops like I was gonna." Peter grinned

"So tomorrow then?" Carla said "Where we going? and are you gonna be able to remember to get there on time?"

"Leave it to me." Peter said and he kissed Carla once more, She barley had time to respond to the kiss before he pulled away from her again, leaving her yearning for more.

"So are you saying we can't do anything before our date?" Carla said with a seductive grin "Not even a lil bit of heavy petting?" Peter laughed and shook his head at her.

"Trust me… It'll be worth it… I'll call you later okay?" he promised, hating to leave Carla but he knew that if he stayed, that he would lose what little will power he had left, he would give into Carla's irresistible advances and now that Beth was let loose with the knowledge of them kissing in the office, he was sure they'd have an audience soon.

"You make sure you do." Carla said watching Peter as he let go of her reluctantly. He had only got to the door of Carla's office before turning around and coming back for one more magnificent kiss.

* * *

**_Hope you all enjoyed that chapter, I hope you didn't mind it being so long. _**

**_Please let me know what you think of it and also if you have time, go n have a read of "One Sweet Day" which is my version of Peter's horrendous return to the Cobbles._**

**_Thanks again._**

**_:)_**


	24. First Dates & Second Chances

The next day was a very cold Wednesday in late November, Carla and Peter had agreed to meet outside her building at eight pm. They had decided that since their last "date" hadn't gone so well that this one needed to be a little bit more relaxed and casual.

That didn't stop Carla getting her self all dolled up before hand. Michelle was over at her flat, sitting on Carla's bed and watching her as she scrambled through her wardrobe to find something to wear.

"Uh I ave nothing to wear…" Carla moaned flinging a black dress onto her bed, that particular dress was one that she had actually been wearing just five minutes ago, because she'd thought it was okay. Michelle raised an eyebrow at Carla's full to bursting wardrobes and said,

"Carla what are you on about? You've got hundreds of clothes… although I must say I hadn't realised that you wear so much black."

"Yeah neither did I..." Carla said staring at the endless amounts of black tops and jeans "but I still don't ave anything to wear… I know me n Peter said it'll just be a casual kind of date but I still want to look… y'know like I've made an effort." Carla sighed sitting down on her bed in an official bad mood.

Carla told Michelle about her and Peter getting back together last night and Michelle was so overjoyed at how it had happened that she'd forgotten to tell Carla to be careful. Michelle knew that Peter had changed and that he obviously loved Carla like crazy but if she was honest there was a tiny little part of her that was slightly worried for Carla and as she sat on her bed in her underwear nibbling her thumb nail, Michelle knew that this date with Peter meant everything to Carla and that she shouldn't spoil it by telling Carla to be cautious.

"Carla… it's almost quarter past, you need to hurry up and pick something, You can't keep Peter waiting." Michelle said, she got up off Carla's bed and walked over to her wardrobe.

"Y'know what Chelle, I'm fed up of this, you just pick something for me and then I'll ave to wear it okay." Carla suggested although she regretted it when she saw Michelle's face.

"You sure about that?" Michelle grinned mischievously even though she knew that this was no time to joke with Carla.

"Within in reason…" Carla said. Michelle rummaged through Carla's clothes and pulled out the first thing that she couldn't see that wasn't a dark colour.

"How about this… I don't think I've even see you wear it." Michelle said holding up a white dress with horizontal navy blue stripes on. Carla eyed up the dress for a moment and said

"Yeah I aven't… I were meant to wear it out with you one night but I changed me mind at the last minute because it's very figure hugging and you said that you weren't dressing up, I mean I didn't want to look over done when you were there in your jeans."

"Right well I'm choosing this then…" Michelle said admiring the dress that she was still holding in her hands. Carla thought about saying no to it but as time went on she knew that she would eventually have to pick something to wear and it might as well be this.

"Okay…" Carla said jumping off her bed and beginning to pull the dress on over her head. Once dressed, Carla looked in her full-length mirror and then turned to Michelle

"Well…"She said looking to Michelle for her honest opinion, the dress fitted Carla perfectly, it was just the right length for it to be sexy but not sleazy and the sleeves stopped just above the elbows.

"Carla you look stunning." Michelle insisted "Honestly, you're gonna blow Peter's mind."

"Good." Carla grinned turning back to her mirror and feeling satisfied with her reflection, she breathed out sending some of her long hair up into the air with it.

"Are you nervous about this?" Michelle asked upon seeing Carla's deep breath, Michelle was just talking about Carla being nervous about the date but Carla had misunderstood her and said

"No, not at all…" She then turned to Michelle and said, "Chelle if I didn't give Peter another chance then I reckon I would end up regretting it forever… Why? Do you think I'm making a mistake?"

"Carla, we've spoken about this, aven't we? I think it's about time you and Peter got back together and I am ridiculously happy for you both…" Michelle began "I just meant are you nervous about the date?"

"Oh…" Carla said awkwardly as she brushed through her recently straightened hair, "I'm not nervous about the date its self it's just… well I just hope that nothing goes wrong tonight because I don't think I could take it."

"Yeah me neither, I'm as excited for this date as you are." Michelle smirked

"Oh trust me I don't think anyone is more excited about this whole thing than me..." Carla said now going through her shoe collection. "Well except for Peter maybe."

"So I take it if tonight goes well then Peter and you will be coming back ere..." Michelle said as Carla pulled her favourite pair of black heels.

"Well we can hardly go back to Ken's can we?" Carla smirked as she thought about what Peter was currently sleeping on at Ken's and whether it could accommodate it's self for what Carla had in mind for later.

"No I guess not." Michelle chuckled, looking down at her watch. She then went and gave Carla a quick kiss on the cheek. "Right I'm off, ave a great time ok and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"So not much then." Carla grinned cheekily as Michelle walked towards her bedroom door.

"Ha ha." Michelle chuckled "Bye babe."

"Bye Chelle and thanks for being so supportive." Carla called after her, she heard Michelle say

"That's what best friends are for." As she let herself out of Carla's flat.

Carla continued getting ready and was done by half seven. It was early but definitely didn't want to be late. She was so glad that Michelle was being so optimistic about Peter and as she waited for him to arrive Carla prayed that tonight would go without a hitch.

Peter arrived at five to eight with the same notion of not being late, he was dressed in a white shirt with a black jacket and was almost knocked right off his feet when he saw Carla.

"Wow…" He wolf whistled as she sauntered over to him, She giggled as he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her towards him.

"So I take it you like me dress then?" she asked as Peter looked her up and down again.

"Like doesn't even cover it..," Peter said giving Carla a kiss on the cheek "You look mind blowing." Carla gave him a glowing smile as he had unknowingly said the same thing that Michelle had said about her dress.

"Y'know you can give me a bigger kiss then that... I mean we are back together after all…" Carla said. Peter grinned back at her and kept his arm around her waist. He was almost hoping that everyone he knew would just so happen to walk past Victoria Court so that they could see that he was back with his gorgeous wife.

"Oh trust me, I plan on doing that later…" he said sexily, as a car pulled up outside Carla's building, she looked at it and noticed that not only was it a cab but also that Steve was in the front seat.

"What's he doing ere?" She asked as Peter took her hand and led her to the cab.

"I thought it would be more fun if we got a cab." Peter said not entirely truthfully as he had actually lost his car keys and he didn't want to tell Carla that because she had already been making fun of him for getting old.

"Why?" Carla asked a little suspiciously,

"Well so I don't ave to keep me eyes on the road for a start, I mean it would be pretty damn hard when you look like that." Peter grinned as he gave Carla another little kiss. Steve watched them in his windscreen mirror,

"Oi you two, I won't be avin any of that in the back of my cab." he joked "You better keep your hands where I can see em."

"Oh I can't promise that Steve…" Carla said as Peter comically rushed to open the door for her "Well aren't you a gent." She said, smiling ecstatically as she got in the car.

Steve drove Peter and Carla into town, he stopped outside a Bill's restaurant which Peter had chosen because whilst it was a rather casual place to eat it had dim lighting and leather sofa's where they could still get cosy if they wanted to.

"How much do I owe ya?" Peter asked Steve. He just shook his head at his friend and said,

"Oh don't even worry about it, ave good night you crazy kids."

"Cheers mate." Peter said appreciatively, glad that Steve like Michelle, was being so positive about him and Carla getting back together.

"Ahhhh thanks Steve." Carla added and then she went to get out of the car but Peter rushed again so that he could play prince charming and let Carla out of the cab.

Peter and Carla had found it very difficult to keep their hands off of each other in the cab, in fact they had barley managed it and as Steve drove off Peter pulled Carla towards him suddenly and kissed her hungrily on the lips.

"Hmmm something tells me there's gonna be a lot of this tonight." Carla said as Peter rested his hand on the bottom of her spine.

"Absolutely." Peter said taking Carla's hand with his free one. "Let's go inside eh?" Peter led Carla to the doors of the restaurant and they both went inside.

They spoke to a waiter who pointed out a candle lit table which was in front of a leather sofa, Peter nodded at it and as they walked over to it Carla gazed around the restaurant, when she actually saw where they were being sat, she turned and smirked at Peter.

"Oh well, trust you to pick somewhere like this Peter Barlow, any excuse to get me by candle light and next to you on a sofa." She said as the waiter handed them menus and said he would be back to take their orders in a little bit. Carla sat down on the sofa happily and crossed her legs with the menu in hand.

"And how did I know they were gonna sit us ere eh?" Peter said sitting down next to Carla. She still was smiling away at him, they were both so glad that they were finally able to be a couple again, that everyone else around them seemed to fade right out of the picture.

They both began to look at the menus although every so often they would look up at each other and grin stupidly. Eventually they made their drink orders with their waiter and got very comfortable on the sofa they had been giving to sit on.

"So... tell me about ya self then." Peter said as their drinks were soon brought over, Carla had ordered a bottle of fizzy water, she knew that Peter didn't really mind her having a few drinks but she didn't want _anything_ to spoil their night. She laughed at Peter and shrugged "I'm serious… tell me about your self."

"Tell me about ya self?" she scoffed, shaking her head and still laughing at the suggestion that he didn't already know everything about her.

"Hey stop laughing at me, I'm trying to make this like a proper first date, y'know, one where you get to know each other's likes and dislikes..."

"But you already now me likes and dislikes." Carla said

"I can't know all of em…" Peter said, "There must be something we haven't discussed since I got back…" Carla thought for a moment and then grinned

"Oh I know… I can tell ya who me favourite member of One Direction is, if you want?"

"Really?" Peter frowned

"Yes really…" Carla said watching Peter's disappointed expression "What?"

"I gotta say I wasn't actually expecting you to actually ave a favourite member of One Direction." Peter said rather stunned because that kind of cheesy pop music was definitely not Carla's kind of thing.

"Yeah... I'm sensing a little judgement from you if I'm honest." Carla grinned

"Well your senses would be correct." Peter joked,

"Hey... blame Amy, she was going on about them for ages to me last time I was over the pub, She forced me to pick one."

"Yeah yeah, Sure… I bet you'll be front row at their next concert." Peter said playfully.

"Oh give over!" Carla said giving Peter a little poke. "and just FYI me favourite one is Liam… and the name is just coincidence by the way." She thought Peter might have found it a bit funny that she had chosen the one member of the band that shared the same name with her old flame but he hadn't seemed to notice at all.

"Liam... Which one's he?" Peter asked although he was oblivious to what any of them even looked like.

"The fit one." Carla shrugged, leaning forward and taking a sip of her drink.

"Oh the fit one… Yeah that helps." Peter said "He's not the one who has all the curly hair is he?"

"No way…" Carla scoffed putting her drink back down on the table. "But enough about One Direction, come on then you, your turn, tell me something about your self, something I don't know yet."

"Okay... and watch me do this whole first date thing properly…" Peter said with a smirk, obviously ready to fascinate Carla with some new information about himself, Carla laughed silently to herself as Peter continued "So I went swimming on the weekend..."

"Oh did you now? How fascinating..." Carla smirked

"Well the thing is, On Friday I'd had this awful disaster date..." Peter began

"Oh really? What was she like?" Carla asked

"Oh she were incredibly beautiful but I was incredibly stupid and it didn't end well. So I had a lot of frustration that I just wanted to work out but I didn't want to run into my date at the gym... so that's why I went for a swim instead and anyways whilst there I found myself signing up for this Swimathon thing."

"A Swimathon? Are you serious?" Carla said surprised as Peter nodded at her proudly,

"Yep... I had just finished a rather long swim, when this woman said she had been watching me for a while and that she thought I'd be interested, at first I said no but she told me a bit more and it is for charity, so I said yes in the end." Carla raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Peter and then said,

"She was watching you swim? Who is this woman? Am I gonna ave to go and ave a word with her?" Peter felt as if Carla was joking but she still had a slight tone of seriousness to her voice, a tone of envy, one that he just couldn't get enough of.

"Now now don't get jealous... She's only one of the lifeguards." Peter said with a chuckle.

"Hmmmm I still don't like the sound of her to be honest. I mean what's she watching you for? Shouldn't she be scanning the pool for potential drowning?" Carla joked but properly this time. "I'd be a little concerned that the woman who is supposed to be responsible for saving lives, is that easily distracted by you Peter." She added

"Well can you blame her?" Peter grinned "I mean I'd watch me too if I were her..." Peter watched as Carla's eyebrow raised

"Ave you always been this full of yourself?" She grinned

"I think so..." Peter said grinning back at her "You should come with with me sometime, see me in action."

"Me?" Carla scoffed "No way... I mean I can't be dealing with the all the chlorine messing with my hair for one, if I'm not on holiday it's so not worth it."

"Well you can wear a swimming hat." Peter suggested although he knew what Carla would think about that idea too.

"A swimming hat? never... besides me and you... half naked in a open stretch of water... Yeah I don't think we'd get much swimming done to be honest." Carla smiling at Peter in a way that was totally suggestive. "So when exactly is this Swimathon then?" Peter thought for a moment and then shrugged.

"I'm not actually sure what the date is, I better double check the next time I go swimming eh, wouldn't want to miss it."

"Honestly Peter..." Carla said rolling her eyes "Trust you not to know when your supposed be doing something so important… hey can I come and watch?" Carla asked, she was immensely excited at the idea of spurring Peter on at something, especially if it was going to be in front of others.

"Of course you can..." Peter said with a grin "You can be me little cheerleader."

"Oh and you'd like that wouldn't you." Carla said smirking and leaning in for a kiss "Maybe I'll get me self all kitted out in the little uniform n everything." Peter nodded at Carla and kissed her back passionately, they were both in their own little world and they only stopped kissing when their waiter came back to their table and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Are... You two ready to order yet?" He asked, Carla shook her head and laughed as they had got so caught up in their conversation and then their kisses that they had forgotten to even look at the menu again after ordering their drinks. "I'll come back later then shall I?" the waiter said, he was more than used to couples getting slightly carried away whilst they waited for service.

"Do we ave to eat? Can't we just down our drinks and then leave?" Carla asked with a naughty grin. She was desperate to get Peter back to her place and it was obvious to him and everyone else, as she edged closer to him.

"Oh yes... We certainly have to eat, you're gonna need lots of energy for what I've got planned later." Peter said returning the naughty grin. Carla giggled excitedly and opened the menu.

After much deliberation Carla had decided what she wanted to eat, there were many delicious looking things on the menu but after seeing the cod fish finger sandwich she closed the menu and said,

"Right I know what I'm getting, come on Peter order up." Peter looked up and raised an eyebrow

"My my, we are in a rush to get home aren't we?" He smirked but he closed the menu and decided that he was going to have the steak. The waiter came over and they ordered their chosen meals, Peter was grinning at Carla again as the waiter walked away.

"What?"

"Did you really just order a fish finger sandwich?" He asked watching her as she crossed her legs towards him. She nodded

"Yeah... me and Rob used to eat them all the time when we were kids, they were quick and easy to make, not to mention pretty cheap." Carla said almost reminiscing about how her Mum would go out with their latest uncle and leave her and Rob alone, they'd have something easy to eat like a fish finger sandwich, which Carla had made for them and then they would just be free to do what they want, When Carla thought about it she used to prefer it when her Mum was out of the house, it was a hell of a lot more peaceful than when she was in it.

"You can take the girl out the council estate eh?" Peter said taking Carla's hand and bringing her back to the here and now. She looked down at it happily, She was still so glad that she and Peter were out on their second "first proper date." But soon enough she couldn't help but wonder something, "Carla…" Peter said as she bit down on her bottom lip. "What is it?" he asked, he had been watching her and he was clearly able to tell that she was troubled about something.

"Can I ask you something? About when you left Weatherfield?" Carla asked a little anxiously, Peter nodded so she swallowed and then continued "It's about when you were in Portsmouth... was there anybody else? Like did you date anyone else or maybe have another girlfriend?" Carla had been desperate to ask this question for months but she had never got around to it because she felt as if it would be awkward and also that it was none of her business because they were supposed to be friends and nothing more.

"No, No I didn't date anyone, I didn't even look at another woman... Scouts honour." Peter said truthfully, he waited for a moment and as Carla nodded and smiled at him, he asked "How about you?"

"Me? Oh I had a long line of men queuing up around the block for me..." Carla joked with a smirk.

"Seriously Carla..." Peter said watching her as she eventually shook her head.

"No there was no else." She said quietly, knowing that Peter would be thrilled at this news.

"Good…" Peter grinned "So I guess that means it's been a hell of a long time since we've both had some action then..." He said licking his lips slightly at the exciting thought of being able to get Carla alone soon.

"It sure has..." Carla said nodding and thinking the exact same dirty thoughts as he was.

The food came after another fifteen minutes or so, Carla started eating her fish finger sandwich straight away and she was long done before Peter had finished his steak. She watched him as he ate and every so often she would lean over and steal some of his chips.

"Oi!" Peter said grinning, "You really need to stop pinching my chips and order some of your own."

"Why can't you share? You've got loads of food you greedy little so n so." Carla said picking up her drink and taking a sip. After she had finished her drink she decided to delve deep into Peter's mind and asked him "So... what took ya so long then?"

"What d'ya mean?" Peter asked,

"To kiss me, I mean you were back ere for ages before you went for it… then again I were the one who kissed you in the end." Carla said

"Well at first I though that me and you needed to just stay as friends, and that if I kissed you then it would make you mad and I really didn't want to do that, I didn't want to lose you again… but then one day I just decided that I was gonna go for it… once I knew that you were also desperate for me to kiss you that is." Peter grinned at Carla "I kept waiting because I guess I just wanted it to be this perfect moment."

"So when did you _know_ that I wanted you to kiss me then?" Carla asked intrigued.

"Well I never really did if I'm honest, I just got a bit brave on Halloween and well the rest is history." Peter said still grinning away at Carla.

"D'ya remember that night I stayed over?" Carla asked referring to the time she'd seen Ken out in the early hours and helped Peter take him home.

"How could I forget? I've been hoping to recreate it ever since."

"Well… when me and you were snuggled up in that delightful little sofa bed of yours, I were desperate for you to kiss me then and that night after the quiz night… pretty much every night since then to be honest."

"Really?" Peter asked a little taken aback because that night Carla had stayed round really was a while ago now.

"Yep, n before you say it, I didn't kiss you because I wanted it to be you to make the first move, just so I could be sure that it was really want you wanted." Carla said.

"Well no wonder it took us so long, I mean that were pretty much what I was thinking." Peter said. Carla smiled at him and then cheekily took another chip off of his plate. Peter gave her a slightly dark look and said, "You know you are so lucky that you're the love of my life."

"You're taking ages, think of it as me helping you eat faster." Carla said but she was smiling like mad, at Peter's last comment. Love was something that they hadn't spoken about yet but she was definitely feeling it as they sat there together by candlelight.

"There you go again, trying to rush off home." Peter said as he started eating his own food again. "Oh and speaking of home, I'm viewing a new flat tomorrow, if it's nice the guy said I can move in as soon as I want."

"And where is this flat may I ask?" Carla said a little concerned that Peter wasn't going to be across the road from her any more, especially as they had just got back together.

"It's literally around the corner from Coronation Street, not far I promise." Peter said upon Carla's expression.

"Ohhh well it's all happening for you aint it?" Carla said smiling at Peter "Does ya Dad know that you're planning on moving out?"

"No… I haven't mentioned it to him yet." He said, Ken had said that he'd been feeling rather ill earlier when Peter had originally sat down to tell him that he might be moving out so Peter decided to save it for another time. He was more than grateful to his Dad for letting him stay but he knew that he had to make it own his own, especially now him and Carla were back together.

They had talked all through the rest of Peter's meal, they spoke about the days they'd had at work and it turned out that they'd both been thinking about each other for almost the entire day. Carla then told Peter about her conversations with Roy and Simon the day before. Peter almost teared up when he heard that Simon told Carla that he loved her, He was immensely relived that Simon really adored Carla, it was a very nice change compared to the first time around when Simon pretty much hated her.

By the time Peter was finished his steak, Carla was ready to eat again and had been eying up the many desserts that other people in the restaurant were having, so when the waiter came to take their plates and Peter went to ask for the bill, Carla said,

"Hey what's the rush? I want a pudding." Peter grinned and nodded as the waiter brought over the menu again.

"Really? I thought we could save dessert until later." He said as Carla read over the puddings that were available.

"So I'll ave two then…" Carla said smirking, as it was her turn to take her time and make Peter wait. In the end she chose a chocolate brownie and Peter said that he was fine but when Carla's dessert actually came, it was his turn to try and steal her food because the chocolate brownie she'd ordered looked truly scrumptious and as the waiter set it down in front of her, Peter regretted not ordering one for himself.

"Ohhh thank you…" Carla said and she picked up the spoon excitedly, the brownie was served with Ice Cream and a chocolate flake and before Carla had even had the chance Peter had snatched up the chocolate flake. "Oi!" Carla laughed as he bit into it "You cheeky…" Peter suddenly leant forward and popped the rest of the chocolate flake into her open mouth.

"Now you know what it's like when people steal your food." He said as Carla half giggled and half chewed the chocolate that had been forced into her mouth by Peter, he then kissed her not even giving her chance to finish eating, She giggled into his kiss and he then moved his mouth towards her ear and whispered "Now hurry up and eat because I'm not sure I can wait any longer to get you alone."

"Then you better call us a cab so that we don't have to stand outside and wait for it." Carla whispered as Peter kissed her on her neck, She soon wriggled away from him a little because even she could see that they were on the verge of getting carried away again. She went back to eat her pudding as Peter called a cab

"Should we say half n hour Carla?" He asked as Carla was still making her way through the ice cream and had barley started on the actual brownie part, She nodded and when the waiter came by she asked him for the bill so that they could pay for it now and once she was done they could just get up and leave.

"So this cab thing…" Carla said as she reluctantly let Peter pay for their meal. "Why are we really getting a cab home?" she asked as she continued to finish her brownie.

"As I said, it would have been dangerous for me to drive with you sat next to me looking like that." Peter said grinning at Carla in a way that made her sure he wasn't being entirely serious.

"Why don't I believe you?" She asked him as she finished her pudding, she had a suspecting eyebrow raised at him as she spoke and Peter knew he'd have to tell her the truth.

"Okay so I lost my car keys…" Peter admitted "and I didn't say anything because I don't want any getting old jokes off of you." He said watching Carla as she laughed at him.

"You're such a pillock Peter." She said shaking her head at him fondly, "So… is Steve coming to get us then?"

"No I didn't call Street Cars, I called this other company that we use at work." Peter said

"No Street Cars? Oh you traitor..." Carla joked, "What on earth would Steve say if he knew?"

"Steve would probably be glad to be honest, because the idea of me and you sitting in that cab and behaving ourselves is becoming a very unrealistic one." Peter said as Carla moved up on the sofa and put an arm underneath his and around his body.

"Hmmmm I think you're right there." She said as he pulled her close, She sighed peacefully as he cuddled her. Both of them stayed in a serene state whilst they waited for their cab, "Thanks for dinner." Carla said after a while, Peter kissed her on the forehead and shook his said softly

"No… thank _you_."

"Me? What for?" Carla said looking up at Peter little confused,

"For a second chance." Peter said looking down at her, besotted. Carla smiled at him warmly and was about to kiss him when Peter's phone started ringing on the table. "That'll be the cab." Peter said and Carla suddenly jumped off the sofa.

"Let's roll." She grinned, grabbing Peter's hand and practically dragging him out of the restaurant.

Luckily for Carla and Peter their cab driver wasn't even paying any attention to the fact that they were all over each other.

Hands were everywhere, kisses everywhere and every so often Carla had to remind Peter that they weren't technically alone. They got dropped of at Victoria Court and Peter practically threw the money at the driver, before getting out of the cab and saying

"Keep the change mate." He joined Carla on the pavement, She was stood with one hand on her hips and her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Well thanks for a lovely evening…" She said as if she was about to walk away from him, Peter shook his head at her and pulled her towards him for about the a hundredth time that night, he was desperate to drag her upstairs to her flat but of course Carla seemed to be trying to tease him. "We should really do it again sometime."

"Yeah we should…" Peter breathed excitedly, he wasn't sure how much longer he could cope with this game that Carla seemed to be playing with him.

"So… I'd say that was a pretty good first date then wouldn't you?" She said as he ran a wondering hand through her hair and down her back.

"It was perfect…" Peter said resting his hand on the small of her spine, Carla put her arms around his neck and grinned

"So… if it was perfect… does that mean we can get naked now?" Carla asked seductively, she was just as desperate as Peter was for them to be alone. She was barley able to think straight as she stood in front of him.

"Absolutely." Peter breathed but their hunger for each other seemed to be something that had to wait because there was an unexpected shout and then the door to The Rover's flew open.

"What's going on over there?" Carla asked staring ahead of her, Peter turned around to see Liz McDonald shouting at her boyfriend Tony at the top of her lungs, She pushed him away as he tried to take hold of her and screamed

"Leave me alone!" Carla and Peter both made their way over to the arguing pair although both of them regretted it instantly.

"What's going on?" Peter asked Liz,

"Oh why don't you go and ask your sister!" Liz cried "She's the one who's been sleeping with him for months." Liz said. Carla and Peter looked stunned whilst Tony looked ashamed. Liz then looked furiously at Peter "I guess it runs in the family eh." She said to him bitterly, She then turned to Carla and said, "I'd watch him if I were you." and with that Liz opened the door to the pub and went inside. Peter swallowed a little taken aback by what Liz has said to him and Carla.

The way he was feeling now was a far cry than he was thirty seconds ago.

"Tracy Barlow? Tony what the hell were you thinking?" Carla asked, not understanding why he would do such a thing to Liz, Tony just shrugged at her and said a rather pathetic

"I don't know…" He then looked at Peter who was also staring at him in the disgusted way as Carla was. "Don't _you_ even think about judging me either." Tony said to Peter and he then went back into the Rover's after Liz. There was a hideous moment of silence, before Peter started storming towards his Dad's house.

"Peter, What are you doing?" Carla asked as he got his keys out.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going in there n see what the hell Tracy thinks she's playing at." Peter said and he opened the door to number one and shot inside. Carla sighed heavily and followed him inside. She closed the door behind her, She heard Peter tell Amy to get upstairs and go to bed.

"Erm… don't tell my child when to go to bed." Tracy said rather taken aback by Peter's tone as Carla entered the back room. Ken was sat on the armchair reading a book and had looked up upon hearing his son's angry tone of voice.

"Trust me Tracy you do not want her down here for this." He said firmly. Tracy could tell by the look on Carla's face that this was something serious, so she rolled her eyes and reluctantly told Amy to go upstairs. Once Amy had left the room Tracy said

"Go on then, what is it?" She was sighing and tutting at Peter as if she was expecting him to come out with something trivial and unimportant.

"We've just seen Liz…" Peter began,

"Poor you." Tracy laughed cruelly.

"She said you and Tony have been having an affair for months." Peter said, Tracy soon stopped smirking and Ken put his book down and looked at his daughter, absolutely appalled.

"What!" he said standing up, Tracy dithered slightly and then just shrugged,

"Ahhh well it's about time he told her." She said casually, as if it were not a big deal that her family had found out about her and Tony's affair.

"Unbelievable…" Carla said shaking her head at Tracy, "Peter... can we just go back to mine please." She then asked, wanting to get away from what was obviously going to be a very unpleasant situation. Liz was not someone who was going to take this sort of thing lying down and Carla thought that she would probably be round at any minute to have it out with Tracy.

"No we aren't going anywhere…" Peter said staring at his sister, He was still a little pissed off at what Liz had said to him about cheating running in the family and he also wanted to know why Tracy had even gone there with Tony in the first place.

"Tracy how could you do such a thing?" Ken asked still completely shocked by this revelation.

"Oh yeah put all the blame on me and none on the man who was actually in a relationship." Tracy said getting up off her chair,

"What Tony does is no business of mine, you're my daughter Tracy and I cannot believe you could stoop so low." Ken said

"Really Dad?" Peter scoffed because Tracy was famous for doing things most people wouldn't dream of. "Y'know the more I think about all this the less of a shock it actually is." Carla bit her lip and said

"Peter…maybe we should just leave your Dad and Tracy to get on with this alone." She still wanted to get her and Peter out of the whole thing quick, especially since the evening had gone so well and this whole Tracy and Tony thing was completely ruining it.

"No! You go if you want to, but I'm staying right ere." Peter said sharply, Carla sighed irritatedly and shook her head at him. She knew what would be coming if they stayed but she also didn't want to just walk out on Peter so she just remained standing awkwardly in the door way.

"Tracy I am still waiting for an explanation…" Ken said still sickened that his daughter could do something like this, he thought she had changed since losing her mother but obviously not.

"Well what can I say? Maybe if Liz kept her man satisfied he wouldn't have to come running to me would he?" Tracy said still finding the situation all rather amusing.

"You do realise that Liz is Amy's Grandmother Tracy…" Carla said watching her in awe.

"Oh Carla be quiet this is _so_ none of your business." Tracy said sighing

"Tracy…" Peter said but Tracy wasn't impressed with him getting involved either.

"Oh don't you start preaching as well Peter, I mean not after everything you've bloody done." Tracy said and she went into the kitchen, Ken followed her still on her case leaving Peter and Carla alone in the back room.

"Can you believe her?" Peter said almost laughing as he turned to Carla.

"Yeah I can actually, She's right, you ave no business having a go at her for this whole Tony thing, especially when you ave done exactly the same thing, more than once." Carla said bluntly. She was done with trying to tip toe around the subject, she wanted to leave and Peter had made them stay, she wanted to leave because she knew that this would have happened if they stayed, She knew that Peter's cheating past would have got brought up and she had really wanted to spare him that.

"I'm sorry… are you actually throwing Tina in my face?" Peter said stunned and crushed that after the incredibly beautiful evening they'd had, that this was now happening. Carla nodded at him honestly and then sighed,

"I may be throwing Tina in your face but I'm also throwing _us_ in your face Peter, I mean after all, its how we started isn't it?"

"That's completely different Carla, me and you fell in love, Tracy's just playing games as she always does…" Peter said shaking his head "What I did is a totally different situation."

"So… did ya love Tina then?" Carla asked a little nervously but still moving closer to Peter all the same, He shook his head at her slowly and then said,

"Carla don't…" He was clearly beginning to get very upset at this new topic of conversation and Carla knew it.

"And how do you know that Tracy and Tony aren't in love?" She asked even though the mere thought of Tracy and Tony being in love was ridiculous.

"Oh please…" Peter mumbled as Carla stopped in front of him.

"Well either way, us aving an affair because we were in love doesn't make it any better than you and Tina, or Tracy and Tony." She said, she was trying to remain confident but all this talk of affairs and Tina made her want to cry.

"I know that." Peter said gruffly and he took off his coat, He sat down on the armchair that Ken had been sat on. "Tracy mentioning me cheating was still a cheap shot though."

"Peter… I knew this would happen. I knew one of them would ave mentioned it sooner or later which is why I wanted to get you out of ere..." Carla said softly "We've had an amazing night and now it's been totally ruined."

"I'm sorry Carla…" Peter began "It really has been a fantastic night, I wished we had just gone straight to yours and ignored Liz and Tony." he said sighing, he looked into the kitchen which was now empty as Tracy had stormed into the back yard to try and escape Ken, only he'd followed her.

Their voices could be heard arguing outside for a while and at first Carla and Peter just kept quiet so that they could listen to everything that was being said

"You don't have to stay you know, I can't imagine you're enjoying listening to me Dad and Tracy argue." Peter eventually said after a few minutes of Tracy and Ken's quarrelling.

"Yeah well you don't ave to stay either…" Carla said softly "You could come back to mine and we could continue with our date." She was trying to get some sense of the desire they'd had for each other earlier back but Peter just shook his head dismally. Five minutes ago he was on cloud nine and now he had been reminded of everything he had done wrong in the past few years and he was also reminded how evident it was, that people were still judging him for it.

"No I shouldn't leave me Dad to be honest…" He said Carla nodded and hesitated before knowing what to do next, She could tell Peter was still wounded about what had been said to him by Liz and Tracy and all she wanted to do was comfort him and make him feel better. She bent down in front of him, so she could speak to him face to face.

"Look Peter… I want you to…" Carla began but suddenly they both heard a blood-curdling scream from the back yard.


	25. Betrayal & Trust

Carla and Peter both jumped at the sound of the unexpected scream. They both stood up in shock as Tracy came running into the house, absolutely stricken and almost in tears, they both knew that something must have been horribly wrong.

"Peter quick, its Dad!" Tracy shouted, waving Peter over to the door.

Peter felt sick to the stomach when Tracy said the words _it's Dad_.

"What happened?" He cried, running into the back yard followed by Carla, He stopped so suddenly that she practically crashed right into the back of him.

They were both horrified to find Ken lying flat out, on the cold ground. His eyes were closed and the sight, forced Peter to suddenly drop down to his knees. Carla put her hand over her mouth as Tracy started crying. Peter bent down to check his Dad's breathing and cried,

"Tracy what the hell happened?"

"I don't know one minute we were talking and the next… he just clutched his chest and then he dropped to the ground." Tracy sobbed, with tears streaming down her face as Peter had his head close to his father's chest. Carla, who had been watching the whole thing, got her phone out of her pocket.

"Peter… I'll call an Ambulance." She said as he then sat up straight and took a huge sigh of relief when he realised that Ken was still breathing.

"Peter is he breathing?" Tracy asked, still distraught from the shock of seeing her Dad collapse so suddenly in front of her.

"Yes…" Peter said, feeling a little short of breath himself. He didn't want to move his Dad in case of doing more injury but he knew he needed to put him in the recovery position. Peter was also desperate to see if his Dad had somehow hurt himself on the way down and took another look at him, before gently moving one of his arms.

"Don't move him." Tracy said, wiping her nose and bending down to join them both on the floor. Peter began putting his Dad gently in the recovery position anyway, ignoring what Tracy had just said to him, "Peter!"

"Shut up Tracy!" Peter snapped as Carla had now got through to the emergency services and was talking to them.

Peter watched Tracy whilst Carla spoke into her phone. Tracy's bottom lip wobbled as she caught Peter's gaze as he shook his head at her.

"Please Peter, don't look at me like that." She said wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I knew he wasn't feeling good earlier…" Peter sighed, feeling guilty for going out with Carla when he'd seen that his Dad was poorly beforehand. "I should ave known better than leaving you with him, I should ave stayed home."

"This isn't my fault…" Tracy sobbed, she glanced at Carla who was still on the phone and asked, "Are they coming?" Carla was mid conversation by this point and just nodded at Tracy as she continued talking down the phone.

"Yes, yes… we've already done that…" Carla said, looking at Ken who was still out cold but now in the recovery position thanks to Peter. "Look I don't know, I'm gonna pass you on to his daughter, She was with him tonight and can probably tell you more." Carla said because the woman on the phone was asking her all sorts of questions about Ken's health and she assumed that Tracy would have a better idea of how he was feeling seeing as she'd been sat in with him the whole night.

Tracy took Carla's phone off her and stood up clumsily as she spoke into it.

"Hello…" Tracy began as Carla went and took her place on the floor next to Peter. He was holding of one of Ken's hands tightly and was looking down at him worriedly.

"I hope he's alright…" Peter said biting his lip anxiously, "God I feel so useless."

"Darlin you put him in the recovery position." Carla said supportively "You did everything we were supposed to do." She said and she stayed next him supportively until Tracy eventually hung up the phone. Peter looked up at her

"What's going on then? Are they on their way?" He asked, Tracy nodded and then started to cry uncontrollably.

"Tracy what did they say? What should we do?" Carla asked

"They said…" Tracy cried "They think he might ave had a … heart attack." Tracy then continued to cry hysterically after saying the word heart attack. Peter shook his head in disbelief and looked like he was about to cry himself.

"Baby don't panic…." Carla said as Peter sniffed hard and began breathing rigidly. "They said might, that just means that they don't know yet." Peter took a deep breath as he tried very hard to stay in control of the situation. All his senses were telling him to panic but he knew that he had to try to remain strong for his own sake as well as his family's.

"They said if he wakes up, then we need to keep him calm and make sure he doesn't move to much, just incase he has hurt himself." Tracy said bending down and still crying her eyes out. The back yard was rather crowded with the three of them all on their knees with Ken still flat out.

"If he wakes up?" Peter sobbed, his brown eyes going wide at the frightening prospect of his Dad not waking up.

"We can't loose him too." Tracy said almost chocking on her tears "Not after Mam..."

"Right that's enough to of this, Tracy you said when your Dad wakes up he needs to be kept calm right? Well he's not gonna be calm if he sees you pair, sat ere crying like babies is he?" Carla said as more tears fell from Peter's eyes, she reached over and took his hand. "Come on both of you, stop this silly noise now."

Peter nodded gratefully at Carla, knowing that she was only trying to help keep him and Tracy calm. He looked down at his Dad and it was almost as if Carla might have seen this coming because Ken suddenly opened his eyes. He gazed blearily at his surroundings, coughed and said,

"Peter?" Tracy, Carla and Peter all breathed a gigantic sigh of relief at the sight of Ken being conscious again.

"Dad!" Peter cried, "An Ambulance is on its way okay?" He said, still holding lovingly onto one of Ken's hands.

"Dad, are you okay? Where does it hurt?" Tracy asked worriedly,

"I'm not really sure…" Ken said and then he tried to move but Peter shook his head at him.

"No, Stay there Dad, let the paramedics sort you out." He said.

The ambulance arrived shortly after, Carla went and met the paramedics out front and led them out to the back yard. They spoke to Ken about what happened and praised Peter for putting him in the recovery position. They then explained to Ken that they would have to take him to the hospital for some tests and as they put him onto a stretcher and brought him out to the front of the house, Carla, Tracy and Peter realised that the ambulance had attracted the attention of many passers by.

"Can we come in the ambulance with him?" Tracy asked as they loaded Ken onto it, one of the paramedics nodded but said "Well I'm afraid there is only space for one of you." Tracy looked at Peter desperately but he said,

"No way, I'll go"

"Peter please…" She cried but he shook his head adamantly.

"Tracy don't worry, I'll drive us up there." Carla suggested "Come on we'd better go get Amy and take her next door."

"Good idea." Peter said and then he pulled Carla towards him for a quick kiss before getting in the back of the ambulance. Tracy then started bawling again as it drove away from Coronation Street.

"Come on Tracy, stop that." Carla sighed, "We've got to go and sort out Amy, do you really want her to see you like this?"

"No." Tracy shook her head

"Come on then." Carla said as Tracy followed her back inside number one.

Tracy got Amy from her room and explained that her Granddad was feeling ill so they had to call an Ambulance for him. Amy had a million questions but Tracy just couldn't seem to answer any of them properly, Carla sighed, took Amy gently by the hand. She told Amy that everything was going to be all right, that they would take her to stay at her Dad's and then go to the hospital to be with Ken. Amy felt somewhat relived at Carla's calm state and nodded at her as she spoke.

It was only when they all left Ken's house that Carla realised that given the situation with Liz, taking Tracy into the Rovers would probably not be a good idea at all.

"I reckon you should probably wait by my car." Carla said pointing over at her flat where her car was parked, Tracy nodded dejectedly and began making her way over to Victoria Court.

"Why's my Mum not coming in?" Amy asked, Carla hesitated for a moment but then said a very convincing,

"She's just very upset about your Granddad that's all, we don't need the whole pub seeing her like that do we?" Amy nodded at Carla and the then walked into the pub hand in hand. Michelle who was stood behind the bar, saw them both come in and frowned at the sight of them.

"Carla?" She said because the last she had heard Carla was supposed to be on a date with Peter, yet here she was walking in the pub with Amy.

"Hiya Chelle." Carla said softly, making her way straight behind the bar, Liz had come out to help Michelle and when she saw Carla with Amy, she shook her head in disbelief.

"Oh she's not gone and pawned Amy off on you has she?" She asked disgusted. Carla shook her head and made sure she spoke quickly before Liz could say anything else.

"Look, Ken just had a funny turn and he's on his way to the hospital." Carla said quietly, so that only Michelle and Liz could hear.

Michelle and Liz both looked at each other worriedly, they could tell that Carla was probably playing Ken's funny turn down a little, just for Amy's sake because she was stood there, listening to every word. Michelle smiled at Amy bravely and said,

"Amy your Dad's out there, why don't you go and say hi?" Amy nodded and looked up at Carla.

"Bye Carla." She said sadly, she then gave Carla a very surprising and unexpected hug before heading out back to see if she could find her Dad.

"Bye Darlin" Carla said after her, she was a little taken aback that she had gotten such a loving goodbye from Amy because she'd never really showed much an interest in her before.

"What happened?" Michelle asked after making sure that Amy was definitely out of ear shot.

"I'm not sure, me and Peter didn't see it, he were arguing with Tracy. She said one minute he was fine the next he was clutching his chest." Carla shrugged.

"Oh god Poor Ken." Liz said with her hand over her mouth.

"Peter's gone up there with him, I'm gonna drive me and Tracy in a bit, could you watch Amy for us?" Carla asked.

"Of course we can." Michelle nodded.

"You just make sure you let us know about Ken alright." Liz said as Carla waved goodbye to them.

She quickly left the pub and met Tracy outside her building, Tracy didn't say anything as Carla unlocked her car and got inside.

Carla's driving was fast at the best of times but she had actually managed to get the hospital only five minutes after the ambulance had arrived. She parked in the hospital car park as Tracy then phoned Peter to see where he was.

They eventually met up with him in a unit called the ACCU unit. Peter who had been sitting on one of those generic plastic chairs, got up and threw his arms around Carla the moment that he set eyes on her, almost knocking her over in fact.

"Hey…" She said giving him a little peck on the lips, Tracy glanced around where they were stood and then back at Peter who still had hold of Carla.

"Where's Dad?" Tracy asked frantically, Peter then pointed into a room where Ken could be seen lying on a hospital bed, there was a doctor by his side who was attaching various things to his body.

"In there, they are doing something called an ECG? It's to measure his heart or something, it will tell us if it was a heart attack or not." Peter said hoarsely, although he was feeling calmer now that Carla had arrived. He had been going out of his mind sitting there on his own, but he was so much more at ease now that she was now holding his hand supportively.

"Did they say how long it would take?" Tracy asked, staring through the blinds and at the bed that her Dad was now in.

"They said five minutes or so." Peter said sitting back down on the chairs, which were placed outside the room. Carla sat down next to him, as Tracy remained standing up and anxiously staring through the window.

"Why don't you sit down Trace?" Carla said after a while of watching her. "The doctors know what they are doing, your Dad's in safe hands." Tracy sniffed, knowing that Carla was right but she still continued to stand up and watch her Dad through the blinds.

"Feeling guilty are we?" Peter hissed, Tracy turned around in despair and shook her head at her brother.

"Don't Peter… I didn't know this would happen did I?" she said almost in tears again.

"Well how did you think Dad would react to finding out about you having an affair with Amy's almost Granddad?" Peter asked, "I mean he was hardly going to take it well was he? He's not getting any younger Tracy, You really need to realise that your selfish actions always end up affecting all of us." Tracy didn't answer him and just started crying again, much to Peter's annoyance.

Carla watched Tracy wipe her eyes mournfully and sniff as she turned back to face the window, Carla could tell, that for once Tracy was obviously feeling incredibly guilty about what she had done.

"That's it Tracy, just sit there n cry." Peter sighed shaking his head at her in disgust.

"Well what else am I supposed to do eh?" Tracy sobbed. Carla would never admit it to anyone but she was beginning to feel sorry for Tracy.

"Look Peter… I think that Tracy feels bad enough without all of this bickering." Carla said, "All that matters now is that your Dad is okay." Tracy looked a little stunned but she nodded and gave Carla a sad smile.

Peter still wasn't used to Carla and Tracy sort of getting along and he was also still so mad at his sister for what he'd found out earlier but he knew that Carla was right, the arguing was going to get them nowhere.

"You're right… Maybe I am being too harsh." He said nodding at Carla, He then bent his neck, so that his head was rested comfortably on Carla's shoulder. He then looked at his sister who was still distraught and said a very apologetic "Sorry Tracy."

Tracy nodded at her brother tearfully and watched as Carla went and put an arm around him so that she was now cuddling him close. She then kissed him tenderly on the forehead and as Peter moved in even closer to Carla, this was the first time that Tracy had actually realised what had been going on in front of her. It was then that she remembered how she'd seen them kiss at least twice this evening already.

"Are… you two back together?" She asked with an eyebrow raised, Peter looked fondly up at Carla, who was also looking down on him.

It was the first time that someone had asked them this question since they had actually got back together and it felt so wonderful for them to finally say,

"Yes." They'd both said it so simultaneously that they grinned at each other. Peter lifted his head so that he could meet Carla's lips properly. Their lips gently touched and whilst it was quite a timid kiss it was enough for Tracy to screw up her face and say,

"Alright, I suppose I'm happy for ya and all that but there is a time and a place."

Carla giggled and pulled away from Peter but she still kept her arm around him supportively. She could tell that he was still feeling anxious about his Dad and that he was also still hurt about what Liz had said to him before.

"You did good earlier…" Carla said softly, Peter looked at her and said,

"Y'know I don't think I've been that scared in years." Peter said reaching up and holding the hand that Carla had rested on his shoulder,

"Really?" She said surprised.

"Yeah I were petrified…" Peter replied playing with Carla's fingers absent-mindedly.

"Well you didn't show it, you were really calm. I'm proud of you baby." Carla said fondly, Peter smiled back her, even after everything with his Dad there was still a tiny part of him that was overcome with happiness.

"I gotta say, I really love hearing you call me baby again." He said as Carla pulled him in even closer.

"Mmmm well I love calling you baby again…" She started "You ave no idea how many times over the past few months that I almost called you it, It were starting to drive me insane."

"Well now you can feel free to call me baby over and over again." Peter beamed.

"Okay… Baby" Carla said kissing him again. Tracy sighed at the sight of them both and turned her back so she wasn't able to see.

They both stopped kissing very quickly as they knew it really wasn't the time or the place for it. Peter stayed put in Carla's arms though, feeling extremely lucky that he had her support during this difficult time.

After what seemed like forever, a doctor came out of the room that Ken was in and walked over to where Peter and Carla were sat.

"Are you Mr Barlow's son?" He asked, Carla released Peter from her hold and he quickly sat up straight.

"Yes…" He said as Tracy came running over, "What is it? Was it a heart attack?" Peter asked anxiously, the doctor shook his head and said,

"No it wasn't a heart attack, Your father has something called angina." The Doctor explained to the three of them that angina was a heart condition and it was very similar to having a heart attack and a lot of people mistake it for a heart attack. Peter, Tracy and Carla all looked relived as the doctor told them that Ken would be fine but they wanted to keep him in for observation just to be safe and he would have to take some medication in the future to prevent this type of thing happening again.

"Can we see him then?" Tracy asked desperately, The Doctor nodded and said that they could go in and see Ken for a little while. Peter thanked the doctor as they made their way into the room where a fragile looking Ken was laying down in a bed.

"Its just angina." he said as his two children and daughter in law walked cautiously into the room.

"I know…." Peter said still not quite over all the panic he had been feeling earlier on.

"You gave us quite a scare earlier Ken." Carla said as cheerfully as she could, deciding someone had to try and remain positive as Peter and Tracy were still looking anguished, Ken smiled at her weakly and looked at his two children.

"Come on you two, I'm okay. The doctor said so didn't he?" He said holding out his hand for Tracy, She took hold of it and said,

"I'm sorry for everything Dad." She genuinely looked sorry as she spoke and sniffed, as more tears fell down her cheeks.

"Let's not get into all that right now eh." Ken said, still feeling ashamed at his daughter's behaviour but also feeling lucky to be alive. Peter nodded and sat down on the chair next to Ken's bed.

"How you feeling Dad?" He asked watching him carefully.

"A little rough but I'll live…" he said with a slight smile.

"Don't Dad." Tracy said sitting down on the end of his bed. "This is not funny, we were so scared."

"Tracy, I'm fine okay." Ken insisted and he gave her hand a loving squeeze.

* * *

An hour or so had passed by and Peter soon began making some calls to let people know that his Dad was okay. Tracy was still feeling rather emotional about everything and said she was going to the toilet. She left the room just as Carla had come back from the vending machines. She came into the room clutching four small cups of coffee, just as Peter had finished talking to Audrey, He got up and helped Carla with the hot drinks.

"Ta very much." Carla said as he took two of them off of her, Peter put one down on the bedside cabinet for Tracy and began sipping on the other.

"Thanks for this." He said looking over at his Dad who had managed to doze off. Carla sat down on a plastic chair that was on the other side of Ken's bed with her coffee.

It wasn't long before a young, blonde female nurse had come in the room to check on Ken, but when she saw that he was asleep she then began asking Peter how his dad had been. Carla watched as Peter told the nurse that Ken had been fine, even trying to crack jokes. The nurse seemed satisfied that Ken was doing okay, she nodded and said that she would be back to check on him a little later.

As she left Peter caught Carla's gaze, She smiled at him and took another sip of coffee. There was a moment of silence as Peter continued to watch her.

"What?" She asked suspiciously.

"D'ya trust me Carla?" Peter asked a little warily, Carla frowned

"What d'ya mean do I trust you?" She asked, "Is this cause I was watching you talk to the nurse? I was just being nosy Peter, I weren't spying or out." Peter shook his head at her and said,

"No, I was just thinking about earlier, y'know about what Liz had said to you... about watching me." Peter replied.

"You shouldn't pay attention to Liz, Peter." Carla said shaking her head at him "She was just upset, she's bound to say things she doesn't mean." there was another, slight awkward silence before Peter said,

"I realise that, and I also realise that trust is something I ave to earn back but I was just wondering where I'm at… y'know with you trusting me again.

"Well…" Carla said and she shuffled about in her seat for a moment "If we're comparing how much I trust you now with how much I trusted you before… well before everything happened. I'll be mighty honest with you Peter, it's not the same."

"Okay..." Peter nodded understandingly but he couldn't help but look a little discouraged. Carla saw this look, She got up from the chair and walked around Ken's bed, so that she was now right in front of Peter.

"Peter…" She said as she bent down in front of him, so that she could look right into his eyes properly. He was deliberately trying not to look at her and was staring down into his coffee cup instead because he was actually trying hard not to cry. "Baby look at me." Carla said, taking the polystyrene cup from his hands and placing it on Ken's bedside table. Peter finally surrendered and looked up at her. "Just because I said that it's not the same, it doesn't mean that I don't trust you at all." She said "Peter I feel one hundred per cent at ease when I'm around you, I believe every word you say and I know that when I need you, you'll be ere… I am _so_ ready to be your wife again. Now it may not be the same trust as before but baby, it's pretty damn close." Carla smiled holding onto his hands admiringly. Peter sniffed slightly, almost in tears again, his emotions were already all over the place with Ken but now Carla's little speech had really made him feel as if he was worthy of her love again. "Honestly Peter, we've only been back together for what, a day? And you're already getting emotional on me." Carla said getting up off the floor and wiping his cheek. Peter had to let out a little chuckle, he then took Carla by the waist and pulled her onto his lap.

"A day eh?" He said, moving some of her long brown her out of her face and tucking it behind one of her ears. Carla nodded at him fondly and put her arms around his neck "So… is a day too soon for me to say that I am hopelessly in love with you?" Peter asked, holding Carla around her waist and gazing deeply into her eyes. She shook her head slowly and moved so that her forehead was now rested against Peter's.

"I'd say it's never too soon for me to hear that." She kissed him tenderly on the lips, forgetting that they were sat in a hospital and that Peter's Dad was in the bed next to them asleep, or so they thought. Ken woke up just as they stopped kissing and as Carla said, "And just for the record… I'm hopelessly in love with you too." They kissed again this time but with a little more passion, in fact it was a lot more passion and this led Ken to clear his throat awkwardly.

"At the risk of interrupting something…" He said, Carla giggled and stopped kissing Peter.

"Sorry Ken." She said sheepishly as Tracy entered the room again, She rolled her eyes at Carla, who was still sat gracelessly on Peter's lap.

"Oh really, do you two have to?" She cried, going and sitting down on the chair on the other side of the room.

"So I take it you two are back together then?" Ken asked, still watching Carla and Peter, Peter nodded at his Dad joyfully and then looked back at Carla,

"We sure are."

"Well it's about time, I am extremely pleased for you both." Ken said genuinely looking thrilled for them.

"Thanks Ken." Carla beamed.

"So just how long have you two been a couple again then?" Ken asked because he wouldn't have been surprised if it had been a while.

"Oh about a day." Peter said "We aven't actually told many people yet, so other then Michelle and Steve you two are pretty much the first to know."

"Oh and don't we feel honoured." Tracy said dryly. She wasn't jealous of Carla and Peter, just their situation. The affair with Tony was just a power trip, it was just a physical thing and all that seeing Carla and Peter together did, was remind her of being with Rob. "So does that mean your moving back in with her then?" Tracy then asked because as much as she hated to admit it she'd come quite a custom to Peter being around so much, she enjoyed his company and even having Carla over so much had become a lot fun as well.

"Slow down Trace…" Peter said as Carla's eyes widened at the idea of moving back in with Peter so quick. Carla saw his reaction and was relived that they seemed to be on the same page with taking things slowly.

"Yeah we only got back together yesterday." She added just so that Peter knew she was agreeing with him.

"But speaking of moving out, I wasn't going to say anything and I'm thinking that I still shouldn't say anything but… I was supposed to be viewing a flat tomorrow… the guy who owns it said I can move in as soon as possible so if I like it I'll could be gone by the end of this week." Peter said delicately.

"Really?" Ken asked, "That's truly wonderful Peter, You know I'm really proud of you, for turning your life around so well, I can't understand why on earth you wouldn't want to share this news?"

"Well maybe now isn't the time for me to go and move out, y'know now that you're ill and that." Peter said

"Oh don't worry about it Peter," Tracy spat "I'll just look after Dad on me own, y'know, like I did before when you were living it up in Portsmouth." She folded her arms and just shook her head sadly.

"Tracy don't be so ridiculous," Ken said sighing at his daughter's dramatic-ness "Where is this flat then Peter?"

"Two roads away, if that."

"There…" Ken smiled, "He's not going anywhere Tracy, not really." Peter turned to look at Tracy who was still sulking in her chair.

"Don't think she cares to be honest Dad." Peter said but Carla smirked at him and said,

"Oh I think she does…"

"I think your sister is going to miss having her big brother around." Ken said still smiling. Tracy screwed up her face and shook her head at her Dad's totally ridiculous but totally correct suggestion.

"Oh as if, I'll be well shot of him." Tracy lied, hating that her Dad and even Carla could see that she didn't want Peter to move out. Peter watched her for a moment and then asked with a grin,

"Is that it? Are you gonna miss me?"

"No way." Tracy lied again but even she couldn't keep up the tough girl act, especially when Peter playfully shook Carla of his lap and went over to the chair that she was sitting on.

"Come on Tracy be honest… you're gonna miss me, admit it." Peter said and he gave Tracy a little poke in the stomach.

"Would ya stop." She said, "Okay... okay I'm gonna miss ya!" She screeched, giving in as Peter's pokes quickly turned into tickles.

"Ohhh come ere Tracy." Peter said putting an arm around her "I'm gonna miss you too, if that makes you feel any better." Carla rolled her eyes at the sight before her and looked at Ken

"Honestly, he's only going around the corner."

"Yes well around the corner is not the same as having your older brother in the same house as you." Peter said sitting on the arm of Tracy's chair with his arm still around her. Carla watched them fondly and said,

"Y'know I reckon this is the first time I've seen you two like this?" She said, slyly going into her bag and pulling out her phone.

"Well we ave our moments don't we Peter? especially lately." Tracy said smiling up at Peter lovingly.

"There!" Carla said as she snapped the perfect photo of them, "Just in case no one believes me when I tell em that you two actually get along." She grinned looking down at it.

"I think it's sweet that you two are so close these days…" Ken said "Deirdre would have loved to see you both like this." He sniffed sadly.

"She sure would ave." Carla said quietly.

"And she would have loved to see that you and Peter are back together." Ken said smiling at Carla sadly.

"You think so?" She said as Peter nodded in agreement.

"Oh yes definitely." Ken said, "So what does Simon think about all of this then?" He asked, Carla looked at Peter because she was also interested to see what he had to say on the matter.

"Well I aven't seen him since since, but I spoke to him on the phone last night and he sounded like he was over the moon." Peter said happily, he was still thrilled at how close Simon and Carla had become, in fact Peter was sure that it was pretty much because of Simon that the pair of them had managed to get back together.

Peter tried to imagine a world where Simon still hated Carla and the idea of it was so hideous, that he quickly got up and went back over to Carla, She had been leaning slightly forward on her chair but as Peter bent down and kissed her so unexpectedly, her body went right back almost taking Peter with her.

"What was that for?" She asked grinning.

"I'm just ridiculously happy that's all." Peter said.

"Oh it's a good thing you're moving out if you're going to be as soppy as this." Tracy said rolling her eyes heavily.

"Come on Tracy, it's a real joy to see Peter so happy." Ken said as Peter squashed in next to Carla on the chair that she was sitting on. "I must say I can't believe you've only been back together for one day, it really seems as if you were never apart, did you also find out about this today Tracy?"

"Yeah…" Tracy began but then she remembered something, "I mean, Beth told me that yesterday she walked in on them going at it, at the factory but I didn't realise they were an item again." Ken's eyebrows rose at that last comment, Carla shook her head at him and said

"We were not going at anything, I can promise you that Ken."

"Yeah… chance would be a fine thing." Peter teased, nudging Carla in the side.

"And just what are you nudging me for? You were the one who said you wanted to wait until tonight and look what happened eh?" Carla said.

"Tonight?" Ken asked

"Yeah tonight was actually out first date." Carla said as Peter began sipping his coffee again.

"Ahhh I thought you both looked smart… I think you two should probably get going then really." Ken said smiling at them "After all I'm fine now." Peter and Carla both shook their heads as the nurse came into the room.

"I'm really sorry but I'm afraid you'll have to get going in a bit, you've already stayed a lot longer than I should have let you." She said.

"Oh no, me Dad can't be on his own." Tracy said almost in tears again.

"Now Tracy don't be silly, I'll be fine."

"I'll look after your Dad I swear." The nurse said as Carla and Peter both got up off the chair that they were sitting on.

"Come on Tracy." Peter said going and pulling her up off her own chair.

"Bye Ken." Carla said giving him a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye Bye Carla." Ken said hugging her back, he was still feeling rough but he so pleased that Carla had given Peter another chance that he'd forgotten how ill he had felt. Tracy and Peter both said sad goodbyes to their Dad and reluctantly left the hospital.

* * *

It was almost ten minutes later and Carla had driven the three of them home in record time. As they all got out off the car Tracy shook her head and said,

"Honestly… I've never seen driving like that in my life."

"I know right." Peter smirked as Carla locked her car, she rolled her eyes as Tracy and Peter talked about her rather reckless driving.

"Errrr I'll ave you know there is nothing wrong with my driving skills thank you." Carla said.

"Yeah right, I mean that was like an audition for the next Fast And The Furious Movie." Tracy said.

"Hey it's not my fault everyone around ere is afraid to reach the speed limit." Carla said as Peter took her hand and Tracy looked over in the direction of her house sadly.

"I guess I'll trudge home on me own then." Tracy sighed thinking about having to spend the night in the house alone, Carla had been watching Tracy and she still couldn't believe that she felt sorry for her. She thought about how much Tracy would be worrying about Ken tonight and it wasn't even as if she could lean on Amy because she was still next door at the pub of course. Carla knew she'd regret what she was about to say but she knew it was the right thing to do.

"No you won't." she said "Peter will go with ya." Peter, who was rather surprised, nodded all the same.

"Really?" Tracy asked, slightly taken aback because Carla and Peter had barley taken their hands or their eyes off each other the whole night and it truly seemed as they couldn't wait to get each other alone.

"Yes really, you shouldn't have to spend the night at home alone, not after everything that's happened." Carla insisted with a smile.

"Are you coming then?" Tracy asked Peter hopefully, he gave her an enthusiastic nod and said,

"Absolutely, just give me a minute to say goodbye to Carla yeah?" Tracy rolled her eyes for about the a thousandth time that night and nodded.

"Yeah yeah." She said she went to walk away but then she stopped, "Bye Carla… thanks for tonight."

"Bye Tracy and you're welcome." Carla said smiling sincerely at Tracy. Tracy gave Carla a little wave and then started walking towards home.

"You…" Peter said, his arms going straight around Carla's waist. "Are... amazing." Peter said, in between kisses.

"Mmmmmm I know." Carla said, her arms going around Peter's neck.

"Hey why don't you come back to mine too?" He suggested innocently, Carla however, wasn't aware of how innocent this request was and smirked at Peter.

"Yeah... I don't think that's such a good idea."

"I just meant so that we could cuddle." Peter said but Carla shook her head again.

"Oh trust me Barlow, Cuddling is a word that is not within in my vocabulary at the moment." She said with a naughty grin.

"So… tomorrow night then?" Peter asked with half a smile, he wanted to go home with Tracy so that she wasn't alone but he was also devastated that his night with Carla was now cut short.

"I'm afraid I've got a date with your son tomorrow night." Carla said. She and Simon had had these plans for the past few months now but this was clearly news to Peter.

"Oh ave you now?"

"Yes, we are going to see the last Hunger Games movie." Carla said as Peter stroked her hair "We've been waiting for this for months and it's been booked for weeks."

"Well you can always come over afterwards…" Peter suggested.

"Know that does sound like a plan." Carla said shivering as it was almost the early hours now. "Right it's freezing so I'm gonna go inside, call me if you hear anything about your Dad."

"Will do." Peter said before reluctantly letting go of Carla. She almost went to walk away from him but then she stopped.

"Ohhhhhh" Carla then whinged, throwing her arms around him in a dramatic fashion. Peter chuckled as she moaned into his chest. "I don't want to go home alone."

"Hey… this was your idea. Remember?" Peter said holding her close. He desperately wanted her to come back to his Dad's with him but he knew that it would probably make Tracy feel uncomfortable if he and Carla were all over each other the entire time.

"I know." Carla complained, letting go of Peter and pouting. "I guess that's what happens when you try to be a decent human being eh." She sighed giving him one last kiss.

"Night love." Peter said softly.

"Night baby." Carla said and she blew him a kiss before walking into her building.

Peter let out a huge exasperated breath before making his way home and as he got there he saw Tracy waiting for him outside.

"You know you don't ave to do this… you can go up there after her, I'd understand." She said. It had been incredibly obvious how much Carla and Peter had wanted to be alone together and she wouldn't have blamed him if he had turned back and gone to Carla's, but Peter just shook his head and put an arm around Tracy instead. "Seriously Peter, I get it, Carla's important to you."

"And so are you." Peter said giving her a brotherly kiss on the cheek. "Come on, lets go in and put the kettle on eh."


	26. Beginnings & Endings

Ken was discharged from hospital at around midday. Both Peter and Tracy had been at the hospital since visiting hours started and they both made sure that they really fussed over Ken and that he never had to lift a finger.

They were overjoyed with relief when the doctor came and said that their Dad could go, he explained about the medication that Ken had to take from now on and that he should take it easy for the next few days.

Tracy and Peter listened closely and once they had got him home they sat him down in his favourite armchair and put his favourite show on the TV. It wasn't long before Tracy came running in from the kitchen with a cup of tea and Ken was starting to think that he could definitely get used to this kind of treatment.

"Thank you Tracy." Ken said as he sipped his tea, Peter was sat opposite him and was looking at something on his phone, he had phoned work earlier on and to ask if it was possible for him to have the rest of the week off so that he could help to look after his Dad, Peter's boss told him that he was so pleased with all of his new ideas and hard work, that he could take as much time as he needed and that they would even pay him for it. "What time are you supposed to be viewing this flat then?" Ken asked him.

"I dunno… I was just thinking I might cancel it to be honest." Peter said sighing, he knew his Dad would be fine now that he had the correct medication but he still wasn't sure if it was the best time to be moving out after all.

"Why not?" Ken asked frowning, "It's not because of me is it?"

"No…" Peter lied.

"Are you sure? Because I'm telling you I'm fine." Ken said, "and anyway if it's as close as you say it is, you won't be too far if I do need you."

"And I'm ere anyway." Tracy insisted, although she was still not warming to the idea of Peter leaving home again.

"I know you are…" Peter said. He was still trying to think what was best, he desperately wanted to move out. He wanted to be his own man again and also be able to have a room for Simon to stay in whenever he fancied, plus he now had a girlfriend/wife to invite over as well. Peter and Carla were on the verge of sleeping together again and he knew that it defiantly wouldn't possible for him and Carla to have much of a physical relationship whilst he stayed at his Dad's.

"So you will go and see this flat then?" Ken persisted.

"Okay... I'll go and see it but I'm not making any promises." Peter said.

Peter didn't like the flat, he absolutely loved it. It was only two roads away from Coronation Street as promised and upon walking into it Peter knew that it was the perfect place for his new beginning.

It had two bedrooms, one for him and a perfect sized one for Simon, It also had a balcony so he could go out there to have a cigarette and he knew that Carla would love it out there too.

The living room was huge and had an open plan kitchen complete with a breakfast bar. The flat was like a bigger more updated version of the bookies flat he had once lived in and in the fear of someone else snapping it up before him, Peter soon found himself signing the contract.

His new landlord gave him the keys there and then and said that Peter was free to move in whenever he wanted. Peter was still a little overwhelmed at how quickly he had signed the contract but he decided there was really no time like the present and went back to his Dad's to tell him and Tracy the good news.

Ken was delighted that Peter liked the flat and that he was not letting anything stand in his way, he knew that he would miss his son but he was so proud of him and how he'd got his life back on track, that he tried not to show how said he was.

Tracy on the other hand was utterly miserable, she barley said anything when Peter told her and just shrugged and went into the kitchen on her own. She came back in to find Peter sat on his laptop, he had started ordering a few bits of furniture and had roped his Dad into helping him. Tracy watched as Peter and Ken browsed the IKEA website and it wasn't long before Peter had ordered a bed, sofa, wardrobe and a whole load of kitchenware.

"Well that's all the basics I think..." Peter said jotting down all of his orders on a bit of Paper. "Although I'm gonna ave and get a Telly from town in a bit, can't move in without that." He said because there was no way he'd move in before having a TV to watch all his favourite shows.

"Are you okay for money Peter?" Ken asked as he watched all the amounts that Peter was spending, add up.

"Yes Dad, I've been jotting down a budget and don't worry I can afford this, I've got the rent from Barlow's Buys and the flat, I was also saving when I worked down in Portsmouth so please don't worry." He said confidently, but Ken still said,

"Well I can always contribute something to this if you want?"

"No." Peter said shaking his head adamantly "I won't have you do such a thing."

"Oh please Peter, I want to do some thing, At least let me buy you something." Ken said,

"You could buy me something if you want Dad." Tracy said with a slight tone of jealousy to her voice. Ken smiled at Tracy sympathetically and said,

"Oh I will…. When you move out that is."

"Yeah don't hold your breath." Peter joked. Tracy didn't find this joke funny and she got up and left the room in a mood again. "Tracy…" Peter called after her but she just ignored him and stomped upstairs.

"Oh don't worry about Tracy…" Ken said as Peter sighed, "She's just gonna miss you that's all."

"Yeah… I'm not sure that that's it, Dad" Peter said. He was sure there was more to Tracy's behaviour but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"So when are you going to tell Simon about your new place?" Ken asked trying to stay on a more light hearted topic because he knew that Peter was thinking a lot about Tracy and he just wanted him to stay focused on his new flat.

"I already ave, he's gonna come and see it after school."

"And Carla?" Ken asked, Peter smiled widely at the mere mention of Carla's name and said,

"Yes and Carla too."

"Now Peter as I said last night, I'm extremely happy for you but..."

"Yeah, Dad I know what you're going to say, don't hurt her, don't mess this up Peter… Trust me I have no intentions of doing any of those things." Peter insisted.

"Yes Peter but I'm sure you didn't have those intentions the first time around either." Ken said delicately. Peter stopped typing and stared at his Dad, he was offended as it sounded as if Ken didn't believe that he was going to stay faithful to Carla.

"Dad really? Why would you say that to me? I was a mess the first time around, I'd lost the bookies, me ego got bruised and suddenly and I was supposed to be someone's husband, not just some one, Carla's husband. I mean anyone could see that she is way too good for me and I knew it and I freaked out okay. Yes I made the horrible mistake of getting with Tina because of it, but things are different now, I will never ever hurt Carla again, that is a promise." Peter said, in fact he'd almost shouted it. He wanted it to be clear because he meant every single word that he'd said.

"Well I'm glad to hear it Peter but I think you've misunderstood what I'm trying to say to you. I just meant that no one knows what's going to happen in the future and whilst you are on top of the world right now, you may have days where you feel otherwise and I want you to know that if you ever do feel as if you are struggling with anything, I am always here, I'll listen to you and I'll support you through what ever you're going through." Peter's face softened and he realised that his Dad was just trying to be supportive,

"Sorry Dad and Thank you." He nodded and he reached over and gave his Dad a loving hug.

* * *

It was gone five o clock and Peter was busy showing Simon and Carla around his new flat, Simon was overjoyed that he was going to be able to have his own room there and was busy working out where he was going to put things whilst Peter took Carla out into the balcony.

"Oooohhh I love it." She said, She was standing with her back to Peter and looking down, over the balcony, onto the ground that was far below them. It was already dark as the winter months were well an truly upon them, Carla was still amazed to think that it was all the way back in July when Peter had returned and even though the months she'd spent without him, truly were some of the worst months in her life, now that he was back it really did feel like he'd never left.

"I thought you would." Peter said, wrapping his arms around her from behind and snuggling up against her happily. Even with his Dad's hospital scare last night and Tracy's moping about, he still felt euphoric where he and Carla was concerned and he wasn't going to let anyone change that.

"How's your Dad doing?" Carla asked, smiling as Peter kissed her softly on the cheek. She was also just elated as Peter was and snuggled closely to him as he stood behind her.

"He's doing okay, he's got some medication to take but he'll be fine. He's milking it for all it's worth though." Peter chuckled, "When I left he had Amy waiting on him, hand and foot."

"Good… and how's Tracy coping now that you're definitely leaving?" Carla asked.

"Not well if I'm honest, She seems a bit miserable."

"What more than usual?" Carla grinned,

"Yes." Peter smirked "More than usual, I'm gonna invite her over later and have a chat."

"Didn't you two get to talk last night then?"

"Not really, we had a cuppa and then the next time I looked Tracy was spark out on the sofa." Peter said as Simon came running out onto the balcony.

"Hey Dad can I paint my room? I don't like that boring white colour, I want it dark blue." He said, Peter let go of Carla as they headed back inside after Simon.

"I think so... I'll double check with me landlord first though." Peter said as he closed the door to his balcony.

"Cool." Simon said and he ran back into his new bedroom. Peter then opened the door to a room, which was much further away from Simon's one, he ushered Carla right over to it.

"This… is gonna be my room." He said as Carla walked into the very spacious but also very empty bedroom.

"Wow… It's big." Carla said standing in the middle of it and looking around. "So when are you planning on sorting out some furniture for this place then although I see you've got the living room priorities sorted." Carla said, because so far all that Peter had was a very large television, a new Playstation and his laptop. His kitchen was still empty and so were all the cupboards.

"Well the Playstation is more for Simon..." Peter began.

"Mmmmm sure it is." Carla nodded although they both knew Peter was bending the truth slightly and that he loved a good video game just as much as his son.

"Well I ave you know that I ordered a whole load of stuff online earlier…" Peter grinned, "Have a guess what I ordered first."

"Hmmm let me think…" Carla said pretending as if she was actually trying to guess even though the suggestive look on Peter's face made it obvious what he'd ordered first. "It wouldn't be a bed would it?"

"How on earth did you guess?" Peter said, also pretending like it wasn't totally obvious that he had made a bed his first priority. "It's not coming until tomorrow evening though, I'm afraid." Peter said, he was unable to stop himself from invading Carla's space again and wrapped both arms around the middle of her body. Carla breathed in as he pulled her against him and put both of her arms around his neck.

"Hmmm y'know at this rate, I'll make do with the wall…" She said with a smirk.

"The wall eh?" Peter chuckled.

"Well I know you said that you wanted to do things properly but I gotta be honest Peter, I'm dying for a sh-" Carla suddenly stopped talking as Simon came rushing into the empty bedroom. He rolled his eyes at his Dad and Carla when he saw them, he was so happy that they had got back together but he was beginning to get a little embarrassed at the amount of times he was seeming to interrupt these special moments between them.

"Alright Si?" Peter asked,

"Dad... can I get a telly for my room?"

"A telly? Can't you just watch the one in the living room?" Peter asked and Simon frowned at him.

"Yeah but what if I'm over ere and you wanna watch something that I don't wanna watch?"

"Well that's what we would call a first world problem son." Peter said to Simon who was still frowning.

"Maybe Santa will get you one for Christmas." Carla smiled, thinking about how close christmas was getting and that she'd probably be able to spend it with Peter and Simon.

"Santa?" Simon scoffed, he walked out of the bedroom. Carla humorously pushed Peter away from her and followed Simon back into the living room.

"What time is this movie tonight then?" Peter asked as he remembered that Carla and Simon were supposed to be at the cinema later on in the evening.

"Seven." Carla said "but we like watching the previews don't we Si? So we'll make sure we get there early just in case there's a massive queue." Simon nodded as Peter bent down and started unpacking his new television.

"Awww and ere I'll be, all alone…" Peter said almost pouting as he opened the huge box.

"Is that a hint for an invite Dad?" Simon said helping Peter to heave his new television out of the box. "You can come if you really want to."

"Hey, I never said he could come…" Carla said grinning at Simon.

"Oh charming." Peter said as he and Simon had managed to get the telly out of the box and on to the floor, he looked down at it and then at the wall where he was planning for it to have gone, only he hadn't actually bought anything to fix the television to the wall.

"Y'know... I don't think you thought this through baby." Carla said, looking down at the television that was leaning against the wall.

"I was just thinking that." Peter chuckled "The shops will still be open, maybe I'll be able to buy something for it now, you can drop me off on the way to the cinema."

"Oh I can, can I?" Carla grinned as Peter stood up straight,

"Come on if we leave now we might be able to get a quick bite to eat." He said putting on his leather jacket.

"Hmmm you know if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were just trying to muscle in on me and Si's night out." Carla said as Peter went and opened his front door.

"Have you even seen the other Hunger Games movies Dad?" Simon asked as they left Peter's new building. Peter had hold of Carla's hand as they began walking around the corner and back towards Coronation Street.

"No but that doesn't matter, it's not like I'd be watching the film anyway." Peter smirked at Carla just as suggestively as he had done before.

"Errr I actually wanna watch this movie thank you very much." Carla giggled as Peter pulled her close to him and gave her a quick kiss.

"Oh come on, it's been ages since I've been to the cinema, I promise I'll be on me best behaviour." Peter insisted as Simon decided to walk a little further ahead because he was already getting a little fed up of seeing his Dad and Carla snog.

"Yeah right, the last time I went cinema with you Peter, we ended up paying a hell of a lot more attention to each other than we did the screen." Carla said grinning.

"Well that were obviously because the film weren't entertaining enough for us." Said Peter who was still holding Carla's hand proudly.

"Yeah… Peter I don't think we even made it past the trailers." She said, "Besides tonight's all booked remember, you can come but you might not even get a seat, let alone one next to me." Carla reminded.

"Oh yeah." Peter said a little dejectedly.

"Never mind baby, with the size of your new telly, we can have our own private cinema when your new flat is all done up." Carla said sympathetically.

"Sounds like a plan." Peter said and he pulled Carla against him again for another kiss, they were back on Coronation Street by this point and almost crashed right into Michelle who was mid conversation with Simon.

"See..." Simon said as Carla giggled and Peter let go of her.

"See what?" Peter asked as Carla gave Michelle a quick hug. Michelle could instantly see how happy her best friend was, she genuinely looked as if she was on cloud nine.

"Oh Simon was just saying that you two are incredibly loved up." Michelle said with a grin. She had met Carla for breakfast in the morning and had caught up with all of the drama that had unfolded the night before.

If Carla had of told Michelle that she was giving Peter another chance when he'd first come back, she would have been very sceptical of the situation but after all the months they had spent together as friends, Michelle could see that Carla and Peter clearly adored each other and that they just had to get back together. "So where are you all off to then?" She asked.

"Cinema." Simon said excitedly, he and Carla had been looking forward to this movie since July and even though he knew what was coming because he's read the books he was still excited to see how it was all going to be portrayed on the big screen.

"Really?" Michelle said with an eyebrow raised "You're going to the cinema with these two?" Carla shook her head at her best friend and said,

"No it's just me and Si actually, Peter's off to buy a television thingy majigy."

"Oh phew…" Michelle said grinning at Simon "I was gonna say because if you two can't keep your hands off of each other in public then what are you gonna be like in a pitch black cinema?"

"And that my friend, is exactly why this man is not coming." Carla said poking Peter in the arm.

"She's just scared that if I came, she wouldn't be able to keep her hands off of me." Peter said poking Carla back.

"Yeah I really don't need to hear stuff like this." Simon said and he put his hands over his ears with a grin. Carla looked down at her watch and saw that it was almost twenty to six.

"Right we better get going if we wanna make it to the cinema and eat before hand."

"Y'know what... I'll drive myself up to the shops." Peter began "It makes no sense in me getting a lift from you if I then have to get the bus back when I'm done."

"Well you could always hang around and wait for us." Simon suggested but his Dad looked rather unenthusiastic at this idea.

"What and look like Billy no mates? No thanks, besides I wanna go and see Tracy so don't worry, I'll keep me self busy." He said. Carla nodded and Simon gave his Dad a quick hug.

"Well I guess I'll see you later then baby." Carla said going to kiss him on the cheek but Peter quickly moved in for a full on kiss, taking Carla right by surprise. Simon and Michelle both grinned at each other with raised eyebrows as Carla and Peter said goodbye to each other.

"Bye love." Peter said then Carla gave Michelle a quick kiss and after that she started to walk towards her building with Simon so that she could get her car.

"Aww you two seem really happy." Michelle said to Peter as he watched Carla and his son cross the road.

"We are…" Peter said almost entranced by Carla and Simon, who were walking side by side and obviously very excited about the movie.

"How's your Dad?" Michelle asked as her and Peter began strolling down the street.

"Yeah he's doing fine, it were just Angina thank god."

"Yeah Carla told me this morning, I'm so glad it was nothing too serious. What did he say when he heard that you were moving out, congrats on the new flat by the way."

"Ah thanks Chelle. Me Dad's actually fine with me moving out, it's Tracy I'm worried about."

"Tracy?" Michelle exclaimed, "Why?"

"Well she's just been acting a little odd that's all." Peter said lighting a cigarette as he walked alongside Michelle.

"What more odd than usual?" Michelle said, making Peter chuckle because her comment was very similar to Carla's one earlier.

"Yeah… I'm gonna have a chat with her in a bit." Peter said as they got to The Rover's.

"Well good luck Peter." Michelle said before going inside the pub. Peter decided that he would finish his cigarette and then grab Tracy for a chat, he knew that something was wrong with her he just didn't know what.

* * *

Meanwhile at the cinema it was six thirty pm and Carla and Simon were queuing up to get their snacks. They had been stuck in traffic on the way to the cinema and the. It took so long for Carla to find a parking space that they didn't even get the chance to get something proper to eat.

Their film was staring in half an hour and by the length of the queue Simon was beginning to get a little agitated that they might miss the start of the movie.

"You alright Si?" Carla asked him.

"Yeah…" Simon said quietly, he had been standing quietly with his hands in his pockets for a while now and Carla could tell that something was wrong.

"You sure?"

"Yeah… Can I ask you something?" Simon said,

"I dunno you tell me…" Carla grinned as they moved up the never-ending queue to the tills.

"Are you worried? Worried about being with me Dad again?" Simon said awkwardly, he was mighty happy that his Dad and Carla had finally got back together but he couldn't fight the little voice in his head that reminded him that his Dad might mess things up again.

"Are you?" Carla asked him intently.

"I asked you first…" Simon grinned watching Carla closely.

"Well I'm not worried that he's gonna cheat on me again, your Dad has promised me this time will be different and I believe him… I really do. It's just… I'm more worried that things might go wrong in another way and I really don't want to lose your Dad again." Carla said, then she looked at Simon's pained expression, "But it's not a big worry Si, It's not something I've actually thought about too much and I want you to know that Me and your Dad are both determined to make this work."

"Good…" Simon said and then he gave Carla a soft smile. "because I don't want to lose you."

"Trust me Si, even if the worst happened there is no way that I would stop seeing you, that is a promise alright." Carla said putting an arm around Simon.

"Alright." Simon chucked as he and Carla moved down, almost at the front of the queue now.

"So… What d'ya fancy? I'm starving so I think I'm gonna get some popcorn, some ice cream and one of those ridiculously big drinks." Carla said, Simon raised an eyebrow at how much Carla was planning to get.

"I dunno… How much is the popcorn?" He asked as he had twenty pound in his pocket that his Dad had given him earlier.

"Oh don't worry about it, this is my treat." Carla insisted.

"Thanks so much Carla." Simon said giving her a quick hug.

"You're so welcome Si, besides you better start saving, I mean you've got your own girlfriend to take out now avent you?" Carla said with a grin because Simon had finally asked Santana to be his girlfriend and she'd said yes. Simon nodded sheepishly and blushed as Carla had mentioned Santana. "Hey maybe we could double date." Carla joked with her eyes wide.

"Erghh no way." Simon protested "You and me Dad would just spend the whole time kissing, you'd put me and Santana right off our food." Carla laughed and put an arm around Simon, lovingly. "I told Santana that you and me Dad are back together though and she were well made up, She said that you two make a really good looking couple."

"Aww she is so lovely, in fact her whole family is lovely." Carla said as they were almost nearing to the front of the queue.

"Yeah they really are." Simon said quietly.

"Perfect set of in laws eh?" Carla said nudging Simon in the side and grinning.

"In laws?" Simon scoffed, he didn't want to think about getting married yet, he was only twelve.

"I'm kidding Simon." Carla said. Simon just shook his head at her and laughed as they finally got to the front of the queue. Carla ordered them both a drink each, popcorn each, an ice cream for her and some nachos for Simon. Carla paid and as the man who served them handed her the receipt he said,

"There you go, I hope you and your son enjoy the film."

"We will." Simon said smiling excitedly at Carla, She nodded proudly at and as they struggled to carry their stuff to screen number one, where their film was being shown, Carla couldn't help but smile fondly at Simon who she truly did love like he was her own.

* * *

After unintentionally going shopping for yet more things for his flat, Peter had managed to talk Tracy into coming over and helping him fix his new telly onto the wall. She arrived at his flat about fifteen minutes after he'd returned home and looked very unenthusiastic to help him out with this particular task.

"I don't know why on earth you called me over, I'm useless at this kind of stuff." Tracy said as she entered Peter's new home.

"Well I wanted you to see the place." Peter said closing the door behind her. He took her around all of the other rooms and then to the balcony. "So... what do you think?" he asked as he and Tracy were back in his living room.

"Yeah… It's alright." She said shrugging as Peter bent down and sat on the floor, he started getting all of the things that he needed to out up his new TV.

"Come on then…" Peter said ushering Tracy over to where he was sitting. She sighed and went over and sat down with Peter. "So… Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Tracy asked, as Peter began fixing bits of the wall bracket that he had bought, together.

"Well you've been a bit down since last night and I just wanted to know why, I mean is this still because I'm moving out?"

"Oh don't flatter yourself." Tracy scoffed.

"Well what is it then?" He asked, Tracy sighed again and then rolled her eyes at her brother's nosiness, she knew that Peter wasn't going to let her get away with this surly mood for much longer.

"Well it's more you and Carla then you moving out..." Tracy began "Don't get me wrong and I'll deny it if anyone asks but... I really like Carla. It's just… seeing you two together again it makes me sad, I mean your both so happy and makes me remember that I'm just not." Peter watched Tracy sympathetically as she sat before him, he'd never seen her like that before and even though it was upsetting to see, it still warmed his heart to see that even Tracy had a sensitive side.

"You miss Rob don't you?" Peter said softly as Tracy wiped away stray tear that had somehow managed to fall down her cheek. She nodded and sniffed hard,

"Yeah… I know everyone must be thinking that I'm over him because of the whole Tony thing but that was just a power trip, we were just playing games, he was a distraction. Rob was the one." Tracy said

"I know he was." Peter said putting down the bits off the wall bracket that he had been fixing so he could put an arm around his sister instead.

"We were supposed to be married, we were supposed to be happy." She cried, she hadn't meant it to come out the way it had did, like she was blaming Peter for the fact that Rob wasn't around anymore.

"I'm sorry Tracy." Peter said forlornly.

"I'm not…" She said, "I mean I do miss Rob like crazy but if Carla hadn't of ruined my wedding and called the police then... I wouldn't have you."

"Me…" Peter smiled and Tracy nodded.

"Yeah… As much as you get on me nerves and as much as I'll deny saying this as well… I love you so much, I don't know what I would have done without you here over the past few months and I'd choose you over Rob any day of the week."

"I love you too Tracy." Peter said, smiling at Tracy warmly and giving another heart-warming hug. She sniffed once more and wiped her eyes and said,

"I don't want you worrying over me, Okay? I just need to get over me self and concentrate on Amy." Peter nodded at her as she leant forward and picked up one of the tools that Peter needed to attach his Tv to the wall. "Right... so where on earth do we begin with this then?" Peter grinned at her and shrugged.

"I ave no idea." he said.

* * *

After reading the instructions three times they managed to complete the task in under half an hour. Afterwards Tracy and Peter went to Ken's and began moving Peter's bits and bobs over to his new flat. It was a lot of hard work and eventually Peter had had enough of moving for one day and made him self cosy on the sofa at his Dad's. It was almost half past ten before he'd received a text message from Simon saying that Carla had just dropped him home from the cinema. Tracy was asleep on the arm chair and In the hope of running into Carla, Peter quickly left his Dad's house. Sure enough he bumped into her right outside.

"Oh ello, fancy seeing you ere." Carla said smiling at him eagerly.

"I know what are the chances eh?" Peter said grinning and putting his arm around Carla. "So… Did you and Si enjoy the movie then?"

"Yeah it were amazing, it were kind of like the end of an era though, me and Si started watching those movies just before you came back. I reckon Si was a little upset that it was all over to be honest, he were dead quiet on the way home, so I decided that me n him are gonna go to the cinema at least once a month." Carla said, snuggling up to Peter in the cold November weather.

"And there you go not inviting me again." Peter said pouting like a jealous child, Carla laughed at him as they'd got to the corner of the street. "I must say though, the idea of you and Simon spending so much time together really does warm the old heart." He then realised that he and Carla were just stood rather awkwardly outside the pub.

"So… What's happening now then?" Carla asked,

"Well I know that we had an appointment with my bedroom wall but I'd much prefer going back to your place? I mean at least there's somewhere for us to sleep." Peter said because he was feeling rather knackered after the day he'd had.

"Mmmm... you read me mind." Carla said and she dragged Peter across the street by his jacket.

They hadn't even been in Carla's flat for even two minutes before Carla's buzzer went off.

"Ohhh you've got to be kidding me." Peter groaned as he and Carla were just in the middle of taking off each other's coats.

"Ignore it…" Carla said throwing Peter's leather jacket on the floor and kissing him roughly on the lips. Her buzzer went off twice more before Carla sighed and answered it. "Yes…" She said irately, hoping who ever it was would take the hint that she was angry.

"Mrs Connor it's Sally, I'm sorry to bother you so late but I was just reading through the Denning contract and there's a couple of things that I really think you should see." Carla almost swore out loud when she heard that it was Sally Webster at her door.

"Can't you just email em to me Sal?" She asked as Peter took off his top, it had been a very long time since Carla had proper looked at Peter's body, she looked him up and down and her eyes widened excitedly, he grinned at her and nodded towards her bedroom.

"Well it would probably be easier for me to point them out to you seeing as I'm here, I just think we need this all sorted by the morning as I know that you have a meeting with them first thing." Carla bit her lip as Sally was right, she did have a meeting first thing and even though Peter was now half naked in her living room, she knew that if she wanted this meeting to go smoothly, she'd have to let Sally in.

"Okay come up Sally." Carla sighed, pressing the button and letting Sally enter the building much to Peter's disappointment.

"What?" He cried as Carla picked up his jacket and his white T-shirt.

"Baby I ave to sort this out okay?" She gave him his clothes and laughed as he shook his head.

"I'm not getting dressed again." He said, shaking his head at Carla, as there was a knock on her door. "Don't let her in." Peter hissed grabbing Carla around the waist and kissing her on the neck.

"Peter!" She giggled and pushed him away "I ave to, go and wait for me in there." She said pushing Peter towards her bedroom.

"And what if I don't?" Peter said as Carla ran a hand through her hair and walked towards her front door.

"Well it's either that or let Sally Webster see just how _excited_ you are to be ere." Carla glanced down with a smirked before going to open her door. Peter realised that he didn't know Sally well enough for that kind of embarrassment, or anyone else for that matter. He quickly dashed into the bedroom as Sally walked inside Carla's flat.

"Oh I do hope I'm not interrupting something." She said awkwardly as Carla's bedroom, door slammed shut, making it obvious that someone else was in the flat with her.

"Let's just get this contract sorted eh?" Carla said.

It took a lot longer than Carla had expected for Sally to show her the bits of the contract that she was concerned with. As much as Sally could be a pain she was rather good at her job and it turn out that this contract was full of errors, some of which Carla had noticed earlier but some that even she had missed.

As Sally went on and on, Carla was becoming more and more impatient, it was getting hard for her to concentrate knowing that an almost naked, if not fully naked by now, Peter was on the other side of her bedroom door waiting for her. She was so distracted at one point that Sally stopped talking and said a very concerned

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm just… tired." Carla said, snapping back to reality. Eventually though, Sally had got to the end and Carla thanked her for doing such a good job. Once Sally had finally left and Carla had locked the door behind her, she practically ran towards her bedroom. She bounded into it expecting Peter to be more than ready for her but he wasn't.

Peter was lying on his front, in his boxers fast asleep.

"Typical." Carla sighed disappointedly but she couldn't help but smile at the sight of Peter snoozing so peacefully. She knew that he'd had very busy day and she also knew in the morning he would curse her for not waking him up but she still took off her dress, got into Peter's white T-shirt that he'd left on the floor and then snuggled into bed beside him.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed that chapter and that you are all still interested in this story.**

**Make sure you all leave reviews as I still really enjoying hearing your thoughts.**

**I'm away next weekend but if the Hotel has Wi-Fi then I should still be able to update this but if not, **

**i****t might have to wait until Monday when I'm back.**

**:)**


	27. The Perfect Moment

"Peter…" Carla whispered, giving him a little shake. It was eight thirty the next morning and she was already dressed in a long sleeved black dress and boots. Peter was still snoozing away in her bed and as much as Carla wanted to let him be, she also wanted a goodbye kiss. "Wake up Peter…" Carla said and she gave him another shake, only this time it was harder. Peter eventually groaned and opened his eyes,

"Hey… Morning." He said sleepily, as Carla bent down and kissed him lightly on the forehead.

"Morning handsome." She said. Peter frowned when he saw that she was dressed for work.

"Where are you going?"

"I've got a breakfast meeting at nine." She said, "I just wanted to say goodbye to you that's all."

"Ohhh do you ave to go?" Peter moaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I sure do, this contract last night, it were full of all sorts of errors so I've got to go and sort it all out." Carla said.

"Can't you let Sally do it?" Peter begged, as he knew that if Carla went to work then he wouldn't be seeing her for the entire day.

"No I flamin well can't, she already thinks she is the boss. If I don't turn up to this meeting then she'll be delighted." Carla sighed, "Besides tomorrow is Saturday, we can spend the entire day together."

"Oh there is no way I'm waiting until tomorrow…" Peter said sitting up and pulling Carla towards him for another kiss. "Why didn't you wake me up last night eh?"

"I didn't ave the heart to, baby you looked so cute." Carla replied, standing up and looking at her watch "Right I gotta go, there's some spare keys by the telephone, go back to sleep and you can lock your self out later."

"Okay." Peter said defeated. He and Carla kissed softly and as she left her room. Peter snuggled back down into her bed sheets. He was amazed that he had slept for so long and so well, he guessed that all the moving he did yesterday had really taken it's toll. He was also really enjoying being in Carla's bed, it was probably the most comfortable bed he'd ever slept in and as he breathed in deeply he could smell her sweet scent lingering on the duvet.

Peter wondered if he should get up, do something productive and sort out his flat but within minutes he was fast asleep again, dreaming of his future in his new flat with Simon and Carla.

* * *

It was lunchtime at the factory and Carla was sat in her office going through some more paper work. The breakfast meeting was horrendous and had lasted for so long that Carla had only been back at work for half an hour or so, before Alya came storming into her office.

"I know you always tell me to remain professional but I swear I will end up hurting that woman in a minute, she is so irritating." Carla looked up at Alya and then through the blinds at Sally, who was lording it up over the machinists again, for a moment Carla forgot to be professional herself and said,

"Oh tell me about it, y'know she actually turned up at my flat last night, half ten in it were. I mean don't get me wrong it were for a good cause n all that but I'd probably be in a much better mood right now, if she hadn't of interrupted me and Peter."

"Oh yeah… I heard about you and Peter. Congrats by the way." Alya said, sitting down with a smile.

"Who told you then? Beth was it?" Carla asked but surprisingly Alya shook her head and said,

"No… Well she did say something the other day about catching you and Peter in here... but none of us actually believed her, why? Was it true then?"

"Well I'm sure that Beth probably exaggerated it a little bit but… yes, me and Peter got back together in this very room… So no one believed her?" Carla said rather stunned.

"No we just assumed that she wanted that twenty quid…" Alya stopped talking then but Carla just laughed.

"Oh Alya... Don't worry I know all about this bet that she's got going on with Sean, I'm quite tempted to pretend me and Peter aren't back together actually, just so she can't win it." Carla grinned.

"It was Zeedan who told me, Simon took great pleasure in telling him that you were back with Peter and the look on his face was a picture. He's proper gutted which is crazy because he was never in with a chance was he?" Alya said, rolling her eyes as her brother still had a crush on Carla.

"Never." Carla smirked "He's a very good looking kid though I'll give him that, although you probably shouldn't tell him I said that." Carla said. There was a soft knock on her office door and then Peter appeared behind it.

"Afternoon." He said, coming into the office with a smile, Alya gave him a nod and got up out of the chair she had been sitting on.

"I'll leave you to it." She grinned and quickly made her way out of the office. Peter sat down in the chair opposite Carla and continued smiling away at her.

"What can I do for you Mr Barlow?" She said casually, although she found her self edging her chair closer towards him. They were both aware of just how frustrating it was becoming that they still hadn't spent the night together.

"I came to ask you to lunch." Peter said as Carla leaned in a placed a quick kiss on his lips. "And then maybe after lunch you could come back to mine with me and wait for my furniture, It's all coming between two and six." Carla shook her head disappointedly at Peter and said,

"I'd love to, only I ave a job to do Peter, not everyone can just take a week off y'know."

"You're the boss, can't you at least take the afternoon off?" Peter asked with a cheeky grin.

"No I can't, in fact I've got a meeting down the bistro in ten minutes." Carla said getting up off her chair. Peter sighed and got up too.

"This is torture." He groaned as Carla put her coat on. "I'm seriously finding it hard to think about anything other than getting you alone."

"Baby I feel the same." Carla said picking up her black folder and everything else she needed for the meeting. "Tell you what, I'll come over to your place as soon as I'm done ere, okay?"

"Okay." Peter agreed as Carla walked out of her office. She looked between a miserable Alya who was standing in the corner writing something down and a very bossy Sally who was stood right next to Sinead's machine and was obviously in the middle of telling her off about something.

"Alya do ya fancy coming along for this meeting?" Carla asked, much to Sally's annoyance. Alya nodded delightedly and ran off to get her coat. Peter stood and watched as Sally came bounding over to Carla.

"But I usually go with you to these type of things." Sally said rather hurt, Carla sighed and nodded.

"Which is why I ave invited Alya, she needs the experience after all." Carla said sternly and then she turned away from Sally so that it was clear that the conversation was over. "See what I mean?" She said, referring to what she'd said earlier about Sally thinking she was the boss. Peter nodded and whispered,

"I sure do, although it's your own fault for hiring her as your P.A in the first place." Carla frowned at Peter and gave him a little slap on the arm.

"Y'know reminding me of that fact every time I complain about her, is so not attractive." She said as Alya returned, wearing her coat.

"I'm ready." She said feeling rather amused that Carla had chosen her over Sally, especially as Sally looked as if she was about to cry at any moment.

"Good." Carla nodded at her "We better be off then."

"I guess I'll see you later." Peter said.

"Mmmm absolutely." Carla said kissing him in front of all of her staff. "Can't wait."

"Me neither." Peter grinned as Carla let him go.

"Right you lot, We'll be out for the next hour or so, Sally's in charge." She said as they began making their way over to the doors, she then she grinned over at Sean and said, "Sorry Tully but it looks like you owe Beth twenty quid."

"See!" Beth said smugly, as the rest of the factory workers began cheering.

* * *

Peter had been in his new flat since half past one and it was now just gone seven o clock. Typically his sofa and other furniture was delivered at minutes to six and he was in the middle of attempting to put his new bed together when his buzzer went off.

"Hello…" Peter said into it.

"Its me." Carla's voice said into his intercom.

"Come in." Peter grinned excitedly and opened the door to his flat so that Carla could come straight in. There were various cardboard boxes against the wall as Carla stepped into the flat.

"I see your stuff came then." She said closing the door to Peter's flat.

"Yeah at flamin five to six, I've been sat ere all day." He said walking over to Carla and meeting her with a kiss.

"Well I brought you a housewarming present." Carla grinned, Peter looked down at Carla's hands, which other than her bag were empty.

"What is it?" He asked a little confused.

"Oh you'll ave to unwrap it and see." Carla breathed as Peter undid her coat. He shoved it into a corner and looked her up and down.

"My bed isn't made yet…" He said gruffly as Carla wrapped her arms around his neck. She glanced over at his sofa but Peter was two steps ahead of her and was pushing her towards it. "The sofa on the other hand…" They both fell onto it, Peter on top of Carla. "Is very comfortable." Peter said and then their lips collided.

Carla's hands roamed under Peter's t-shirt and stroked his bare chest, whilst his went right up her dress and began pulling down her tights. He'd only got them halfway down her thighs when his buzzer went.

Both Carla and Peter ignored it and continued with their hungry embrace. Peter kissed Carla on her neck as she kicked off her shoes, he had just pulled her tights off completely when his buzzer went off again and then again.

"Oh for God sake!" Carla moaned as the incessant noise continued.

"Ignore it." Peter said but soon there was an actual knock at his door, someone had obviously let who ever it was, in.

"Dad!" A voice said, making Peter and Carla suddenly stop what they were doing and listen. "Dad it's Simon and Amy… Are you in there?" Peter and Carla reluctantly got up and off the sofa.

"I swear someone out there is dead against me and you having sex." Carla said getting up too and picking up the tights that Peter had thrown on the floor.

"Dad!" Simon cried with another loud bang on the door. Then another voice was heard,

"Mr Barlow are you in there? it's the police." Peter stared at Carla for a moment and then quickly opened the door.

He was taken aback to find two police offers stood with Simon, who had a bloody nose and Amy, who was almost in tears. Carla gasped when she saw them.

"What happened?" Peter cried, as Amy and Simon both trudged into his flat followed by the police.

"We found these two involved in a fight down the Red Rec." The female police officer began.

"A fight?" Carla said, staring at Amy and Simon in shock. "What with each other?"

"No with another boy from their school." The police officer said. Peter looked at Simon for an explanation. He sighed and said,

"Some kid in year nine tried to steal Amy's iPod, he pushed her over n everything so I had to go n tell him what's what."

"Tell him eh? So how did you get the bloody nose?" Peter asked going into his kitchen to get some ice for Simon.

"Did that kid hit you?" Carla asked protectively, as Peter came back with the ice and some kitchen roll for Simon.

"He did, so I gave him one swift punch in the face back and then it turned into a fight I guess." Simon said as Peter tried to fuss over him. "Don't worry Dad, it's only my nose."

"Yeah you should see the other boy." Amy chuckled, she was still teary eyed and a little shaken up by what had happened but she was also mildly impressed at how well Simon had stuck up for her.

"I bet he won't try that again." Simon said smirking at her.

"Si this is not funny." Peter said but he was also a little impressed at Simon for looking after Amy.

"Don't worry Mr Barlow, we see these type of fights happen all of the time, it seems as if it's just a playground argument that has gone too far. We just happened to be patrolling the area at time, we have brought all of the kids who were involved, back to their houses to ensure that the fight doesn't start up again." The male police offer explained.

"Don't worry I can assure you that it won't." Peter said looking at Simon, who sighed and then nodded.

"In that case we shall leave you all to it. Goodnight Mr and Mrs Barlow." Peter got up and showed the police out of his flat. When he came back he stared between Amy and Simon, still in awe at the whole situation.

"This kid you fought with… Did you say he was in year nine?" Peter asked, sitting down on the sofa next to Simon and Amy.

"Yep." Simon said nodding, "Darren, he's fourteen. He's been messing with Amy n her mates for weeks now, I guess the wimp can't fight anyone his own age. It's about time I gave him a good slap to be honest."

"So you practically beat up a fourteen year old?" Peter asked still trying not to sound to impressed.

"Peter…" Carla warned although she had to admit she was also admiring Simon for being such a good cousin.

"Simon… I know that you wanted to stick up for Amy but you really shouldn't let violence be the answer." Peter said, although he couldn't help but feel slightly hypocritical because he had been known to lash out on many occasions.

"He tried talking to him…" Amy started, "Simon told him to leave me alone last week but he didn't, on the way home I was walking with my friends and he came up to us and said that I had to give him my iPod, I said no, so then he pushed me over, the next thing I know Si and Santana was there, Santana picked me up and hugged me whilst Simon gave the boy a chance to run away but I guess he didn't think Simon was being serious."

"Well at least you warned the kid eh Si?" Carla said squashing up next to Simon on the sofa and nudging him.

"So did the police take Santana home as well then?" Peter asked and Simon nodded.

"Yeah although I don't think she was too happy that I was fighting with Darren." He said a little discouraged.

"Oh I'm sure she'll be fine, I mean you were only sticking up for your little cousin." Carla insisted.

"Yeah and I'm not sorry for any of it either." Simon said pointedly. "I know that I probably shouldn't have hit him but I'm glad I did, no one messes with Amy but me." Carla and Peter couldn't help but smile at Simon then.

"Well he definitely takes after you Peter…" Carla smirked, "How come you got the police to bring you both back ere?" She asked, it was just out of curiosity but Peter gave her a quick grin as he thought about what they had been doing before being interrupted.

"Me Mum's at work of course and Auntie Tracy is out somewhere with Granddad." Simon said. "Besides even if they weren't out we would have come back here anyways." He then added. "We knew you two would be a bit more understanding then me Mum and Granddad."

"Well seeing you're ere now, d'ya wanna get a pizza or something?" Peter suggested because if Ken and Tracy were out, he couldn't exactly send the two kids on their way. Carla sighed a little as Peter mentioned the idea of Pizza but Amy and Simon both nodded enthusiastically and sat down on his new Sofa.

* * *

Hours later, once they had ordered and eaten pizza and once Peter had called Tracy to let her know what had happened, Simon was helping his Dad put together their new beds. Carla and Amy were left to it but after a while Amy had soon got bored and even Carla was finding it difficult not to fall asleep. Amy wondered around Peter's flat for a bit and then asked if she could go home. It was almost nine o clock by this point and of course, pitch black outside so Carla insisted on taking Amy around the corner and home. Peter was still busy with Simon as they left and as Carla and Amy walked back to Coronation Street Amy said,

"I'm really glad you and Uncle Peter are back together, you're well cool." Carla smiled at her modestly although she had to admit that the more time she spent with Amy, the sweeter Amy got.

After dropping Amy off to and even having a little chat with Tracy about what had happened, Michelle who had been stood outside The Rover's, saw Carla and said.

"Well hello stranger."

"Hiya babe." Carla said giving Michelle a hug after saying Goodbye to Tracy.

"Fancy coming in for a drink?" Michelle asked, although she knew that Carla was probably in a rush to get back to Peter.

"Erm…." Carla began and Michelle nodded,

"Have you got to go back to Peter?" She asked disappointedly. "Come on Carla, just one drink… Please." She begged. Carla thought about how Peter and Simon were busy making their beds, she knew that she wouldn't be much help so in the end she went into the pub with Michelle.

"Carla…" Liz began as soon as she saw her, She actually went and put her arms around her.

"Hi Liz…" Carla said bewilderedly.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the other night, y'know when you and Peter came to see if I was alright... I shouldn't ave said what I did about Peter."

"Liz it's fine, Peter's over it." Carla began but Liz who'd had a few drinks by this point, continued.

"That's not the point, oh I could've kicked myself for what I had said, You must tell Peter to come in ere so I can apologise to him properly."

"I will." Carla chuckled as Steve walked past his Mum and rolled his eyes.

"I'd ignore her if I were you, she's been on the vino since seven." Steve said.

"Oh be quiet you!" Liz said giving her son a little shove.

"How are you doing anyway Liz?" Carla asked because after the whole Tony and Tracy thing, she knew that Liz must have been going through a hard time.

"Oh I'll be okay as long as we don't ave to talk about that waste of space Tony." Liz said and Michelle nodded.

"Here here." She said with a grin.

"Let's talk about you and Peter instead, how are things?" Liz asked. Carla smiled blissfully at Liz and Michelle who handed her a glass of her favourite red wine.

"Perfect…" Carla began as Michelle leant on the bar. "Well… not perfect but almost perfect."

"Why not perfect?" Michelle asked because she could tell there was something on Carla's mind. Carla grinned as she took a sip of her wine.

"Well if you must know it's been three days since we got back together and we haven't even had sex yet." Carla said.

"What?" Michelle exclaimed "Well why on earth not?"

"Because…" Carla began, rolling her eyes and drinking some more wine "Things keep happening or we keep getting interrupted."

"Oh dear…" Liz said rather tipsily.

"Well... you know what they say... it's not all about sex…" Michelle began but started giggling at the unimpressed expression on Carla's face.

"It's not funny Chelle, I love Peter to bits and you're right us being back together is not about the sex but if I don't get that man in my bed soon there is going to be hell to pay." Carla sighed as Eileen Grimshaw came over and stood at the bar with them.

"And just who are we talking about ere?" Eileen asked although even she had an idea of who'd got Carla so frustrated.

"Peter." Michelle said.

"Oh yes, I heard that you two are back together…" Eileen said with an eyebrow slightly raised, Carla gave her a look and then took another sip of wine, She wasn't sure if Eileen was judging or not but she chose to refrain from saying anything to her, for now anyway.

"So are you telling me that you and Peter haven't even had time for a quickie then?" Michelle asked.

"Well yeah but we've been trying to make it this perfect moment y'know… Although even I'm starting to see that the perfect moment doesn't seem to exist." Carla said.

"Now tell me something Carla…" Liz said putting her own wine glass down "If you're so desperate to sleep with Peter why are you in ere?"

"That's true." Eileen grinned and nodded along with Liz.

"Because he's got his kid round and It's hardly appropriate to say, _Oh I'm sorry Simon, could you get lost so that me and your Dad can get it on, _Besides I adore Simon and as much as I want Peter on his own, I would never want to stop them spending time together."

"Awwww I love hearing you talk about how much you love Simon, especially after the way he used to be with you, who'd ave thought it eh?" Michelle said.

"I wouldn't ave that's for sure, but I guess he were just a confused kid back then, I don't blame him for the way he treated me." Carla said.

"Speaking of Simon, I heard what happened earlier with Amy, Steve told me."

"Why what happened earlier?" Liz then said upon hearing Michelle mentioned her Granddaughter.

"Nothing." Michelle said because Liz was now drunk and she knew telling her about Amy might cause her to overreact.

"Well it was obviously not nothing, come on tell me Michelle." Liz said, Carla sighed and said,

"Long story short, some kid from school was messing with Amy so Simon went and stuck up for her, that's all."

"Someone is messing with Amy, My Amy!" Liz shouted and she slammed down her wine glass very dramatically. "Who is this nasty little kid? I'll show him what happens when he messes with my family!" Michelle, Carla and Eileen all started laughing at Liz's outburst.

"Calm down Liz, Simon has sorted it." Carla said shaking her head as Michelle took the empty glass. "Trust me Amy was fine, I just walked her home."

"I'm gonna go down that school on Monday and talk to this kid." Liz said drunkenly, Carla looked worried but Eileen shook her head at her and said,

"Don't worry she won't even remember any of this this time tomorrow." Carla chuckled as Michelle handed her another glass of wine.

"Oh no Chelle, I were only planning on aving the one." She said because she wanted to get back to Peter and Simon.

"Oh come on Carla, stay for one more." She begged.

"Yeah go on, Peter's with Simon, you said so yourself." Eileen said, "Besides you might want to stick around ere and laugh at Liz." Eileen nodded towards Liz who was now dancing very embarrassingly to an old Marvin Gaye song on the jukebox.

"Steeeeeeeeve!" Michelle called half laughing, as Liz's dancing continued to get more and more hilarious and she wanted Steve to see it. Carla watched amused, as Steve came out to the bar and then looked on in horror as Liz had now pulled up a random stranger off his seat and forced him to dance with her.

"Mum!" Steve cried, running around the bar and trying to rescue the man from Liz's clutches. Eileen and Michelle were cracking up and so was Carla.

"See, you don't want to miss out on all of this d'ya?" Michelle asked Carla. She sighed and as Simon and Peter would most definitely still be working on their beds she might as well stay for just one more drink.

* * *

One more drink soon turned into a lot more drinks and as Liz's hilarious behaviour continued, it was almost an hour and a half later before Carla realised that she'd been gone for rather a long time. She went down her pockets to find her phone but then she realised that she had left everything back at Peter's.

"What's the time?" She asked, Michelle looked at her watch and said,

"It's quarter to Eleven." She said, they were now sat at a table in the corner and when Carla heard what time it was she quickly jumped up off her chair.

"What? Eleven? I was only meant to drop Amy home, Peter must be going out of his mind!"

"Oh at least finish your wine first." Eileen said and Liz actually got up and pushed Carla back into her chair. Carla bit her lip and then shook her head.

"I better not, I mean… I can't go back to him drunk can I?"

"I think it's a little late for that Carla." Michelle sniggered, holding her own glass of wine and drinking it. Carla groaned and clumsily got up off her chair again.

"Oh this is all your fault Chelle…" She said realising that she was a lot drunker than she'd thought.

"How is it my fault?" Michelle cried.

"I only came for one drink, you made me stay and look what's happened… I'm practically wasted, He's never gonna shag me like this, is he?"

"Oh Carla you're not that drunk, I mean you're still able to function quite well." Eileen said.

"Yeah, I've seen you a thousand times worse than this babe." Michelle nodded and then Liz said,

"Just make sure that you stand very still and try your very best to act like your sober." Carla sighed shook her head.

"You lot don't understand, this is Peter Barlow we're talking about, y'know the man who hasn't touched alcohol for almost a year and a half, I can't go back to his place like this, it's not fair on him and besides he'd suss me out in a second."

"Then you might as well sit back down and try to sober up…" Liz said with an eyebrow raised "Or just get even more drunk and worry about it in the morning."

Carla slumped back into the chair, not knowing what to do. She didn't want to stay in the pub for a moment longer, she wanted to go and see Peter but she knew that turning up at his place this intoxicated was not a good idea either.

"Oh god, look at the face on it." Eileen said as she watched Carla sulk.

"Oh she's just depressed, thinking about all that sex she's missing out on with Peter." Michelle smirked, Carla scowled at her as Liz and Eileen laughed.

"You know earlier you said you kept getting interrupted… by who?" Eileen then asked.

"Well tonight it were by Simon and Amy knocking on Peter's door, then the other day were just about to do it when…" Carla stopped talking as Sally who had been in the pub with her boyfriend Tim, walked past. "Oh well talk of the devil!" She said rather loudly, Sally looked confused whilst Michelle and Eileen sniggered behind their wine glasses.

"Everything alright?" Sally asked casually.

"No it's not if I'm honest Sally." Carla said, rolling her eyes at her and leaving her even more confused.

"It seems as if you might ave interrupted something." Liz cackled as Carla got up off the chair.

"I ave to go Chelle…" She leant over and gave Michelle a hug.

"Bye darling…" Michelle said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck." Liz called after Carla as she left the pub. She only realised how much she'd had to drink when she began walking around the corner and towards Peter's new flat.

He was sat watching TV when his buzzer went off. He got up and he knew who it was before he'd even answered it.

"Come up Carla…" he said into his intercom. He went and opened his door and soon enough a tipsy Carla made her way into his flat.

"Hey baby…" She said going and putting her arms around his neck.

"And what time do you call this?" Peter asked unimpressed with Carla's slightly intoxicated state.

"I am so sorry." Carla began as Peter let go of her "Baby I only meant to go in and have one drink and then…" Peter went and sat on the sofa leaving Carla still stood by his door. "Where's Simon?" She asked awkwardly.

"In bed." Peter said, nodding towards Simon's new bedroom. "He wanted to stay over so I said yes."

"Oh okay…" Carla said quietly. She walked slowly over to the sofa where Peter was sitting and sat down next to him. They sat in silence for a moment with just the TV for background noise. "You know Peter if you're mad at me then just say." Carla eventually said. Peter turned and looked at her.

"I'm not mad…" He said but Carla didn't believe him as he got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen, he still hadn't got much furniture but he had some glasses and ran himself a glass of water.

"You are mad, I can tell." Carla said, getting up off the sofa and joining him in the kitchen.

"Carla I am not." He said, Carla went to touch him but he backed away from her slightly, She knew why, she knew it was because he could obviously smell the amount of alcohol on her.

"Maybe I should have a shower and some coffee." Carla suggested, cursing herself on the inside for drinking so much.

"The coffee yes, but I don't reckon you should shower… just in case." Peter said giving Carla half a smile, he truly didn't mind her being out with her friends, or even the drinking, he was just disappointed that once again their night wasn't going as planned. Carla yawned tiredly as Peter walked over to her. "Or maybe you should just sleep it off eh?"

"You should be mad at me… I'm mad at me." Carla sighed as Peter took hold of her and showed her into his bedroom. It was still rather empty but he and Simon had managed to put together both of their beds in one night.

"For the last time, I am not mad at you Carla." He said, guiding her over to his bed.

"Hey… you've finally got a bed I see." She said as Peter bent down and took of her shoes.

"I sure do… it's a shame that it won't be put to good use tonight eh?" Peter said.

"I'm not that drunk." Carla smiled suggestively but Peter shook his head at her and said firmly,

"You're drunk enough."

* * *

It was around nine am the next morning and Carla woke up to find herself in Peter's brand spanking new bed. She rolled out of it and sighed when her head started pounding.

"Nice one Carla." She said to herself as she opened the door and walked into Peter's kitchen. He was sat eating cold pizza with Simon at the breakfast bar.

"Morning." Carla said as she went and sat down on a stool next to Simon.

"Morning Carla." Simon said. Peter gave her a cute wink and said the same.

"How you feeling?" He asked holding up the pizza box so she could take a slice.

"No thanks…" She said, almost recoiling at the cold pizza that was in front of her.

"How's your head?" Peter asked handing Carla a cup of coffee instead.

"Banging." She groaned and giving him a grateful nod.

"What time are we leaving Dad?" Simon asked, getting up and making his way over to the sink.

"You're going out?" Carla asked, she had been thinking that her and Peter could spend the day together but he seemed to have other plans.

"Yeah, Si's got football this morning and I still haven't been down there to see him play yet." Peter said.

"Yeah so what time are we leaving then?" Simon asked again,

"We'll leave at about ten, don't worry Si, football doesn't start for another hour or so."

"Yeah but I gotta go and get my kit from me Mum's first and some clothes for after." Simon said and then he smiled excitedly "I can't wait for you to meet my coach."

"After?" Carla said as her plans for spending the day with Peter were now flying out the window.

"Yeah we're gonna head to the Trafford centre and get some more bits and bobs for this place."

"Oh… right." Carla said, she looked down at her dress and then up again at Peter who was watching her.

"You should come too." Simon said walking back to the breakfast bar with a glass of water, Carla was about to nod and say yes but Peter spoke for her and said,

"Who Carla? Yeah I don't think that she fancies spending the morning on a muddy football pitch, in the freezing cold Si." Simon finished his water and then went on into the bathroom to finish getting ready. Carla tutted at Peter assuming that she wouldn't have wanted to go to see Simon play football. He was right, she didn't fancy the idea of standing around in the freezing cold especially not with her hangover, but she would have gone for Simon's sake.

"Well I'll guess that I'll just go home then." Carla sighed, getting up off the stool she had been sitting on. She was now in a bad mood for many reasons and decided the best thing for her to do would be to go home.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Peter asked,

"Nothing, I mean I might have been under the impression that me and you could have at least an hour or so alone together but don't worry that idea has completely gone away now." Carla said picking up her coat that had been hung up.

"We still can… I mean you can come out with me and Si." Peter said,

"Well to be honest Peter I kind of got the impression that I wasn't invited."

"Of course you're invited Carla, don't be ridiculous, I didn't think that you would want to come that's all." Peter explained.

"You could have asked me at least." Carla said irritatedly and putting her coat on "But no you just assumed that I couldn't be bothered."

"Carla I meant because of your hangover not because I think that you don't care about Simon. I know that you love the kid… Besides if you were so worried about us spending time together maybe you should have come back ere at a decent time last night." Peter sighed. Carla frowned at him and shook her head

"I knew you were mad at me for that."

"I'm not."

"Then why are you bringing it up?"

"Because you're having a go at me for having plans and yet you were the one who was out in the pub half the night." Peter said delicately, trying to keep this as far away from an argument as possible but Carla still felt like he was just pretending that he wasn't angry with her.

"Is this because I was drinking?" She asked, Peter shook his head at her, he was hurt that she would even think of him in that way.

"Of course not, Carla I've never had a problem with you drinking with your friends and I never will, but you ave to understand that coming in ere at all hours of the night smelling like a flamin brewery is going to have an affect on me." Peter said softly as Simon came out of the bathroom, He looked at his Dad and then at Carla.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, as it was clear that there was some sort of argument going on. Carla rolled her tired eyes and nodded at Simon.

"Yeah, I'm just feeling really rough that's all. I'm gonna go home. Enjoy footie yeah?" She said before opening Peter's door. He went to say something but she just shook her head at him and then said, "Bye."

* * *

Hours later and after Simon's football practice, he and his Dad were in the Trafford Centre, They were just getting something to eat after doing a hell of a lot of shopping. Simon picked up his cheeseburger and watched as his Dad fiddled with a few chips.

"What's up Dad?" He asked.

"Nothing." Peter said, "Well I just wish Carla had come along that's all."

"Me too." Simon nodded as he bit into his burger.

"She loves it ere, I remember one time we came just so she could return some shoes and six hours later we were still ere." Peter said thinking about the endless shopping trips he and Carla had been on before.

"Six hours?" Simon gasped, "That's crazy."

"No son, that's Carla... actually when I think about it, that's most women." Peter said, "Speaking of women, have you spoken to Santana today?" Simon shrugged and then shook his head.

"No, I texted her but she didn't reply." Simon said "I reckon she might still be annoyed at the fight."

"It was probably just a shock for her to see you like that that's all." Peter said "And anyways she's probably busy, it is Saturday after all."

"Yeah I spose, I might go and see her later… what you gonna do later?" Simon asked, Peter ate a chip and said,

"I dunno, maybe I'll go and see your Granddad." Simon raised an eyebrow at him "Or maybe Carla…"

"Did you two have an argument or something? It's just compared to yesterday, you haven't been so lovey dovey today."

"It wasn't an argument as such more of a… stressful conversation." Peter said thinking about the way Carla had left his flat. It wasn't an argument though that he knew for sure but it wasn't exactly a pleasant interaction either and he wondered just how upset Carla had got with him.

"You should go and see Carla later Dad, I reckon you probably need some time with her y'know… alone." Simon said a little awkwardly.

"Really…" said Peter with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah… really, I'm not stupid Dad." Simon said reading his Dad's expression whilst taking his drink and sipping away at it. "You and Carla have been waiting so long for this, don't mess it up, Okay?" Simon warned. Peter nodded at his son adamantly and decided that tonight, he would definitely go and see Carla.

* * *

Later on that evening, Carla was sat miserably on her sofa. Michelle had been round for a few hours but she knew that Carla only had one thing on her mind and that was Peter. Carla was soon left to her own devices by Michelle at half past eight.

Carla had put on some music to try and help her calm down but she simply couldn't relax, her mind was going a mile a minute thinking about Peter when there was a sudden knock on her door.

Carla assumed it would be Michelle again and was stunned when she opened it and saw Peter stood there instead. He walked in to her flat and she closed the door behind him. He took of his black coat and hung it up along side hers. Carla opened her mouth to say something but Peter shook his head and rose a finger up to her lips.

"Shhhh, don't say anything, just let your body do the talking." Peter breathed.

He then passionately pushed his lips up against Carla's. They had shared many, many kisses over the past few days but none of them were quite like this one.

This one was the kind of kiss that would have knocked Carla right off her feet, if she had of been on them that is because before she knew it, Peter had picked her up and carried her towards her bedroom before she'd even had time to respond properly to his kiss.

He pushed her against the wall and hungrily kissed her again, she responded this time, fiercely, his hands were buried deep her long hair whilst Carla wasted no time in undoing his belt and then his jeans.

Carla, who had just been lounging around the flat all day, was only wearing a plain vest top and some of her old pyjama shorts and she hadn't even noticed that Peter had swiftly removed them both and that they were now in a heap on the floor below them.

She tugged at Peter's T-Shirt and yanked it impatiently up his body. He stopped kissing her for just long enough so that she could pull his T-Shirt up and off him properly.

She threw it across her bedroom and as Peter picked her up again and took her over to her bed, she clung onto him tight as he kissed her on her collar bone and then moved his lips down to her chest.

Peter eventually put Carla down onto her bed and grinned at her, She went to say something but he stopped her again but this time with another spectacular kiss.

This kiss was much slower and gentler than the ones before, they were in bed now and almost naked, it was far too late for any one to try and interrupt them now. They could take their time, there was no need to rush.

Peter was on top of Carla as she began pulling down his jeans and his boxers at the same time. They kissed the whole way though, their tongues dancing around each other's and as Peter pulled off her underwear, Carla moaned into his mouth. She wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and couldn't stop herself from digging her nails into it as Peter continued to take complete control of the situation.

Even though it was late November, it was very hot in Carla's flat, especially as her fire place was still roaring in her living room. Peter felt sweat drip off his naked torso as he took both hands and lifted up Carla's legs so that she could wrap them comfortably around his middle.

Then there was this long and lingering moment, a moment where Carla and Peter just gazed at each other, they watched how one another's breathing changed and looked deep into each others eyes.

This was it, after months of holding back, months of resisting each other and saying that they were just friends, now was the time that they could finally give in to their feelings and as their bodies finally connected in a way that they hadn't felt in such a long time, it was clear that this truly was the perfect moment.

* * *

Carla opened her eyes to an empty bed and an empty bedroom. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table which showed half past eleven. The moment her and Peter were finished rekindling with each other's bodies, their heads hit the pillow, they were exhausted and satisfied and it wasn't long before they both went into a deep slumber.

Carla climbed off her bed and looked down to see Peter's jeans and T-Shirt on the floor, she picked up his top and pulled it on over her head. She then made her way out of her room to find him.

It wasn't long before she realised where he was, as she walked into her hallway she felt a slight breeze and saw that there was someone sat on her balcony, She smiled to herself as that someone let out a cloud of smoke from their lips and was wrapped in a blanket that she kept out there for when it gets cold.

"Y'know for some who says that he has quit smoking…" She began as she opened the door, "You always seem to have a fag hanging out of that irresistible mouth of yours." Peter smiled at her as she came onto the balcony, still wearing his T Shirt and nothing else, he stubbed out the rest of his cigarette on the wall as Carla closed the door behind her. "Oh god it's freezing out ere Peter." Peter grinned and opened the blanket that he'd had wrapped around his body, he was only in his boxers but he quickly grabbed Carla and placed her onto his lap, then he wrapped the blanket around both of them making Carla giggle. "You're freezing too…. How long have you been out ere?"

"I dunno." Peter said, holding Carla close to him with one arm and his other elbow rested on the arm of the chair. "I woke up an hour or so ago, couldn't get back to sleep."

"Really?" Carla grinned, placing a soft but dirty kiss on his cheek "I'm knackered." Peter grinned back her and nodded,

"Oh trust me, I'm just as exhausted as you are..." Peter said, "In fact probably more."

"Well you are just that little bit older than me I spose…" Carla quipped.

"Oh so we're back to that are we? Teasing me because of me age." Peter said as Carla snuggled up against him. "I'll have you know me and Simon were up that shopping centre for hours today, I swear as I was driving back I could have almost fell asleep at the wheel."

"Well you certainly got your energy back by the time you got ere." Carla said entwining her fingers with Peter's.

"Oh I could ave run a marathon if it meant that I would have been seeing you." He said, Carla smiled at him dotingly as he asked, "How's the hangover then?" he remembered how Carla had seemed a little worse for wear earlier on at his place.

"What hangover?" Carla said smiling suggestively "Seriously Peter the moment I saw you at my door, the moment you stepped foot into the flat and the moment you kissed me, I felt nothing else but you, I know we've been dying to have sex for days now but I'm glad it didn't happen until tonight…" Their lips met for a tender kiss and as Carla pulled away she whispered, "Honesty Peter, I think the waiting only made it better… it made it special, it were… simply amazing."

"It sure was." Peter agreed, lifting Carla's hand up with his and kissing her fingers. "Completely and utterly breath-taking…" Carla smiled again at Peter, as he played with her fingers in the very cold November weather. "I love you so much, you know that right?"

"Baby of course I do… n I love you n all." Carla said, she shivered as the cold winds picked up a little and even though she desperately hated the cold, she would have sat out there with Peter all night if she had to.

"You're shivering…" Peter said softly as Carla's legs now had goose bumps all over them.

"Do ya blame me? I mean it's got to be below freezing out ere right now." Carla breathed out "Look you can even see our breath."

"Well then…" Peter said, getting up off the chair without a struggle and still holding Carla in his arms. She stared at him, obviously impressed by his strength. "Let's go in side… and warm up." And with that Peter took Carla back indoors and back into her bedroom.

* * *

**_Guys please tell me if you think these chapters are too long,_**

**_I never notice until I upload them on here._**

**_Anywho I hope you enjoyed this chapter._**

**_My Hotel does have Wi-FI, thank god._**

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**_:)_**


	28. The Birds & The Bees

Carla had been hiding in Peter's bedroom for almost ten minutes now.

She was sat on Peter's bed in her lacy black bra and a pencil skirt, absolutely mortified by what had just happened and the worst part of it all, was that she couldn't go and get her top because it had been whipped off by Peter as soon as she'd walked through his front door.

Carla and Peter had spent their weekend making up for lost time. They had done the obvious things like spend time with Simon and make sure that Ken was okay, but the rest of their time had been spent in the bedroom… and occasionally the other rooms of their flats too. It was now Wednesday and due to the fact that they had both gone back to work on Monday and had not seen each other properly since Sunday, Carla and Peter were almost having withdrawal symptoms from one another.

Carla had decided to go and give Peter a cheeky surprise visit because she knew that he'd had the afternoon off, only she was the one who'd eventually got a surprise in the end.

She sighed and glanced at the clock which said that it was quarter past one, She tutted knowing that she would have to get back to the factory soon, it didn't seem like Peter was in any sort of hurry to help her out of his bedroom either and she was beginning to feel rather cold being sat there in just her bra and skirt.

Carla eventually went into Peter's new wardrobe and pulled on one of his shirts instead, She then went back and sat on the bed. Peter's flat was almost finished by now, he'd moved in almost a week ago and had spent most of the time that he hadn't been working and hadn't been with Carla and Simon of course, making the finishing touches.

Carla was trying her very best to listen closely to what was going on the other side of the door and was waiting for some sort of sign that it was safe to come out. It was another few minutes before she heard the front door close, she sighed a huge sigh of relief and got up off Peter's bed.

"Has he gone?" She asked, only poking her head around the door just in case, Peter who was sat on his sofa in a T-Shirt and boxer shorts, chuckled and nodded at Carla.

"Yes he's gone." He said and Carla finally came out of the bedroom. "You okay?" Peter asked as she came over to his sofa and sat next to him.

"Okay? Peter I'm absolutely mortified." She said shaking her head, still in disbelief at what had just happened.

Simon had let himself into Peter's flat. It had been Peter's idea to give him keys as the new flat was also his home as well. Simon knew that Peter wasn't working this afternoon too and he had assumed that because his Dad was nowhere else in the flat, that he must be in his bedroom. Simon ended up walking in there without thinking or knocking and he caught Carla in a very compromising position.

"How am I gonna look a Si in the face again?" Carla said with her eyes wide, She looked so comical that Peter actually laughed out loud.

"Is that why you stayed in me bedroom until he left?" Peter asked amused and Carla nodded, "Oh come on Car, it ain't that bad."

"Well that's easy for you to say, you weren't the on on ya knees and half naked." She exclaimed, giving Peter a little shove because he had started laughing again. "It's not funny Peter, I really don't think you would be laughing so much if _you_ had of been the one with your head in between my legs." She said getting up. She walked over to her shirt that was on the floor as Peter continued to find this situation funny. She bent down and picked it up so she could put it back on. "Why was he not at school anyway?"

"Oh he came to get his lunch money for the week, I forgot to give it to him earlier." Peter said watching Carla as she unbuttoned his shirt, "You can leave that on if you want… it looks mighty good on you." He said but Carla continued to unbutton it anyway, Peter couldn't help but grin at how embarrassed she still looked about what had just happened.

"Well he obviously got a lot more than he bargained for didn't he? Oh god Peter, what on earth did you say to him?"

"Nothing" Peter shrugged,

"Nothing?" Carla exclaimed taking off his shirt and replacing it with her top, "So what were you two doing all that time?"

"Just chatting?" Peter said casually,

"Chatting?" Carla said with a frown, "So neither of you mentioned what just happened?"

"Nope, Carla it's fine, he was in and out of the room in seconds, he probably didn't even realise what was going on." Peter said, Carla then threw the shirt she had borrowed off him directly at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe that he could be so naïve about this. He laughed and dodged out of the way quickly so that his shirt hit the floor in front of him. "Oi don't throw that, it's one of me favourite shirts." Peter said picking it up off of the floor in front of him.

"I'm curious about something Peter?" Carla said as he began folding the shirt neatly.

"Well ask away my angel." Peter said,

"Ave you and Simon had the chat yet?" Carla asked fixing her outfit so it looked somewhat presentable again.

"What chat?"

"Y'know, _the chat..."_ Carla said using air quotes "The birds n the bees." She said as she came back to the sofa and sat down next to Peter. He put an arm around her lovingly and shook his head.

"Nah, he's way too young for that" He said indifferently, Carla sat up straight and looked at him.

"Peter, you're either being incredibly stupid or incredibly naïve."

"What do you mean?" Peter said still finding the whole situation rather hilarious.

"Peter, He's not a little kid anymore."

"Yeah, I know that but he's not even a teenager yet." Peter said, because he genuinely didn't think there was any need for the dreaded talk with Simon yet.

"He's twelve and a half Peter, The same age Faye Windass was when she went and got up the duff" Carla said, This made Peter finally act as if he was concerned about the situation, he thought about Simon for a moment and then he shook his head.

"Nah, Si's not like that though, I mean he's still really innocent." Carla raised an eyebrow at him and sighed,

"Let me put it to ya this way Peter…" Carla said and she put her arms around his neck fondly. "Try to cast your mind back... to all those light years ago when you were his age."

"Oi" Peter said giving her a little poke.

"Seriously Peter… think about all the things you knew at that age, all of the things that you did at that age and then tell me that you really don't think Si knew what I was doing to you in that bedroom." Carla said. Peter thought about his almost thirteen year old self for a moment and then said,

"Okay... now you're scaring me." Carla nodded in an _I told you so_ type of way and said,

"Sorry baby but that's the reality of this situation, Especially now Simon's got a girlfriend." Peter's eyes went even wider when Carla mentioned Santana.

"You don't think…" He said but Carla shook her head,

"I flamin hope not… I mean they are both still so young but they are growing up, Simon's growing up… he's bound to ave questions."

"Yeah but don't they do Sex education at school anymore?" Peter asked sure he'd heard Simon mention it at one time or another, Carla just shrugged at him.

"I dunno probably, but you're his Dad and it's down to you to talk to him about becoming a man." She said, Peter looked incredibly depressed at the idea of having this chat with Simon but he knew that Carla was right.

"Why couldn't he ave been a girl eh? Then I could ave left it to you or Leanne" He joked. "God where do I even begin?"

"Google it." Carla said and then she kissed Peter roughly on the lips, She hadn't given him a chance to kiss her back properly before getting up off of the sofa. She walked towards his door and picked up her handbag that had been dropped the moment she had got through the door.

"Oi where d'ya think you're going?" Peter frowned, getting up of his sofa as well.

"Unlike you Peter, I can't sit around all day, I gotta get back to the factory before Sally and Alya kill each other." Carla said grinning as she looked at Peter, he was clearly still as turned on as he was before.

"Oh no you don't" He said calmly moving towards her, Carla knew that there would be no escape but she relished playing these types of games with Peter.

"I ave a job to do Peter." She said but she couldn't hide the excitement in her voice as Peter got closer to her.

"You're damn right you ave a job to do." Peter growled and he grabbed Carla and took her back into his bedroom so they could pick up where they had left off.

* * *

Carla walked into the pub at around half six that very evening. She had gotten back to work very late at almost three o clock in fact, so she made her self stay behind and get some more work done to make up for the time she had been at Peter's flat.

Carla practically bounced over to the bar where Michelle was stood with Liz and Leanne. She found herself in a good mood all the time and it was clear to everyone who knew about it, that her being back with Peter was definitely a good thing.

"Hiya…" She said to all of them putting her bag on the bar, "The usual please Chelle."

"Coming right up." Michelle said pouring Carla her usual glass of red wine.

It wasn't too long before Peter strolled into the pub with Ken and a very cautious Tracy, who had said she hadn't wanted to go into the pub but was forced into it anyway. Peter grinned at Carla but as she winked back at him, he went over to a table in the corner with his Dad and sister and sat down with them. Carla continued to chat happily with the girls at the bar, knowing full well that Peter would eventually come over and say hi to her.

"Right I'm buying, what's everyone avin?" Peter said to his Dad and Tracy.

"A small brandy please Peter" Ken said, he was just about back to normal after his hospital scare but he still wanted to keep his drinking to a minimum for now just to be on the safe side.

"I guess if you're buying then I'll ave a large glass of Red." Tracy said sitting with her back to the bar, She still wasn't too sure if she was allowed in The Rover's after the whole Tony situation, so she was trying to keep a very low profile. Peter nodded and made his way over to the bar.

"What can I get ya Peter?" Liz asked him but he planted a passionate kiss on Carla's lips before answering her. Carla giggled into the kiss before kissing him back, still with a glass of wine balanced in her hand. Leanne and Michelle both raised an eyebrow at each other whilst Liz just tutted irritatedly "In your own time Peter…" She said as she was far from interested in watching such a public display of affection especially seeing as her own relationship had just recently ended. They eventually stopped kissing and Peter said,

"A small brandy, a large glass of red and a lemonade please Liz…" Liz looked over at Tracy who was obviously trying to keep a low profile. Peter noticed this and said, "Is it okay that Tracy is in here?" He asked.

"As long as she stays far away from me it is." Liz said before walking away and getting Peter's order ready, leaving Michelle stood at the bar.

"What you doing tomorrow after work?" Peter asked Carla quietly. She put her head on one side as if she was trying to think about it.

"Hmmmm… You." Carla replied with a cheeky grin.

"I'm serious." Peter said although he couldn't help but laugh at Carla's filthy facial expression.

"So am I." Carla said nudging him, "Why, what did ya ave planned?"

"I was thinking of having _the chat_ with Simon tomorrow after school."

"And you want me there?" Carla asked,

"I sure do." Peter nodded

"Ohhh why?" Carla complained because she knew the idea of Peter sitting down with Simon to talk about sex would be a highly embarrassing situation for all involved.

"Well it were your idea weren't it? Anyways I'll need you there for moral support more than anything." Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't scared about what questions tomorrow's conversation might bring. "Please…" he begged. Carla still wasn't convinced to say yes yet but Peter knew that he could get round her and continued to beg her anyway. "Please... come on baby…" He said leaning in and kissing her on the neck, he was more than aware that they were in public and that people would probably be disgusted by his behaviour but that this was also how he'd get Carla to say yes.

Michelle was more than used to this kind of behaviour and continued to pour drinks as Leanne just looked the other way and started talking to Eileen who was also stood at the bar.

"Peter…" Carla moaned and tried reluctantly to push him away from her but he continued until she couldn't take no more said a very breathy "Okay, I'll be there."

"Thank you." He said smugly as she stopped kissing her.

"You better let Leanne know though." Carla said nodding towards her,

"Let Leanne know what?" Leanne said intrigued Peter cleared his throat and looked at Carla for help but she just picked up her glass again and began to drink her wine.

"Erm… earlier today there was an… incident." He began as Liz brought over the drinks he had ordered.

"What kind of incident?" Leanne asked, a little baffled by the awkward way Peter was acting.

"Nothing serious it's just something happened with me and Carla and I've decided that it's time that me and Si probably had a man to man talk about …" He looked at Michelle and Liz who couldn't help but listen in "Just growing up n Stuff."

"He means Sex." Carla said bluntly, Leanne looked a little astonished and said,

"Really?"

"Yeah I mean he's gonna be thirteen in the summer and I reckon after today he's probably gonna have a few questions." Peter said paying Liz for the drinks "It's not going to be nothing too serious just a little chat so is it alright if he comes over to mine tomorrow instead of yours?" Leanne nodded slowly she was a little unsure about this idea but Peter was Simon's Dad and she trusted his judgement.

"Yeah okay." said Leanne.

"Unless you wanna be there too of course?" Peter suggested.

"Nah you're alright ta." Leanne said more than a little relieved that Peter was around to do this sort of thing with Simon. She looked at Carla and then back at Peter "So… what happened to make you think that Simon needs the talk then?" She asked even more intrigued now. Peter picked up the three drinks he had ordered and winked at Carla.

"I'll leave that for Carla to tell ya…" He said and he quickly went off in the direction of his Dad's table. Leanne, Liz and Michelle all looked at Carla in unison.

"Gee thanks a lot Peter." She called after him, He turned around and grinned at her smugly as he got to his table.

"Go on then…" Leanne asked, She was grinning because by the appalled look on Carla's face she knew it had to be something good. Carla took a large gulp of wine and sighed, Liz and Michelle were both standing by to listen as well.

"I went round to Peter's on me lunch break and Simon walked in on us…" She began,

"Uh oh…" Michelle said, already feeling some second hand embarrassment for Carla "What exactly were you doing?" Carla bit her lip and said,

"Let's just say that I were...half naked... in front of Peter and on me knees." Liz, Michelle and Leanne started laughing instantly and Peter who was all the way across the pub in the corner laughed to him self as it was obvious Carla had just filled them in with what happened.

"Oh dear." Liz said still laughing.

"Oh dear indeed, I hid in the bedroom until he left, I don know how I'm gonna look him in the face tomorrow."

"Oh it'll be fine." Liz said, "Walking in on your parents is a teenager's birth right, I can tell you how many times Steve has walked in on me in the past."

"The past? Try last month." Michelle laughed with an eyebrow raised. Carla and Leanne both started laughing too but stopped as Liz now looked sad. "Oh… I'm sorry Liz." Michelle said feeling incredibly guilty for mentioning Steve walking in on Liz and Tony.

"It's fine Chelle." Liz said although she didn't look too fine.

"So I take it that you and Peter finally did the deed then." Eileen said, reminiscing about the conversation they'd all had in the pub on Friday night.

"Yes..." Carla said mysteriously but Michelle was more vocal on the subject.

"Yes? You two aint bloody stopped since by the sounds of it." She said with a grin, "It's no wonder Simon walked in on you both…"

"Must you remind me about it Chelle?" Carla cringed.

"It's not that bad, hey it could have been a hell of a lot worse." Leanne said,

"Could it?" Carla asked and Leanne nodded.

"Yeah... at least he didn't see something that would have scarred him for life." She said making Carla laugh again.

"Yeah, I mean lets face it, there are some pretty weird people out there, people that are into some pretty weird stuff." Liz said.

"And what makes you think me and Peter aren't those kind of people eh?" Carla grinned.

"Yeah I mean for all we know Peter could be Carla's very own Mr Grey." Eileen said causing all four of the women to burst into laughter once more.

As the night went on, it wasn't long before Peter had re-joined Carla at the bar, he was still racking his brain to think of ways to talk to Simon about sex tomorrow and he was now so desperate, he was even asking Michelle, Liz and Eileen for help.

"Peter, why don't you just google it?" Michelle said,

"That's what I said." Carla said smugly, linking her arm into Peter's as he leant on the bar next to her.

"Alright little miss know it all, I'll ave you know I've already done that…"

"And?" Leanne asked Peter just shrugged,

"And I'm still clueless." He said.

"You could just tell him to look it up himself." Eileen suggested,

"Oh yeah, is that what you did with your Todd and Jason?" Carla asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well no, the internet was very different back then though, I mean these days Simon could be clued up with in minutes."

"Yeah that's what I'm worried about." Peter said, "I mean I don't want him knowing everything just… y'know the basic things that all boys need to know."

"And what are those things that all boys need to know Peter?" Leanne asked with a smirk.

"You know you can feel free to offer any suggestions Lea, I mean he is your kid too y'know." Peter said. Carla rolled her eyes and along with Michelle who said,

"Do you really have to talk about it? I mean I never had a sex talk with my Mum and Dad and I turned out fine." Carla burst into laughter at Michelle's comment and said,

"Uh oh... you better ave this talk with Simon quick then."

"Oi…" Michelle said, reaching over and giving Carla a friendly push over the bar, "Carla... remember that ridiculous sex education lesson that we had at school?"

"Oh god yeah…" Carla said cringing again. "They got all the girls in the school together for it and everything."

"How old were you?" Peter asked, he always enjoyed hearing about happy times during Carla's teenage years, especially as she didn't have too many good ones at that.

"I were fourteen and Carla was fifteen." Michelle began "I remember they made us practice putting on contraception with Bananas for god sake."

"Not that you needed any practice eh Michelle?" Carla said with a smirk.

"Oh shut up Carla." Michelle said, hitting her this time.

"See you two were fourteen and fifteen not twelve." Peter said looking at Carla.

"Yeah but times have changed Peter, besides as Chelle said that were just the age the school decided to tell us about it, not her parents."

"Well how old were you when your Mum gave you the talk then?" Peter asked Carla, She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well she tried to give it me when I first got with Paul, which of course by that point it was already too late and by the time Rob were old enough, me Mum was well and truly off her face so I had to do it."

"Wait… you gave Rob the talk?" Peter said,

"I sure did." Carla nodded but she knew what was coming.

"So why didn't you say something before?" Peter asked a little peeved,

"Well should I ave? I mean it's not as if I knew what I was doing when I did it." Carla said, her tone of voice changing slightly.

"I'm totally dreading this Carla, I mean at least you have experience of it." Peter sighed,

"Yeah it was an experience all right, having to do everything for your little brother because your Mum was too busy doing drugs to even bother." Carla snapped, taking her wine and going to sit at the empty table behind her. Peter looked at Michelle who had watched the whole thing along with Liz and Leanne. He then turned around and went and sat at the table with Carla.

"Carla…" He began, he watched her as she sighed and then took a sip of wine. "So… maybe me questioning you about your Mum and Rob wasn't the best idea... I know you didn't ave it easy."

"Easy… Peter I looked after that kid almost every single day until I left…" Carla said sadly, She looked at Peter who genuinely looked gutted for evening asking her about her Mum, Carla's face softened when she saw his expression. "Oh don't look like that Peter, It's not your fault, I was the one who brought em up in the first place, I just had a little flashback of what it was like having to look after Rob that's all... I just miss the idiot so much." Carla said sorrowfully and wiping a tear away from her cheek.

"I know you do…" Peter said, "You and Tracy have that in common." Carla looked over at Tracy who was sat with her Dad and Audrey and they were both so busy chatting away about something, that they were obviously forgetting to include Tracy in it.

"Really?" Carla asked, "Well if she misses Rob so much, then what was the whole Tony thing about?"

"She said it was just silly games… She said Rob's the one." Peter said also watching his sister in the distance, she had her head in one hand and looked utterly miserable.

"Y'know I never thought I'd say this but… I actually feel sorry for Tracy…" Carla said, almost freaked out by this emotion that she'd never felt for Tracy before.

"That's why I reckon you two should talk… you might find some comfort in each other. I mean other than Beth, Tracy doesn't really seem to have many friends." Peter said.

"You think me and Tracy could be friends?" Carla said with an eyebrow raised, "Really?"

"Not best friends, But yeah I think if you two tried you could probably have a lot of fun together." Peter said, Carla took another sip of wine and thought for a moment.

"Well I spose I should really spend some more time with her, I mean she is me sister in law after all." She said, Peter moved up on the sofa, so that he was right next to Carla, their bodies touching. "I dunno... maybe I'll buy her a drink one night or something…"

"That would be really nice…" Peter said smiling at Carla lovingly and taking her hand. "Listen, I'm sorry about the whole Rob thing… It's just a little relieving to know that you have a little bit of experience of what it's like to raise a teenage boy because I have absolutely none… other than being one me self of course."

"That was a hell of a long time ago, mind you." Carla said with a grin. Peter chuckled at her and shook his head

"You just couldn't help your self could you?" He said as Carla leant in, she shook her head and rubbed her nose against his tenderly.

"You…" Carla said before kissing Peter softly on his nose "Are doing absolutely fine with Simon, he worships the ground that you walk on and I promise you that I'll be there tomorrow to help you through your little chat."

"Thanks Carla… Honestly I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to upset you." Peter said apologetically, Carla grinned at him and shook her head.

"It's fine and if I'm being honest... I only stormed over ere in the hope that you'd follow me and that I'd have you alone for a bit."

"Hmmm good plan…" Peter grinned, leaning in and kissing Carla. Michelle who had been watching the entire thing from the bar leant over it and called out,

"Well that didn't last a long did it?" Carla and Peter both giggled sheepishly and moved apart from each other. Peter looked over at Tracy who was still looking bored out of her brains and decided that he should really go over and rescue her. Carla followed his gaze and nodded at him,

"Go on you, go back to your family." She said, pushing him playfully. Peter smiled at her dotingly and got up off the chair.

"Come over and ave a drink with us soon yeah?" he said, Carla nodded at him and watched him walk away. She finished her wine and got up to re-join her friends at the bar.

* * *

The next day Carla arrived at Peter's flat at just gone six pm, she'd come over straight from work and was surprised to see that Simon wasn't there yet.

"Where's Si?" She asked taking off her coat and hanging it up.

"Oh he plays basket ball on a Thursday after school, he should be ere in a bit though." Peter said, he was sat on the sofa in his tie and shirt from work and he was listening to music as he worked on his laptop. Carla made her way over to the sofa and greeted him with a kiss. She then noticed that he'd laid out some food on his coffee table, which consisted of crisps, nachos and dips.

"So… have you decided how you're going to go about this?" Carla asked, leaning forward and helping her self to some crisps as Peter closed his laptop.

"Well I've kind of decided that I'm gonna just ask Simon outright if he has some questions and then take it from there." Peter said, as Carla ate the crisps. She grinned at the table and then said,

"I love that you've actually put out a little spread for this."

"I thought it would be a bit more casual if we had some music on in the background and some nibbles." Peter said, Carla climbed onto his lap and grinned at him.

"Speaking of nibbles." She said leaning forward and biting down on Peter's ear lobe gently.

"Honestly… Carla, sometimes you only ave one thing on your mind." Peter breathed. Carla nodded as she began kissing him on his neck, her hands were wrapped around his tie as she slowly began making her way down to his collarbone.

She was then appalled to hear the door open and to then hear Simon say,

"I bet you're starting to regret giving me keys to this place aren't you?" Peter tried not to laugh as Carla quickly scrambled off his lap.

"Of course not." Peter said, although Carla was definitely thinking the same thing as Simon as he walked into the flat properly and closed the door behind him.

"I'll just go and change out of me basket ball kit." Simon smiled, He walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. Peter started laughing as quietly as he could whilst Carla put her hand in her hands.

"For god sake." She said, "The kid probably thinks I'm some sort of nympho or something."

"I'm sincerely hoping that he doesn't even know what a nympho is to be honest Carla." Peter said with half a smile.

"It were so much easy to get away with stuff when he were a little kid…" Carla said, almost reminiscing "Although he did kind of hate me back then, so I guess it's not all bad then."

"Aww he didn't hate you… he just…"

"What?" Carla asked with an eyebrow raised,

"Misjudged you." Peter said,

"Misjudged me? Well that's one way of putting it." Carla said with a smirk, Peter leant in to kiss her again but she dodged it. "Oh no way, I'm not risking that?" she exclaimed.

"Risking what?" Peter laughed trying to pull Carla towards him but she playfully bated him away from her.

"I'm serious Peter, The last two times this kid has seen me I've been doing some rather questionable things to you… I'm not having him come out of ere and seeing me with me tongue down your throat." Carla said, sure enough Simon came back into the living room with a T-Shirt and jeans on. Carla got up and sat as far away from Peter as possible. She was still mortified by the events of last night and as Simon sat on the armchair opposite her she could tell that he was embarrassed too.

"How was basketball then Si?" Carla asked, deciding to make the first move. Simon smiled at her and nodded,

"Yeah it was good, Santana came to watch me actually."

"Aww that sounds nice." Carla said as Peter shuffled awkwardly in his seat. Simon knew that something was up and watched his Dad for a moment.

"So… how come you wanted me to come here instead of me Mum's?" Simon asked, Peter took a deep breath and looked at Carla, who quickly began staring at the wall instead.

"Well… I just wanted to ask you if you had any questions about what happened yesterday…" Peter said, Simon frowned a little and said,

"Questions about what?"

"You know about… what you walked in on." Peter said rigidly,

"Oh…" said Simon, half embarrassed and half amused. Carla couldn't help but grin at Simon's expression and leant forward to take some more crisps. "It's alright… I erm… I'm fine." Simon said awkwardly, he was looking at the food on the table and raised an eyebrow at his Dad. "Dad… is this some kind of… sex talk?"

"No." Peter began, "Well yes… sort of." He said, Carla rolled her eyes at Peter and said,

"Look your Dad just wants you to know that if you have any questions regarding sex or anything else for that matter, you can feel free to ask."

"Okay…" Simon said slowly, "You know we do have this kind of thing at school."

"Yeah I know that Si but I'm sure that it's more on the technical… you know the more scientifical side of things… I'm here if you want to talk about the emotional parts and… stuff." Peter said, "I mean after all you are with Santana now and…"

"Dad! All me and Santana do is kiss." Simon said, mortified and almost red in the face now. Carla wasn't sure if she totally believed this but she nodded at him anyway.

"Of course Si…" Peter began "But as you get older you'll start to have… urges and you might need some… assistance with those urges." Carla put her top lip over her bottom lip and tried to keep her self from laughing right out loud at what Peter just said. He hadn't meant it to sound comical but as Carla stifled her laugh Peter turned to her and said, "What's funny?"

"Nothing… carry on." She said although she was still smirking. Peter swallowed hard, he thought as the conversation went on that it would get better but he was still nervous about the questions that might have been to come.

"So… do you have any questions?" Peter asked stiffly, he was hoping that Simon would say no and that it would all be over in a matter of minutes.

"Erm…" Simon began, he looked at Carla and then bit his lip. "No."

"Really?" Peter asked because he wasn't entirely convinced by Simon's no.

"Yeah…" Simon said.

"You know maybe I should… leave." Carla said, Peter turned to look at her.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I don't think Simon really wants to ask you any questions… not whilst I'm here anyway." She said almost grinning because she had a way out now, a way to leave this embarrassing situation.

"Is that it Si?" Peter asked and Simon nodded sheepishly.

"See." Carla said smugly. She got up and went to get her coat. "How about you two have this little chat and I'll pop over once you're done." Carla suggested. Simon and Peter both nodded only with two different nods. Simon's was a grateful one and Peter's was a dejected one.

"Can I go toilet first?" Simon asked a little nervously, trying to avoid this conversation for as long as possible. Peter nodded at him and as Simon got up and went towards the bathroom, Peter gave Carla a disappointed look.

"So much for moral support eh?" He said, as Carla put on her coat.

"Well you're clearly not going to get anywhere if I'm in the room are ya?" Carla said quietly, "You will be fine Peter."

"Where you going then?" he asked, Carla thought for a moment and then said,

"I might hit the gym actually, work up a sweat…" She grinned.

"And how am I supposed to sit here n give Simon the talk when you put images like that in me head eh?" Peter said shaking his head at Carla. She shrugged at him with a grin and opened his door.

"Say bye to Simon for me."

* * *

An hour and a half later, Carla was just getting off the treadmill in the gym when she spotted Zeedan running next to her. She grinned at him as he stopped running to talk to her.

"Alright Carla…" he said, She nodded at him as she took out her headphones and said,

"How did I not notice that you were next to me?" Zeedan shrugged,

"No idea… I said hello you and everything but it looked as if you were in your own little world."

"Oh I were…" Carla said, taking a drink of water. She been imaging the conversation between Simon and Peter and hoped that it was going well between them.

"I hear Peter is giving Simon the sex talk as we speak." Zeedan said smirking, Carla looked at him,

"Is that so?" She asked, "Who told you that?"

"Simon..." Zeedan said, wiping his forehead "I got a text from him about an hour and half ago, it said _save me, me Dad's just got me round his place for the sex talk."_

"Ahhhh that was probably when he went into the bathroom…" Carla said with a grin, "Bless him, he looked terrified, then again so did Peter when I left."

"Don't blame him, I mean that's probably got to be the most awkward part about being a parent… Si's a good kid though so it could be worse." Zeedan said,

"He is a good kid." Carla said smiling, "Hey we should have got you to do instead, saved Peter all the stress he's been putting himself through, I mean the man got barley any sleep last night he were thinking about it so much." Zeedan raised an eyebrow at Carla and took a drink of his own water.

"Yeah… I'm sure that's why he didn't get any sleep." He said, giving Carla the eye. She rolled her eyes with a grin as she was more than used to getting that look from Zeedan,

"I wouldn't be giving me that look anymore if I were you, after all, I've got a man now." She said proudly.

"So I heard…" Zeedan said, "Tis a shame really, I really thought me n you could ave been something special." He said with a wink before walking towards the men's changing rooms.

"Yeah yeah, in another life maybe." Carla quipped as he disappeared into the changing rooms. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and when she pulled it out she saw that she had just received a text message from Peter.

"_**Well that was highly disturbing x"**_

Carla grinned as she took another drink of water and then replied back to Peter saying,

"_**Awww I really feel for ya baby, but hey at least you got it over and done with. What you up to now? x"**_

"_**Si's just left, he said he wanted to spend some time with Leanne as it was her first night off in ages but I reckon he just wanted to escape from all the embarrassment. You still at the gym? x"**_

"_**Just finishing up, gonna hit the showers in a mo…"**_

"_**Forget the shower… at least for now, come over to mine and assist me with my urges x"**_

Carla giggled and shook her head at Peter's last text and texted him back before making her way into the changing rooms.

"_**And you said I'm the one who only has one thing on me mind… ha ha I'll be over in ten, gorgeous x"**_

As Carla left the gym and practically bounced around the corner, she saw Simon making his way to his Mum's house. He smiled when he saw her and was carrying a box of chips.

"I hope you didn't think I was being rude earlier…" Simon began, "It's just embarrassing enough talking about that stuff with Dad, let alone a girl." Carla shook her head at him and said,

"Don't even think about it Si, to be honest I were glad to have an excuse to get out of there, So… how'd it go?" She asked snatching up a chip from his box.

"Yeah… it weren't too bad actually, once we got started it got less embarrassing." Simon said,

"Good." Carla said, "Well I'll let you get on to your Mum's and I'll probably see you tomorrow, yeah?" Simon nodded at Carla and as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug he said,

"Bye Carla."

"Bye Darlin." Carla said before walking towards Peter's new place, She was almost about to turn the corner when she bumped right into Luke from the garage.

"Woah…" Luke chuckled as Carla sighed,

"Sorry Luke, I really am in me own little world." She said smiling elatedly.

"It's fine… it's good to see you so happy actually… you deserve it." Luke said nodding.

"Aww that's really sweet…" Carla said, continuing to smile at Luke, who since she had met him had always been really lovely to her.

"And listen… if you hear anything that Steph might being saying… just ignore her." Luke then said, his tone changing to a more concerned one.

"Steph?" Carla said, confused at first, "About what?"

"You know what... Never mind." Luke said, wishing he hadn't said anything at all to Carla now.

"No go on Luke, what's she been saying?" Carla asked, stopping Luke from trying to walk past her.

"Carla it's really not important."

"Well it were important enough for you to mention it so go on… what's your sister been saying?" Carla asked, she was beginning to get very irritated now which she felt was unfair on Luke because he was always such a pleasure to talk to.

"Look she's just not over Tina's death that's all…" Luke eventually began and suddenly everything made sense to Carla. "She's just a little upset about you and Peter getting back together which I've told her is ridiculous and that it's your decision… I only mentioned it in case you heard it from someone else that's all, She doesn't know what she is saying." Luke said.

Carla was a little stunned to hear this information from Luke so she kept quiet for a moment, she had been so wrapped up in how happy she and Peter were that she didn't even think about what other people might think about them.

Close family and friends all seemed to be overjoyed about their reconciliation and even The Underworld staff seemed pleased, they had always loved Peter and when ever he stopped by to see Carla, he was always there for that little bit longer, chatting away to everyone and asking them how they've been.

Other than that, Carla didn't know what everyone else thought and as she said goodbye to Luke, she tried to tell herself that she didn't care what anyone else thought, she loved Peter and he loved her and that was all that was important.

That was all that mattered.


	29. Two In A Million

It had been a while since Michelle and Steve had thrown one of their themed pub nights, in fact it had been almost a month seeing as their last one had been on Halloween. Michelle had been keen on throwing a Karaoke night for weeks now and after lots and lots of nagging she convinced Steve to let her throw one on Saturday night.

"Really Chelle?" Carla said as she saw Michelle putting up the poster for it on Friday morning, They were on their way to get breakfast in the café but they had to stop every so often as Michelle put posters up all over the street. Carla leant forward and looked at the date, "The twenty ninth? Chelle that's tomorrow."

"I know." Michelle said, as she pinned a poster onto a lamppost out side Roy's Rolls.

"Well it's a bit last minute aint it?" Carla said,

"I know but I wanted to get it done before Steve changes his mind, he's not to keen on the idea to be honest." Michelle said,

"I'm not surprised…" Carla said, "I mean how many people around ere other than you, ave a good singing voice?"

"It's not about that Carla, it's about having fun." Michelle grinned as they walked into the café.

"Oh I beg to differ…" Carla said as they reached the tills, "I reckon it should be illegal to do Karaoke unless you can actually sing."

"Oh you are such a spoil sport Carla." Michelle grinned as Roy greeted them at the tills.

"Good morning ladies what can I get for you this morning?" He asked,

"Morning Roy." Carla said, smiling at him fondly. "The usual I think." She said looking at Michelle who nodded.

"So that's two coffees and two bacon sandwiches then." Roy checked although he knew that it was correct because Michelle and Carla had been coming into his place for years to get breakfast and they almost always had the same thing.

"Perfect." Michelle said as Carla gave Roy a wave and went to sit down at her and Michelle's favourite table in the corner. "Carla I hope you know that me and you are gonna be getting up on stage and singing something together." Michelle said as she sat down opposite Carla.

"Erm… I don't think so Michelle." Carla said, shaking her head adamantly. "You know I don't do Karaoke anymore, those shameful days are well and truly gone"

"Oh I think you'll change your mind once I get a few wines down your neck." Michelle said, as Peter walked into the café, he was dressed in his black coat and in work clothes, he smiled when he saw Carla but she had her back to the doors so she didn't see him as he walked towards her.

"Morning." He said, bending down and giving Carla a quick kiss on the back of her head before walking on towards the tills. She grinned from ear to ear and watched Peter as he said, "Can I get a black coffee Roy?"

"You coming over ere to join us?" Michelle asked, but Peter shook his head at her.

"No can do, I'm already late for work as it is."

"Aww go on." Carla said pouting,

"Eh it's alright for you two, I mean you can just stroll into work when you want, but me, I ave to make sure I get to work on time, they need me down there." Peter said.

"And where exactly was this kind of attitude when you used to work at the factory?" Michelle asked, "You used to turn up at gone eleven sometimes."

"Yeah well I could get away with it then, I were sleeping with the boss after all." Peter said winking at Carla and then turning to pay Roy for his drink. Carla smiled in a besotted fashion over at Peter, she was still unable to understand how simple wink could give her so many butterflies and she was also unaware that Michelle was watching her.

"I bet you'd sing if _he_ asked you to." Michelle said nodded towards Peter with a grin, Carla stopped smiling and shook her head at her best friend.

"No I wouldn't." She said although if she could be convinced by anyone to get up and sing, Peter would definitely have been the one to do it.

"Yes you flamin well would, you'd do anything for that man." Michelle said, as Peter came over to their table.

"What man?" he grinned,

"You… there's a Karaoke night at the pub tomorrow and I want Carla to do a duet with me." Michelle said,

"A duet?" Peter said with an eyebrow raised, "Is it classed a duet when one of you can sing and the other… is Carla?" he nodded towards her as Michelle laughed.

"Awww she's not that bad." She said.

"No he's right Chelle, I cannot hold a bloody tune, which is why I will be there tomorrow night but only as a spectator to the pure madness that is going entail when you let the folks round here loose with a microphone and a backing track." Carla said.

"Oh come on Carla, I wanna do a song with me bezzie mate… please." Michelle groaned as Roy brought over their coffees. "I'll even let you pick the song." Michelle reasoned as if that would change Carla's mind.

"Really?" Carla gasped excitedly. Peter could tell that this was more of a sarcastic gasp but Michelle couldn't and nodded at Carla excitedly.

"Yes!" Michelle cried.

"Hmmmm let me think." Carla said bringing her finger up to her lips as if she was deep in thought. Peter watched her shaking his head in amusement, as she then looked at Michelle dead in the eye and said. "No!"

"Oh Carlaaaaa!" Michelle cried putting her head on the table in a dramatic fashion. Peter laughed along with Carla as Michelle lifted her head up a little, "Come on Peter, help me out ere, get Carla to at least think about it." As she spoke Roy handed Peter his coffee over the till.

"Cheers Roy." Peter said before turning back to Michelle and Carla, "Sorry Chelle this is my cue to leave I'm afraid." He said holding up his takeaway cup of coffee.

"Have a good day baby." Carla gushed, getting off her seat slightly so she could reach Peter for kiss.

"You too love." Peter said as she sat back down, He looked at Michelle who was still pouting about Carla's duet refusal.

"Bye Peter." She sulked,

"Bye Chelle." He said and then he grinned, "Whatever you decide tomorrow, just make sure that Carla's microphone is switched right off." Michelle and Carla both laughed at this and as Peter began to walk away Carla leant back and gave Peter a quick slap on the bottom. "Behave you." He said before leaving the café.

Carla turned back to Michelle with a grin as their Bacon sandwiches were brought over, they both said thank you to Roy and tucked straight in. Michelle was halfway through her sandwich when she looked at Carla and said,

"Can you at least just think about singing with me?" Carla rolled her eyes as she chewed her food and said,

"Y'know what Chelle if you stop talking about it, I promise I will think about it, okay?"

"That's all I ask." Michelle said triumphantly. "It was nice to see Peter this morning…" Carla nodded and took a sip of her coffee. "How's he doing?"

"Yeah he's…" Carla began smiling infatuatedly, she sighed peacefully to which Michelle put on her best Carla like voice and said,

"Oh he's so dreamy and I am so clearly obsessed with him that I cannot even finish my flamin sentence." Carla laughed to herself and shook her head at Michelle.

"Oh I can't help it Chelle," She said, still smiling away.

"I don't quite know how it's possible but I swear it's like you two are even more in love than before." Michelle said, "I mean you weren't even half as bad as this, when you got together the first time around."

"Yeah well it were different back then, I mean we had everyone judging us and everything with Leanne to deal with on top of that. We didn't really have time to just be us and to be happy y'know…. Which reminds me…." Carla said as Michelle went back to eating her sandwich, "You've not heard people saying out ave you?"

"What d'ya mean?" Michelle asked,

"Like stuff about me and Peter?" Carla said, Michelle shook her head,

"No why?"

"It's just, I ran into Luke the other day and he said that Steph had been saying stuff that's all." Carla said with her hands wrapped tightly around her coffee cup.

"Steph? Why would she have something to say?" Michelle asked,

"Well she were Tina's best mate, she's clearly not over what Peter did." Carla said sighing a little,

"Well she should be, I mean if you can get past it, who cares what everyone else has to say."

"Well I don't, not really it's just I don't want Peter getting wind of it that's all, I mean he's in such a good place right now and I don't want anything to make him feel bad." Carla said. Michelle nodded at her understandingly as they both went to finish their breakfast.

As they were almost done, Michelle looked down at the leaflets she'd also made for the Karaoke night and had an idea,

"Could you hand some of these out to your factory lot for me?" She asked.

"Oh do I ave to?" She joked, "I mean it's bad enough I have to hear their foghorns singing along to the radio at work let alone in the pub."

* * *

Later on that evening Peter had just finished work and was making his way down Coronation Street to see his Dad when he saw Simon walking miserably down the road.

"Si? What's wrong?" he asked, Simon just shrugged at his Dad and shook his head.

"Nothing." He lied.

"Well it's obviously not nothing is it Si? I mean look at the face on it." Peter said, pointing at a reflection of Simon in a car window.

"I had an argument with Santana today…" Simon began, "In fact it were just now."

"What happened?" Peter asked as they got to number one.

"I were round her house with her after school because we always hang out on Fridays and she seemed a bit off with me, so I just asked why she was in such a bad mood and she said that she wasn't but I said she was and then she told me to go home and leave her alone." Simon said as if he had just had the worst argument in the world.

"That was hardly an argument Simon." Peter said as he knocked on his Dad's door.

"She seemed really annoyed with me though Dad and I haven't even done anything wrong." Simon said as the door opened.

"Hello Dad." Peter said, Ken smiled at him and let him and Simon in properly.

"Hi Granddad." Simon said miserably, Ken looked at Peter upon Simon's appearance.

"Oh ignore him Dad, he's just had his first tiff with Santana that's all." Peter said as they all walked into the living room. Amy and Tracy were both sat at the table surrounded by dozen's of nail polish bottles.

"Hiya..." Tracy said as she leant was leant over Amy's hand and painting her nails black. Peter looked at the colour that Amy had chosen and said,

"Black nails really? You're not going all emo on us are you Amy?"

"No, black nails look really cool and sophisticated actually." Amy said,

"Yeah and if anyone looks like they're going emo it's Simon, I mean what is that face for?" Tracy said watching Simon as she slumped down onto the sofa.

"He had an argument with Santana." Peter said, taking his coat off.

"Why don't you just tell everyone Dad?" Simon said dryly.

"Watch it you." Peter said as he sat down next to Simon. "Come on Si, she's probably just had a bad day that's all."

"You can say that again." Amy said, Simon gave her a perplexed look and sat up right.

"What do you mean?" He asked, as it was obvious that Amy knew a little more about the situation.

"Well I saw her earlier, I had P.E and she just had a lesson before me so she was in the changing rooms when I went in there, she was arguing with this girl who said something about her Dad and the next thing, I saw Santana gave the girl one hell of a slap, Mrs Bolton came in at that very moment and took Santana and the girl to the headmaster." Amy said as Tracy continued to paint her nails.

"Well it sounds as if she did have a bad day after all then." Ken said, sitting down on his favourite chair. Peter looked at Simon to try and guess what he was thinking, he was guessing that Simon was probably feeling slightly embarrassed for but Peter was wrong.

"So she's going round hitting girls in her year yet she had the cheek to ave a go at me for giving that Darren a good punch." Simon said shaking his head.

"Honestly, you two are a right pair of troublemakers." Tracy said.

"Yeah... sounds as if they are made for each other." Amy grinned, Simon glared over at them as Peter sighed at his son.

"Simon did you even listen to what Amy said? Obviously Santana was provoked by this girl talking about her Dad… and I know that you of all people have some experience in that area... don't you?" Peter said, reminding Simon of when he lashed out at school because someone was taunting him about his Dad.

"I guess…" Simon said, feeling guilty now. "Should I go back round there? He asked and Peter shook his head.

"No, she told you to go and leave her alone, so you should respect her decision. Why don't you just send her a text to say that Amy told you what happened and that if she needs to talk to you then she can." Peter suggested. Simon nodded and got his phone out, he ended up sending Santana a message that said the same sort of thing that his Dad had just suggested.

_**Hi… Amy just told me what she saw in the changing rooms earlier, if I'd ave known I wouldn't have been so stupid, I understand if you don't want to talk about it but if you do just give me a call. x**_

It was only a few minutes later when Simon's phone began ringing and it was Santana, he answered it immediately and even went into the hallway so he could speak in private.

"Honestly kids these days, so dramatic." Tracy said as she finished Amy's nails. Amy admired them and had her hands laid out on the table so they could dry.

"Thanks Mum." She said smiling, "Hey granddad, what do you think?" She asked, holding a hand up so Ken could see.

"Erm… very nice Amy." Ken said although he didn't think black nails looked good at all. "Are they for a special occasion or something?"

"Yeah, Santana's best friend Chloe is turning thirteen tomorrow night and she's having a disco in a hall." Amy said,

"And you're invited?" Ken asked surprised,

"Yes, I know her from Netball." Amy said, Tracy watched Ken's slightly worried expression and said,

"It's fine Dad, Simon's going too, he'll make sure she is fine besides the girls entire family will be there too." Amy nodded at her Granddad as Tracy started putting away the bottles of nail polish, "I've gotta say, it is slightly depressing when your eleven year old has a better social life than you." Tracy said unhappily. Peter watched her for a moment and decided to send out a little message out of his own.

"_**Carla…You know what we spoke about the other day about how you &amp; Tracy should spend sometime together?..."**_

Peter only had to wait a few moments before receiving a reply.

"_**Yes… why?"**_

"_**Well I'm with her right now &amp; I were thinking the Karaoke night would be a good opportunity for it, what do you think?"**_

"_**Yeah I guess so…" **_

"_**Hmmm y**__**ou don't sound too convincing if I'm honest Carla."**_

"_**Well I were planning on sitting &amp; judging all the horrible singers all night, not having an awkward chat with Tracy." **_

"_**You **__**don't think Tracy will be doing the same as you, Carla the woman lives for that kind of thing, you two would have a ball together I just know it."**_

"_**That's true… Okay you've twisted me arm but Peter you better be there so that I can at least have some eye candy nearby."**_

"_**Ha ha of course I'll be there, I wouldn't want to miss the chance of seeing you &amp; Michelle up on that stage."**_

"_**Peter Barlow you can whistle if you think I'm even going near that stage! Feel free to serenade me at some point during the evening though... Just make sure that it's a song from this century. Ahahaha"**_

"_**Oh there you go again, I'll ave you know that if I got up on that stage &amp; started singing, there would be flocks of females around it with in seconds. I'm gonna ask Tracy about tomorrow night in a sec."**_

"_**Ha ha Peter you're honestly in a dream world sometimes. The only females that would be around the stage would be ones armed with rotten tomatoes to throw at you. Let me know what Tracy says. x"**_

"What are you grinning at like that?" Tracy asked as she watched Peter type on his phone.

"Nothing I'm just texting Carla that's all." He said, Tracy rolled her eyes at him.

"Honestly, between you and Simon it's getting really depressing around ere."

"Can I paint your nails Mum?" Amy then asked.

"No point Amy, it's not like I've got any where to show em off." Tracy said, giving Peter the perfect opportunity for asking Tracy to come out tomorrow night.

"You not going to the Karaoke night tomorrow?" he asked nonchalantly. Tracy shaked her head at Peter and said,

"No."

"Well why not?" Peter asked,

"Because I've got no one to go with ave I?"

"What about Beth?" Ken asked,

"She's going with Kirk, she says there're going to sing I've Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher." Tracy said almost smirking.

"Oh there is no way you can miss that." Peter said. Tracy just shrugged and kept quiet, she was also a little apprehensive about going into The Rover's as Liz would obviously be in there. She normally wouldn't care about stirring up trouble but she really didn't want to cause her Dad any more stress. "Come with me and Carla." Peter then said, Tracy raised an eyebrow at him,

"Errr no thanks, I'll end up spending the night watching you with your tongue halfway down her throat." She said.

"No… Carla's already said she is going to be armed with a large glass of red, ready to completely take the mick out of anyone who sings." Peter said, "She could probably do with the company seeing as I obviously wont be drinking."

Tracy thought for a moment, she was sure that Peter was just inviting her because he felt sorry for her.

"And what has Carla got to say about you inviting me out with you two tomorrow?" Tracy asked,

"She'll be fine with it, she actually really likes you Trace…" Peter said, he wasn't really lying, Carla and Tracy still had a very long way to go before they could ever be proper friends but Carla had recently told Peter that she did sort of like Tracy so he thought that for now it would do.

"I think it would be really nice for you to go out tomorrow night Tracy." Ken said, smiling at Peter proudly for offering Tracy the invite. Amy looked at her Mum and said,

"Go on Mum, I reckon it'll be seriously funny to see everyone try to sing." They all waited with bated breath for Tracy's answer.

"Oh go on then." Tracy said smiling sheepishly at Peter, Amy looked overjoyed and then asked.

"So does that mean I can paint your nails then?" Tracy nodded as Peter text Carla again.

"_**Tracy just said she'd come tomorrow night, She said she's really looking forward to spending time with you."**_

Peter wondered if Carla would see right through this little white lie, he soon found out that she had done when he got her reply.

"_**Yeah right, don't lie to me Peter Barlow…"**_

Peter grinned as he typed out his reply,

"_**It was worth a try though right? What you up to right now anyway?"**_

"_**Oh I'm currently avin a right wild night in on Netflix, how about you?"**_

"_**Nothing, Si's on the phone to Santana, in the hallway I might add, Me Dad's got his nose in a book &amp; Amy is painting Tracy's nails."**_

"_**So… where's Si spending the night tonight?" **_

"_**At Leanne's…" **_

"_**Well in that case... I expect you to be ere in no less then five minutes Barlow! Don't keep me waiting xx"**_

Peter didn't want to be rude to his family but he also didn't want to keep Carla waiting so after two minutes or so went by he got up and said,

"Well seeing as you lot are all busy with your own bits and bobs I might go home and see if I can get some work done."

"Oh yeah right." Tracy said sarcastically

"You're so going to see Carla." Amy said, making a kissy kissy face at Peter. He grinned at them as Ken looked up from his book and said,

"Bye bye Peter."

"Bye Dad." Peter said, "Amy enjoy this party tomorrow night n Tracy I'll see you in The Rover's at half seven."

"Oh I can't wait." Tracy said keeping up with her sarcasm, although she secretly was looking forward to it after all.

* * *

The next night, Carla had made sure that she'd got to the pub early so that she could bag the best seat for her, Tracy and Peter. She'd chosen one right in the middle so that they had the perfect view. Michelle and Steve had set up a stage in one corner of the pub, it had a microphone stand and a brand new karaoke machine and there was also sparkly backdrop behind the whole thing to finish it off

Michelle went over and sat with Carla, armed with the book of songs that were available to sing.

"I don't know why you're bringing that over to me, I told you that I wasn't singing in ere tonight." Carla said,

"You said you'd think about it." Michelle said, flicking through the pages

"Yeah and I did… the answer is still no babe." Carla said, Michelle looked a little disappointed as she closed the book.

"Okay." She said, "Will you at least pick a song for me then?"

"Really?" Carla asked,

"Yeah… If I can't with my best friend than I can at least sing a song chosen by my best friend." Michelle smiled handing Carla the book of songs.

"You know you might regret this…" Carla said with a mischievous grin. She was busy making her way through the book when Peter came in with Tracy.

"So what you singing then?" He asked, Carla closed the book as he and Tracy sat down at the table she had chosen.

"How many times? I am not singing." Carla said as Peter kissed her on the cheek, he had done it purposely so that Tracy wouldn't feel like a gooseberry. "Alright Tracy?" Carla asked cheerily.

"Yeah, I'm okay… You." Tracy asked back taking off her coat.

"Spose so, I'd be better if Chelle and Peter wouldn't keep trying to pressure me into singing though." She said.

"I take it you can't sing then?" Tracy said, Peter grinned at her and said,

"Tracy my dear, Carla is blessed with many, many talents but singing is definitely not one of em."

"So why d'ya keep asking me what I'm gonna sing then?" Carla asked him.

"Because you shouldn't let something like being tone deaf stop you from getting up there and having fun." Peter said making Carla and Tracy both laugh.

"I have no idea why someone would want to get up there and embarrass themselves like that." Tracy said shaking her head,

"Maybe because sometimes it's good to step outside your comfort zone." Peter said brightly, Carla looked at him and laughed again.

"Nah I'm with you Trace, It's much funnier to sit and just watch other people make a fool of themselves." She said, Tracy nodded at Carla companionably and then smiled at her. Peter who was overjoyed by this display of almost friendship said that he was buying the first round of drinks and was sent to the bar by Carla and Tracy.

"Would you look at that?" he said smiling, "You two both ordered the same wine."

"Yeah and so did half the pub by the looks of it Peter." Tracy said as he went off to the bar. Carla smiled as he walked away and then looked back at Tracy. There was a slight moment of awkwardness before Carla looked down at the songbook and asked,

"So if you were going to get up there n embarrass yourself, what song would you pick?" Tracy thought for a moment, as if she was actually imagining her self, up there and said,

"I'd sing something me Mam would have liked… or maybe a Madonna song or something… not that I can sing either." She grinned "None of us Barlow's can."

"Oh you wouldn't think that if you heard the way Peter carries on sometimes." Carla said,

"Oh trust me, I've lived with the guy for the past six months, I've heard his singing plenty of times, and don't even get me started on the singing he does in the shower." Tracy said

"Tell me about it." Carla said as Peter came back with their drinks "And why does he insists on singing songs from a gazillion years ago?" Peter put Carla and Tracy's drinks down on the table and looked between them.

"Are you talking about me?"

"No." They both said, simultaneously picking up their wines and taking a sip.

"Hmmm why don't I believe you?" Peter asked as Carla moved her chair up a little so that she was leaning against him, Peter thought she was going to kiss him but she didn't as she too didn't want to make Tracy feel too uncomfortable. "Did Tracy tell you that we just sent Amy and Simon off to their first proper high school party?" Peter asked, Carla shook her head at him and turned to Tracy,

"Really?"

"Yeah, It's really one of Simon's mates, well his girlfriends mate's birthday but she knows Amy from the netball team and was kind enough to invite her." Tracy said, "It's a proper little disco and everything, doesn't finish until midnight."

"Midnight?" Carla said surprised, "Wow… they grow up so fast don't they?"

"Don't remind me." Peter said thinking of the conversation he'd had with Simon the other day about the birds and the bees. He told Tracy about it whilst the pub started to fill up with people, by half past seven it was rammed and it was clear that this Karaoke night was going to be a real success.

Steve was armed with his own Microphone and was almost like the master of ceremonies as he got up to introduce the first singer.

"Right Ladies and Gents, I would first like to thank you all for coming ere tonight and I hope you're all going to ave a go at singing one of your favourite songs, if you do want to come up ere, come over and write your name on this clipboard so we can get the song ready for you and to kick things off, it's only right that I invite my gorgeous wife up on stage to sing to you all, put your hands together for Michelle McDonald." Steve said, there were very loud claps and cheers as Michelle got on stage and began singing Dolly Parton's Nine to Five.

When Michelle was finished the entire pub clapped and cheered because she truly does have an amazing voice, then it was time for the fun to start because Beth and Kirk had got up to sing I Got You Babe. They were both surprisingly good though and as they finished they both got a round of applause as well.

As the night went on and more people got up to sing, Tracy and Carla found them selves laughing more and more, especially at the truly awful singers. There was a rather unexpected performance by Mary Taylor who sung Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus and then a hilarious rendition of Ice Ice Baby from Luke and Tyrone. A tipsy Liz and Eileen both got up and comically sang Cher's Believe, which they both dedicated to Tony. Then a friend of one of the regulars got on stage and began singing Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis.

As the guy, who was tall and had a brown hair with a lot of stubble and who could actually sing, started singing Peter nodded along with him, he turned to see what Tracy and Carla thought but Carla was glassy eyed and was staring at Tracy who had her gaze permanently fixed on the singer.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, leaning in so Carla could hear him. Carla sniffed and turned to Peter.

"Rob's favourite song." She said, Peter looked back at his sister who wiped a tear from her cheek. Carla then reached over and put an arm around Tracy. Tracy looked at Carla's hand that was hanging down from her shoulder and smiled tearfully at her. Peter smiled too at his wife and his sister who really did seem as if they were becoming friends.

As the song continued Carla and Tracy smiled at each other and sang along the words and when the singer finished his song they both gave him a loud cheer and a clap, he looked sheepish as he walked past them both back to his table. "Aww he's dead cute." Carla said smiling away at him.

"Oh is he now?" Peter said in a jokey fashion.

"Now now don't get jealous Peter." Carla said smiling at him now instead. Tracy got up and said that she was going to the toilets leaving Carla and Peter both alone. When they both realised that they were alone they wasted no time in having a quick kiss.

"That was really cute earlier, you putting your arm around Tracy like that." Peter said when Carla pulled away from him and took his hand. She played with his fingers in silence for a while, Peter could tell she was a million miles away and that she was probably also thinking about Rob. "Do you want another drink?" he asked, Carla looked up at him and nodded as Tracy came back from the toilet. She threw herself down in her chair and looked angry rather than upset.

"What's wrong?" Carla asked her, Tracy turned around to make sure that Peter wasn't listening and said,

"I swear I almost just hit that Steph, annoying cow."

"Steph?" Carla said, she also turned around to make sure Peter wasn't listening "What's she been saying now?" Tracy looked confused, as she didn't know that Steph had been talking to Luke about Carla and Peter.

"Why what's she been saying to you?" Tracy asked,

"Nothing, well not to me anyway... Luke just told me that she's been saying stuff that's all, so go on, what's she been saying." said Carla. Tracy rolled her eyes and said,

"She were in the toilets with Alya, who was being really nice about you and Peter, saying that she'd never seen two people who were so obviously in love and loads of soppy stuff like that and then Steph starts saying that Peter is a complete utter snake and it won't be long before he cheats on you again."

"What?" Carla said irately before Tracy continued.

"Anyways I went out there and I said to her, that's my brother you're talking about, so of course she starts saying all this stuff about how she's entitled to her opinion and how you were an idiot for taking him back and that just got me even more mad so I had to walk out of there before I knocked the idiot out."

Just then Steph came out of the toilets with a rather worried looking Alya, who looked as if she was expecting Tracy to be stood right outside the loos. Steph looked over at Tracy and Carla's table and went and sat back down with Luke, her boyfriend Andy and Garry. Carla had been getting angrier and angrier as Tracy told her what happened and had decided that she'd had enough.

"Where you going?" Tracy asked her, as Carla got up from her chair.

"Well if she's got something to say, she can flamin well say it to my face," Carla said storming over to Steph.

"Is… everything alright Carla." Alya asked her boss, she really didn't want any arguing to start between Carla and Steph, especially after working for Carla for so long. She knew that Carla was not to be messed with.

"No it's not Alya... Steph I hear you've been talking about me and Peter and quite frankly I've had enough of it." Carla said, staring at Steph. Luke was also looking at his sister,

"Steph, what have I told you?" He said sighing. "Carla I am so sorry…." He began but Carla put her hand up to stop him from saying anymore.

"Let the lady speak for herself Luke." She said loudly, she didn't care who was listening at this point, which was a good thing because there wasn't actually anyone singing at this moment in time so the pub was rather quiet.

"Look… Carla I just think you are making a big mistake getting back with Peter." Steph said, she was trying her very best to act like she wasn't intimidated by Carla but it didn't seem like it was working.

"Oh you do, do ya?" Carla said, "I wasn't aware that my mistakes were anything to do with you." Steph opened her mouth to speak but Carla interrupted her. "First of all, even if me getting back with Peter is a mistake, which it isn't, it would be my mistake not yours. Second of all, if you have something to say about me, or the men I choose to be with then say it to my face. Have you got that?" Steph nodded at Carla but didn't keep quiet.

"Tina was my best friend Carla, my best friend and she is gone because of him. I can't get past that and I'm sorry but that's just the way I feel." Steph said.

"And what about how I feel? I don't deserve any of this and you know what? Neither does Peter. Yes he made a mistake, a big mistake but who hasn't? None of us are perfect and that man has more than proven himself to me and everyone else round here over the past few months. He makes me happier than I have ever been in my life. I am not going to let you or anyone else ruin this for us. I love him and he loves me so you better get used to it because we aren't going anywhere." Carla said adamantly, she spun round on her heel so that she could go back to her table but she stopped when she realised that almost everyone had been watching and listening to her speech, that everyone included Peter who looked as if he was surprised, proud and sheepish, all rolled into one.

"Here here." Tracy said loudly, holding up her wine glass in the air. Michelle started clapping at Carla's little speech and so did Steve.

"Shall we go and sit back down?" Peter asked Carla, holding out his hand. She nodded at him, took his hand and said,

"Absolutely." But she pulled him towards her and kissed him passionately in front of everyone, just so that they all got the message. There were more claps as Carla and Peter kissed and they both grinned as they quickly went and sat back down with Tracy.

"Now what was that all about?" Peter asked, Carla shook her head and him and said,

"Steph was just saying stuff bout us that's all."

"Like what?" Peter asked, Carla didn't want to tell him as Steve made his way on stage

"Just stuff that's all, like how me getting with you was a mistake… She was talking out of her arse Peter." Carla said as Steve then presented another singer who had chosen to sing a song for his wife. "Darlin don't take any of this to heart, okay?" Carla said, Peter nodded as the man on stage began to drone on. He was awful and as Carla and Tracy both started howling with laughter Peter kept quiet, it was only when the dreadful guy who was singing had finished that Carla had noticed how quiet he was being. "Baby what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said gloomily.

"Don't lie to me Peter, what's wrong… is this because of Steph?" Carla asked and Peter nodded. "Peter…"

"I know you stuck up for me and everything, it's just… I wonder if what she has been saying is just what everyone else is thinking." He said sighing "But hey, I knew this was coming."

"What are you talking about?" Carla said as Steve got up on stage again

"Well we've been on cloud nine for more than a week now, something like this was bound to come up eventually." Peter said, Carla shook her head at him,

"Don't think like that Peter." Carla said, "I don't care what any of them think all I care about is you." She wanted to continue but as Sinead and Fiz got onstage to sing she knew it wasn't the right place or time for it.

As Peter continued to look glum and as the only time they had to chat properly was in between songs Carla soon gave up trying to cheer Peter up, she could have actually gone over and slapped Steph for spoiling their evening and then she had a brain wave. She got up from the table and went over to the bar where Michelle was stood.

"Alright babe?" Michelle said, "Loved your little declaration of love earlier, it were dead cute." Carla nodded along but she wasn't really listening.

"Listen Chelle, you know earlier you wanted me to pick a song for you to sing…" Carla said, looking at Peter who was still sat with Tracy. "Well I've got one…"

* * *

It was a good few songs later when Peter realised that Carla hadn't come back to the table, he looked over at Steve who was making his way back onto stage and then he realised that Carla was stood with Michelle and they both had microphones in their hands.

"Right everyone, please can we have some hush and welcome Carla Barlow onto the stage." Steve said, as Carla walked onto stage, Peter actually felt as if he might have a heart attack.

"Did you know she was going to do this?" Tracy said turning to Peter, he shook his head but didn't dare take his eyes off the woman on stage. Carla was incredibly nervous but no one else but Peter could tell as she smiled confidently to the crowd. He still didn't understand what she was doing, he knew that she hated drawing attention to herself and wondered just what she had up her sleeve.

"Hi everyone… So before I get started I can see a few nervous people looking back at me... Don't worry I will not be singing tonight." Carla began, a couple of her Underworld staff looked disappointed and frowned.

"Aww come on Carla." Sean shouted out, "Give us a tune." Beth, Sinead and Kirk all started cheering Carla on but she still shook her head.

"No, no honestly… I'm only thinking of your eardrums guys." Carla laughed, "However I ave chosen a song that my very special best friend Michelle is gonna sing instead." Carla was gripping the microphone tightly and was almost beginning to regret this idea, until she looked directly at Peter that is, he was watching her as if she was the only woman in the room. He was half smirking and half in awe as she stood on the stage. "Now the song I've chosen is dedicated to a certain someone in ere who I think needs a bit of cheering up and as totally cheesy as this sounds, this song speaks volumes about how I feel about him… Just in case he didn't know all ready." Carla said with a devoted smile and almost everyone in the pub turned to look at Peter, who was still watching Carla in awe, "Take it away Michelle." She said before quickly getting off the stage and letting Michelle get on it instead.

"Right you lot, I want you all to grab a loved one and ave a little dance." Michelle said as the backing track started playing.

The song Carla had chosen was S Club 7's Two In A Million and as Michelle started singing the lyrics, Peter watched Carla as she slowly began making her way over to him and as Michelle got to the chorus more people started getting up and dancing along to the song.

Carla and Peter kissed the moment their bodies touched and even Tracy smiled at them as they passionately embraced. Carla pulled away from Peter when she felt her cheek get slightly wet.

"Are you crying Peter Barlow?" She asked putting her arms around his neck, Peter sniffed slightly and shook his head.

"No." He grinned albeit a little tearfully. "Y'know you really didn't have to do that."

"Yes I did." Carla said, getting a bit teary eyed herself.

"I thought you said you weren't going anywhere near that stage." Peter said, still amazed that she had gathered up the courage to do something like that.

"Yeah well you're worth it." Carla said, "When I saw your face earlier, y'know when you heard what Steph had been saying it almost killed me Peter… I just wanted you to know that you mean the absolute world to me." Peter sniffed again and wiped his eyes, Carla giggled at him as he hopelessly shook his head at her.

"Look what you've done to me eh?" He said as more tears came streaming down his face.

"Honestly Peter, people are looking." Carla joked, she was finding it very hard not cry as well.

"I thought you said you didn't care what people think." Peter said,

"Yeah well I don't but I've got a cold hearted bitch reputation to keep up with." Carla said as a tear ran down her cheek.

"After what you just did, I don't think anyone is going to believe that you are anything but a big softie." Peter said, Carla turned and looked at her employees who were all watching her and Peter.

"Oh crap." Carla said pulling Peter in towards her into hug and as Michelle continued to sing, Carla sang along to the song too.

**"_When I lose my way and the skies, they get heavy_**

**_It'll be okay the moment you're with me_**

**_No one would have guessed we'd be standing strong today_**

**_Solid as a rock and perfect in every way…"_**

"Stop it…" Peter said, as Carla's not so bad voice, sang into his ear. "This is not doing anything to stop me from crying." He said hoarsely. Carla leant back and grinned at him.

"We gotta think of a way to stop these tears avent we?" Carla said wiping a tear away from his eye. Their lips met as Michelle finished the song and they only stopped kissing so they could give Michelle a huge resounding cheer. "Thank you." Carla mouthed to Michelle.

"You're welcome." Michelle said, smiling at Carla and Peter lovingly. Peter put and arm around Carla's middle as Tracy got up and said,

"Oh would you get a flamin room?" She cried standing up. "Seriously what on earth are you both still doing ere?"

"Well we said we would spend the night with you." Carla said.

"Oh trust me, I've spent more than enough time with you two tonight." Tracy said with a smile.

"I hope we haven't made you feel like a gooseberry." Carla said,

"Honestly… You avent, I'm going to get Simon and Amy from that party soon anyways." Tracy insisted.

"Only if your sure." Peter said, Tracy nodded and then Carla did something that surprised everyone once again. She gave Tracy a hug. "Oh wow... You really are a big softie." Peter said in amazement.

"Oh leave her alone Peter." Tracy said gripping Carla tightly. "Thank you for tonight." Tracy said she was far from being Carla's bestie but she was touched that she had made the effort.

"No _thank you_." Carla said smiling at her warmly. She then turned to Peter and asked, "So… Is it your place or mine?"

* * *

**_So originally this was supposed to be where I took a little break on this fic._**

**_The main reason I was going to do this was because September is always a very busy month for me work wise and since the next few chapters aren't even finished yet, I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep updating this as regularly as I do..._**

**_However I've decided against the break because I have way too much fun writing this and I don't want to lose any readers._**

**_So bare with me and _****_I will try my very best to get this to you every weekend._**

**_Don't forget to review and let me know what you think about this chapter :)_**

**_Oh! Also I should be updating Back To Life tomorrow, I stupidly wrote Chapter 10 on my iPad, which decided to crash on me so I have to re-write the whole thing._**


	30. Sunday

It was the day after the karaoke night and after a rather public declaration of love, Carla and Peter were more loved up than ever. They had gone back to Peter's flat in the end and were still there at three pm the next afternoon.

They hadn't been dressed long, If you could call being wearing their PJ's being dressed that is, and were cuddled up on the sofa watching an old black and white movie when Peter's door opened.

It was Simon, followed by a shy looking Santana and even shyer Carmen, Santana's little sister.

"Hi Dad." Simon said smiling at his Dad and Carla, who had actually fallen asleep in Peter's arms from the moment the film had started.

"Alright Si…" Peter said quietly as he closed the door. Simon and Santana were supposed to be doing a round of crazy golf but Peter had guessed that they had obviously thought against it when it started to rain heavily.

"Yeah… we decided to give golf a miss, as it's raining n all." Simon said closing the door behind them.

"Hello Mr Barlow." Santana smiled, she was holding her little sisters hand tightly as they stood awkwardly by the door. "I hope it's okay that we are here." She said worried that she might be intruding especially as Carla looked incredibly peaceful as she lay in Peter's arms.

"Of course it is and please… Call me Peter." Peter said giving her and her little sister a welcoming smile. Carmen who was wearing a red raincoat and her shiny red wellington boots was still clutching on to her sister as they made their way further into Peter's flat. "Hello Carmen." Peter said to her.

"Hello." Carmen said quietly.

"You remember Peter… Simon's Dad, don't you Carmen?" Santana said bending down and taking off Carmen's red raincoat.

"Yeah course, we went on the rides together at the fireworks… that's Carla isn't it." Carmen said looking at Carla and wriggling out of her coat, she was dressed adorably, in thick black tights, which were underneath blue dungarees and a white long sleeved top. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders but she had a sparkly sliver Alice band in it to keep it from falling in from of her face.

"Yes it is." Santana said smiling as Simon took off his coat and then hung up hers and Carmen's too.

"I didn't know you were going crazy golf as well Carmen." Peter said, he still had a fast asleep Carla rested against him and he didn't want to wake her up so he was still talking rather quietly.

"Huh!" Carmen said loudly, forgetting that she was meant to be being quiet.

"Shhhhh Carmen." Santana said bending down to her little sister's level and putting a finger up to her lips.

"Sorry." Carmen practically whispered with a cute little giggle.

"It's alright." Peter grinned, "I said I didn't know that you were going to crazy golf as well." He said a little louder this time so that Carmen could hear him better.

"I wasn't going but my Mummy had to go to work and there was nobody to look after me." Carmen said quietly to Peter. "Our big sister has gone to grown up school far away in London so she can't look after me anymore." Carmen then glanced at her sister and said, "Tana didn't want me to come to crazy golf."

"Oh I'm sure that's not true." Peter said looking at Santana who was standing with Simon.

"It's not." Santana said sighing and rolling her eyes.

"It is! You wanted to be alone with Simon so you could kiss him." Carmen giggled.

"No I didn't!" Santana almost shouted going bright red.

"Shhhhh Tana!" Carmen said putting her own finger up to her lips this time in the same fashion as Santana had done only moments ago.

"You shhhh!" Santana said still embarrassed at what her little sister had said in front of Peter. He had tried not to laugh at the situation but as Carmen comically stood there with her fingers on her lips, his mouth couldn't help but curl into a smirk.

"Do you two want a drink?" Simon asked Santana, trying to get the subject of conversation off him and his girlfriend kissing.

"Yes please… Carmen do you want a drink?" Santana asked,

"Yes please." Carmen nodded.

"I'll ave a coffee if you're offering Si." Peter said,

"I wasn't…" Simon grinned but he was joking as Carmen looked as if she was deep in thought, "Do you want some juice or something Carmen?" Simon asked her, She thought for another moment and then looked at Peter, who she had worked out was the one in charge.

"Do you have hot chocolate here?"

"We sure do." Peter nodded,

"Can I have a hot chocolate with some milk?" She asked, Santana shook her head worried that Carmen was maybe crossing the line but Simon nodded at her and said,

"Of course... Two hot chocolates coming up."

"Oi… don't forget my coffee." Peter said as Simon went into the kitchen to begin making the drinks. Santana followed him as Carmen began staring at the TV Screen, she watched what was happening for a while and put her head on one side as Peter asked,

"Something wrong Carmen?"

"Yeah… I think your TV is broken." She said frowning, not able to understand why everything was in black and white.

"Why's that?" Peter asked with a grin.

"The colours not working on it." Carmen said, climbing up into the armchair that was next to Peter's sofa.

"That's because it's a very old film." Peter said to Carmen, "It was made a very long time ago when they couldn't make films in colour."

"Like in the olden days?" Carmen said with her head on one side again but this time she looked as if she really understood what Peter was saying.

"Sort of." Peter said looking down at Carla who was still snoozing in his arms.

"I know… it's like the beginning of The Wizard film, the one with the yellow brick road." Carmen said with her eyes wide.

"Yes it's like that, only this film doesn't go colour it stays black and white." Peter said.

"Me and Tana love The Wizard film, don't we Tana!" Carmen called into the kitchen, once again forgetting to be quiet. Santana nodded at her little sister and said,

"Shhhhh Carmen… Carla is sleeping. Carmen nodded and then turned back to Peter, who was still smiling away at the endearing little girl who was sat on his armchair. She looked at the television one more time and then at Carla.

"This must be a very boring film." Carmen said, Peter chuckled at her as she nodded to herself, "Yes… I think that's why Carla is sleeping."

"Carla's just very tired that's all." Peter grinned, leaning forward and kissing Carla on the forehead. "She had a busy night."

"Why what was she doing?" Carmen asked as Simon brought her a hot chocolate over, this thankfully diverted her, especially since Simon had even sprayed some whipped cream on the top of it.

"Wow… what do you say Carmen?" Santana said and practically on cue Carmen said,

"Thank you Simon." She licked a bit of cream of the top of her mug and then put it down on Peter's coffee table. "Delicious." She said precociously and nodding as Simon put a coffee down for his Dad on the table.

"Thanks Si." Peter said as Carmen was studying his TV again. He watched her amused and eventually she turned back to Peter and asked,

"Do you have the Disney channel?"

"Carmen." Santana laughed as her sister was so cheeky at times and it wasn't taking her very long to make herself comfortable.

"I'm only asking." Carmen said. "Do you?"

"Yes I do." Peter laughed pointing at the remote control. "Go on… you can change the channel if you want." Carmen jumped up immediately and got the remote. She knew the exact numbers she needed to put the Disney channel on and jumped for joy when she saw that her favourite TV Show was on. "Yay! Sophia's on." She cried.

"Carmen for the last time would you shhh!" Santana said putting a finger up to her lips, "You'll wake Carla up."

"Sorry." Carmen said sitting back down on the arm chair. Peter watched as a little princess in a purple dress began singing on screen and when he looked at Santana properly he noticed how tired she looked, her eyes were puffy and she had dark circles underneath them. He wondered if she was okay and was planning on asking her but she and Simon stayed in the kitchen whispering away to each other, whilst Carmen bounced away on the chair to her favourite show.

It wasn't long before Simon said nervously said,

"Dad we're going to go into my room for a bit… If that's okay?" Peter nodded at his son but gave him an authoritative look all the same, one that said you can go into your room but you will be under strict supervision at all times. Their sex education talk the other day had definitely opened up Peter's eyes to just how much his son already knew and even though insisted that he and Santana only kissed, Peter was talking no chances.

"I'm gonna stay here Tana." Carmen said, like she had any choice in the matter but not taking her eyes off the TV.

"Be good Carmen." Santana nodded at her followed Simon into his bedroom. He closed his door half way and left his Dad and Carmen in the living room with Carla.

"Do you have any biscuits?" Carmen asked Peter with her politest tone of voice. Peter grinned and gently got up from the sofa so that he didn't wake up Carla, he had rested her head on a pillow and pulled a blanket up and over her to make sure that she stayed cosy whilst he went on the hunt for some biscuits.

"I think I've got some Oreos somewhere." Peter said as he went into his cupboards and procured a packet of Oreos. "Ere we are." He handed them to Carmen, who looked thrilled and said another,

"Thank you." She took a biscuit out and bit into one as Carla stirred on the sofa. "Hey look… She's waking up." Carmen whispered for the first time, as Carla opened her eyes and sat up straight.

"Hi Carmen." She said tiredly but still with a warm smile on her face, Peter looked lovingly at Carla and made his way back to the sofa where she was sitting, he knew how taken she had become with Carmen at the fireworks display a few weeks back and that she'd probably be thrilled to see her again.

"Hi!" Carmen said with a mouthful of cookies.

"Where did you come from then?" Carla said to Carmen as Peter sat back down on the sofa and put an arm around her.

"Me? I come from England." Carmen said not quite understanding what Carla had meant. Carla and Peter both laughed at her as she dipped one of her biscuits into the cream on her hot chocolate. "Mummy had to go into work… she helps old people and sick people and one of them is very very sick. Tana and Simon are in there." She said pointing over to Simon's bedroom door.

"I see." Carla said looking over at Simon's bedroom door. Peter leant in towards Carla and said,

"They've not been in there for long… Si actually left the door open of his accord." Carla gave him a quick kiss after checking that Carmen had her eyes on the TV.

"What happened to that movie you put on?" Carla whispered to Peter when she saw what Carmen was watching.

"Oh it was deemed boring by Carmen… And by you apparently." Peter said tucking some hair behind her ear.

"I was not bored… Just knackered and can you blame me?" Carla said smiling and remembering just how much sleep her and Peter had got last night. She looked over at Carmen who was licking an Oreo that she had spilt down the middle. "Peter, she is so cute."

"I know…" Peter grinned, "Look at her little dungarees." He said as Carmen bit into her biscuit, she was well aware that the two adults in the room were watching her and decided to play up to this.

"Mr Peter." Carmen said with an adorable little smile,

"Yes Little Miss Carmen…" Peter said, sure that this little four year old had something up her sleeve.

"Ave you and Carla watched Frozen before?" She asked innocently enough but Carla and Peter both knew this was a hint rather than a question.

"No we haven't." Peter said much to Carmen's surprise and also to her delight, one of her favourite things to do, was to make her family members watch Frozen and since she had got through all of them, Peter and Carla were next on her list.

"Y'know sometimes they ave it on the Sky Box… we have it on ours." Carmen said casually although it was clear that she was desperate to watch her favourite movie.

Sure enough, Peter was pointing his remote at his television, browsing the movies that were available on demand and looking for the film Frozen within minutes. He found it and Carmen jumped with joy as he selected the film and said that they could watch it.

"I ave a feeling I might regret this." Peter said as the film had only been on for a few moments before the first song had started.

"Awww but look how happy you've made little Carmen." Carla said, watching as Carmen actually got off her chair and started marching along to the music. She sang along word for word just as Santana soon appeared in the living room.

"Oh god…" She said, shaking her head at her little sister, "Simon I thought you said you didn't have Frozen ere." She called into Simon's bedroom.

"We don't." Simon said confused as he walked into the living room also.

"Oh but we do now." Peter said, nodding towards his TV, "Carmen just happened to mention that sometimes it's on SKY demand." He said with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course she did." Santana said smirking. They all laughed as Carmen continued to march her way around the living room, over and over again until the first song had finished.

"Just how many times has she watched this?" Carla asked as Carmen sat down on the armchair and stared at the screen devotedly.

"Oh I dunno like a million." Santana said sighing but still watching her sister with a look of love.

"Tana come and sit down." Carmen said waving her big sister over, "Come on quickly… before Do You Wanna Build A Snowman comes on." She begged. Santana looked at Simon who just grinned at her and said,

"Go on… you know you want to."

"Fine… but only because I haven't actually seen it in ages..." Santana said as she squashed next to her little sister on the sofa.

"Sure… and I bet you just happen to know all the words to all the songs as well." Simon quipped from the kitchen as he went to wash up the cups that they had been using, Carla turned to look at him with a grin and then gave Peter a nudge,

"You do realise he's morphing into you right?" She said, Peter chuckled proudly and nodded at her, he still had an arm around her and pulled her close to him happily. He was still unable to believe his luck, he had Carla back, his own place and Simon truly seemed as if he was happy too. As they all sat and watched the Disney movie together, it really did seem as if life was perfect.

Carmen continued to adorably sing her way through the film and even Santana joined in with some of the songs too. Carla watched as Carmen snuggled up with her sister and felt a slight pang of jealously, wishing that she'd had a sister when she was growing up. She'd had Rob of course but she'd always wanted a sister, someone bigger who could have looked after her, just like Santana was doing for Carmen.

Family seemed to be a huge theme of the movie and the further they got into the movie Carla and Peter both found them-selves transfixed by what was happening on screen. They even gasped out loud at one particular part of them film and found them self, chuckling away at another.

Just the movie finished Peter's phone began to ring, he answered it to find that it was Ken and he was calling to invite everyone to dinner. Peter looked at the kids and then at Carla who was sat right next to him in her pyjamas, they all looked rather settled where they were and Peter wondered if they should maybe stay home after all.

"Well I've kind of got a house full at the mo Dad." Peter said watching as Carmen started on the Oreos again. Santana leant and took them off her saying,

"No Carmen you've had enough."

"Tana I'm hungry." Carmen wailed, making Peter decide that maybe they should go round to his Dad's because at least that way he wouldn't have to cook.

"Y'know what Dad, we'll be over in an hour or so okay." Peter said hanging up the phone.

"We'll be where in an hour?" Carla said watching Peter who got up off the sofa and pulled Carla up with him, "Peter…" She giggled as he put an arm around her.

"Me Dad wanted us to come over for a Sunday roast…" Peter said and then he nodded towards Carmen and Santana. "You too girls."

"Oh do we ave to, I love your Dad but I was aving fun ere." Carla said slightly disappointedly.

"Yeah me too but it's either that or me and you will ave to cook." Peter said knowing full well that Carla's reaction to that would be.

"I better get dressed then." She grinned.

In the end, Carla had to go home and get some dressed because the only clothes that she had a Peter's place was the outfit she had on last night and she said there was no way that she was being seen in the same outfit again and that she'd meet Peter and the kids at his Dad's house.

* * *

Peter took the kids to Number one and introduced his Dad to Santana and Carmen. They had already met Tracy at the fireworks and Amy at school so it didn't take them both long to feel welcome and at home. Carmen was sat playing with Eccles whilst Amy, Simon and Santana were sat at the table chatting about the next party that they were going to so Peter went in the kitchen to help his Dad and Tracy with lunch.

"So how was last night." Ken asked as he poured some boiling water into a pan for the vegetables he was cooking.

"Good…" Peter said putting his arm around Tracy, "Really good actually." He said smiling and remembering how well she and Carla had been able to get on with each other.

"Tracy?" Ken said, watching her to make sure that she was on the same page.

"Yeah it really was." She said nodding at him.

"Good. I am so glad that you both had fun." Ken said still loving the fact that Peter and Tracy were getting along so well these days. "And it sounds like the kids had fun at this party too." Ken said as he'd already spoken to Amy about the party that they had attended last night.

"Yeah they haven't stopped talking about it, apparently she's having another one for Christmas?" Tracy said, "These kids ave a better social life then the three of us put together."

"Speak for yourself." Peter said nudging her,

"Dinner's going to be ready in a minute or so, Where's Carla?" Ken asked.

"She went home to get dressed, she didn't want to wear what she wore last night, you know what she's like." Peter said rolling his eyes.

"Remind me why you two aren't living together again?" Tracy said because she thought it was ridiculous that they both had separate flats seeing as they had spent almost every single night together since they had reconciled.

"Because we are taking things slow." Peter said, "I mean we've only been back together two weeks Tracy."

"Speaking of Carla..." Ken said as he checked the potatoes that he had put in the oven. "Isn't it you two's wedding anniversary on Friday?"

"Yes it is." Peter nodded, amazed that his Dad had remembered the exact date.

"So… are you doing anything for it?" Ken asked, Peter shrugged and looked behind him, to make sure that Carla hadn't come in without any of them noticing it.

"Well… we haven't really spoke about it really… I ave been thinking about doing something though." He said,

"But?" Ken said because Peter's tone suggested that there was something bothering him.

"It's slightly awkward really." Peter said,

"Errrr Why?" Tracy asked,

"Well we've been married for what, two years…? But how do you celebrate a wedding anniversary when you haven't even been properly together for half that time." Peter asked. Ken and Tracy both kept quiet because neither of them knew what to say to each other. "Yeah… Thanks you two, very helpful." Peter said with a sigh.

There was an awkward silence in the kitchen as the door went, Simon went to answer it and let Carla in. She came into the living room with a huge smile on her face and when she walked into the kitchen she knew that something must have been going on by the looks on Ken, Tracy and Peter's faces.

"Is… everything okay?" She asked,

"It is now." Peter nodded at her and gave her a quick kiss.

"Hello Carla, thanks for coming." Ken said with a welcoming smile. Tracy gave Carla a quick smile too and then went into the living room. Carla still thought something was up but decided she'd leave it for now.

"Can I help with anything Ken?" Carla asked although they all knew Carla could barley use her own oven let alone anyone else's.

"No thank you dear." Ken said politely turning down Carla's offer, "It's nearly ready and I reckon you should go in there n get a seat at that table because it's going to be pretty packed by the time the food is ready.

Five minutes later, as Ken began brining in all the food, Tracy and Peter decided to try and sort out the seating situation.

"How about if we have all the adults at the table and all the kids on the sofa and armchair?" Tracy suggested because she was not about to be eating a full sunday roast on the sofa, not if she could help it anyway.

"Hmmm I reckon Carmen should probably sit at the table to be honest." Peter said looking down at Carmen who was still playing with Eccles. "And Santana I mean they are guests after all, if me n you ave the sofa n armchair then maybe me Dad n Si can sit at the table with them."

"Errr what about me?" Carla said from the sofa, "Aren't I a guest too?"

"You?" Peter scoffed,

"Please, Carla at this point you are part of the furniture." Tracy said amused. Carla laughed and had to agree at letting the kids sit at the table seemed like the fairest thing to do.

As Carmen and Santana sat down at the table with Simon, Peter took a plate for him and a plate for Carla as they were sitting on the sofa.

"Thanks baby." Carla said with a grin as Peter sat down next to her.

"Thanks Mr Barlow." Santana said as Ken gave her and Carmen a plate of roast potatoes, chicken, vegetables, Yorkshire puddings and some gravy.

"Oh you can call me Ken." Ken said smiling.

"Thanks Ken!" Carmen said, picking up a fork and tucking into her food straight away.

"It looks amazing." Santana said almost laughing at her little sister who already had a mouthful of chicken.

"Yeah thanks Granddad." Simon said, he was sat happily in between Amy and Santana, so pleased to have a nice family meal with everyone, he only wished that Leanne could have been there too but of course, she was at work.

The room was alive with chat as everyone got going on their roast dinner, the three almost teenagers spoke about the party last night, Ken listened in as he was sat at the table with them but was soon engaged in a conversation about books with Carmen who had noticed how many Ken owned.

Tracy, Peter and Carla made their own conversation about the karaoke night and as they were almost finished their meal, Peter innocently asked,

"So Carmen… What did you do whilst your big sister was out partying last night?" Carmen shuffled about in her seat for a bit and didn't answer Peter. Santana watched her sister for a minute and then gave her a little nudge.

"Carmen?" She said, "Peter just asked you a question."

"I know…" Carmen said looking down at her plate.

"So answer it." Santana said getting slightly irritated by her sister's rudeness.

"I don't want to." Carmen said quietly.

"Why not?" Santana asked,

"It's fine." Peter said cautiously as he could tell something wasn't quite right with the way Carmen was acting but she continued to speak anyway,

"Because you're going to get cross with me." Carmen said still looking down at her plate. Santana looked concerned and put down her fork,

"I won't… I promise." She said staring down at her baby sister.

"I… I made Daddy a birthday card and a present." Carmen said finally looking up at her sister.

The adults in the room all wondered why this seemed to be something that Carmen was ashamed of but Simon and Santana looked at each other and then back at Carmen.

"Why did you do that?" Santana asked,

"Because it's his birthday soon."

"No it's not." Santana lied but her sister was way too wise to believe her.

"Yes it is. I know it is. It's the first day of the Christmas month and I know that that day is soon cause Mummy got me a Frozen chocolate calendar. That means when I open it, it will be Daddy's birthday." Carmen said. Santana who was astonished at her sister's good memory, cleared her throat and said,

"But Carmen you know that we won't be seeing Daddy on his birthday." Carmen sniffed and nodded at her big sister forlornly.

"I know… but I can send it to him. I just need his address." Carmen said with four-year-old hope.

"We don't have his address…" Santana said awkwardly.

"Why where is he?" Amy asked but Santana, who was getting more and more upset, got up from the table and said,

"Could you excuse me for a moment?" She walked down the hallway and out the Barlow's front door, leaving Ken, Tracy, Carla, Peter, Simon and Amy all confused.

Carmen on the other hand looked very upset, she put her fork down onto her plate as the front door slammed shut, then she burst into tears. Peter got straight up off the sofa and scooped Carmen up off the chair. Her legs and arms went right around him as Simon got up and ran after Santana.

"Shhhhh Carmen, it's okay." Peter said as Carmen sobbed onto his shoulder.

"Tana is cross with me." Carmen said in between sobs.

"No she's not." Peter said rubbing Carmen's back sympathetically. Carla watched as Peter tried his very best to comfort the distraught little girl that was in his arms. It always warmed her heart to see Peter interacting with children and Carmen was no exception.

"Yes she is… she always gets cross when I talk about Daddy… She thinks he is not coming back but he is… he's only gone away for work, he told me so on the phone." Carmen said still in tears.

"Well if your Daddy says he'll be back I'm sure that he will be, especially when he's got a beautiful little girl like you to come home to." Peter said as Carmen rubbed her eyes. She sniffed hard, looked down at the adults who were left in the room and then hid her head by putting her face on Peter's chest again. It was very clear to Peter that she was suddenly very aware that she was sort of in a room of strangers and that she was probably feeling a little embarrassed. "Hey Carmen guess what we've got for pudding?" He whispered in her ear, Carmen shrugged and didn't move her face from Peter's chest. "Ice cream." Peter said, "Do you want to come into the kitchen and help me serve it?" he asked. Carmen nodded and wiped her eyes once more.

"Okay." She said. Peter smiled at her and took her into the kitchen so that he could wipe her face and get the ice cream ready.

Meanwhile, outside Simon found Santana sat on the bench outside Audrey's salon. He smiled to himself as he walked over to the bench where he had shared many chats with his Dad and Carla in the past. He didn't say anything as he sat down next to Santana who wiped at her eyes.

"Sorry." She said, "I didn't meant to be rude I just needed to get out of there for a second."

"Don't be silly, you weren't rude." Simon said shaking his head, he watched his girlfriend for a moment and then asked, "Santana… what's wrong." She hesitated for a moment and then bit her lip. "Remember, you can tell me anything." Simon added.

"My Dad's in prison." Santana said quietly.

"What?" Simon said, "You told me he went away for work."

"I know I did." Santana sighed, "I'm sorry Simon… I just didn't want to tell you… I was too embarrassed to say where he really was." Simon put an arm around Santana and said,

"You don't need to be embarrassed Santana." He said, he of all people knew what it was like to have a Dad who was in jail but then he remembered that he hadn't actually told Santana about that yet. He had told her everything else, about his alcohol problem and about Tina but not actually that his Dad had spent time in prison. He wished he had done now because than maybe Santana wouldn't have felt so embarrassed about it. "My Dad's been in prison." He said, deciding there was no time like the present.

"What?" Santana said staring at him, "When?"

"Last year…" Simon began, "In fact he's been in there twice... I now exactly what you're going through right now and I promise you it gets better." Santana gave Simon a relived look and wiped her cheek again as a tear dribbled down it.

"How come you never told me that?" She said and Simon shrugged.

"I dunno… I mean I told you everything else didn't I? I guess I just didn't want you thinking that my Dad was some sort of criminal, he were wrongly accused… what did your Dad do?" Simon asked, Santana looked down at her hands and shook her head,

"I don't know… Mum won't tell me, she said Dad doesn't want us to know. All she said is that he's got four months. Carmen doesn't even know he's locked up. She thinks he is away working." Santana said sniffing.

"Oh right…" Simon said, "Hey… four months ain't that bad… me Dad got fifteen years."

"What's this My Dad's dodgier than your Dad?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Oi…" Simon chuckled, "I told you… he were wrongly accused."

"I know." Santana grinned, "Your Dad is lovely… your whole family is lovely actually. It's so nice to be here today, at a proper little family meal."

"Shall we go back in there then?" Simon asked. Santana nodded and kissed him on the cheek before getting up and heading back to Ken's house.

They both walked in the living room to find, Carla still sat on the sofa, Tracy on the armchair, Ken at the table with Amy and Carmen carefully walking out the kitchen carrying a bowl of ice cream. She gave it to Amy and then looked up at her big sister.

"I'm helping." She said proudly. Santana bent down and kissed her sister lovingly on the forehead and said,

"You are such a good girl Carmen." Carmen smiled at her and put her arms around her, holding her close and feeling glad that her sister didn't seem so upset anymore.

"Sit down Tana and you Simon… I will get you some Ice cream." Carmen said excitedly, Santana and Simon both did what they were told as Carmen turned around and said, "Two more Ice creams please Peter!"

"Coming up." Peter's voice called from the kitchen.

"Sorry for just walking out like that." Santana said to Ken.

"Don't even worry about it… everything is fine as long you're okay." He said, "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Santana said smiling at Ken and then at Simon. There hands were clasped together underneath the table and it was only Carla who could see this, as she was sat across the room on the sofa. She smiled a heartfelt smile at them as Carmen came bounding into the living room with a bowl of ice cream for her sister.

"Yours is coming Simon." Carmen panted dramatically as if she was out of breath because after all, she had just handed out four bowls of ice cream.

"Thanks Carmen." Simon grinned as Carla got up off the sofa and went into the kitchen. Peter was busy scooping Ice cream into a bowl when Carla pinched him on the bottom.

"Oi…" Peter chuckled, ice cream scoop in hand.

"That kid of yours is totally turning into you." She said, Peter turned around and almost went in for a kiss as Carmen came back into the kitchen,

"I need one more Ice cream." She said,

"Two more." Peter said, Carmen looked down at her little fingers as if she was working something out and said,

"No… just one more for Simon."

"And what about you?" Peter said handing her two bowls of ice cream.

"Oh yeah… silly me." Carmen said giggling.

"You sure you can handle those?" Carla asked as Carmen made her way into the living room,

"Course I can… I'm dead strong... I eat all my veggies." Carmen said, Peter and Carla both watched her as she gave Simon his ice cream, he gave her a high five as she sat down next to him on a chair and began eating her ice cream.

"Santana looks like she has cheered up." Peter said closing the ice cream tub,

"Yeah… I don't know what Simon said to her but what ever it is it's definitely done the trick." Carla said as Peter went to put the Ice cream away. "You not having any then?" she asked, Peter shook his head but Carla frowned at him and took the tub. "What? You love ice cream." She said opening it.

"Nah… I'm stuffed love." Peter said but Carla still got a spoon out of the draw, "Carla… I don't want any."

"Yes you do." Carla said putting the spoon into the ice cream and then raising it to Peter's mouth. "Open." Peter did what he was told and let Carla feed him some ice cream. "They were holding hands under the table y'know."

"Who Si and Santana?" Peter asked, Carla nodded at him and took some more ice cream out of the tub and giving it to Peter.

"Yep." She said, "It were dead cute..." Carla said leaning in and kissing Peter softly. "And so was the way you picked up Carmen...although I gotta be honest… I did get a little bit jealous."

"Did ya now?" Peter asked with a smile.

"Yeah… I did." Carla said as she leant over chucked the spoon in the sink.

"Well maybe I'll pick you up like that later eh?" Peter said as she put her arms around his neck.

"Mmmmm I'd like that." Carla grinned before leaning in and kissing Peter again.

"Oh I so can't wait until this honeymoon period of you two's is over." Tracy said as she came into the kitchen to put her bowl in the sink.

"Yeah yeah, don't hold ya breath Tracy." Peter said kissing Carla again. Tracy rolled her eyes at them and went back into the living room leaving them to it.

Once everyone had finished their ice creams and Carla and Peter had finished their little kissing session, Simon had fished out some playing cards and it wasn't long before their was a highly competitive game of snap going on at the dining room table between, Tracy, Peter, Simon, Amy and Carmen. Whilst they played, Carla insisted doing the washing up. She hated washing up with a passion and normally didn't want to ruin her nails but she wanted to do something to help especially as Ken had been the one to cook the meal.

Luckily for Carla it was only the ice cream bowls that needed washing as Peter had already done the plates and pans earlier. Carla was in the middle of washing up when Santana came into the kitchen.

"Carmen's bowl." She said handing it to Carla with a smile.

"Thanks babe." Carla said, taking the bowl and beginning to wash it. It didn't take Carla long to realise that Santana wanted to talk about something but was obviously finding it difficult to get started. "D'ya wanna dry these bowls for me?" Carla asked.

"Yeah sure." Santana said taking a tea towel, she dried up the first bowl and then said, "Carla…" Carla stopped washing up and looked at the almost thirteen year old that was stood before her.

"Yes?" she asked as Peter walked into the kitchen.

"Opps am I interrupting something?" he asked looking between Carla and Santana.

"I'm not sure…" Carla said looking at Santana, who smiled nervously,

"No… of course not." She said, "I was just going to say thank you for looking after me and Carmen today."

"Oh don't be daft, it's been fun." Carla said whilst Peter nodded along with her.

"Well we both really appreciate it, especially Carmen. She needs stuff like this y'know." Santana said yawning.

"So do you by the looks of things." Carla said, "You look as if you need a good nights kip as well." Santana nodded at Carla whilst she began drying up the rest of the bowls.

"I haven't been sleeping much lately." Santana admitted, "It's been quite hard at home... My big sister Gabby's gone to UNI in London so I've had to watch Carmen a bit more when my Mum's at work and... and I've been worried… about my Dad." She said awkwardly, she looked at the two loving adults that were stood in front of her and bit her lip, she wanted to tell them, she wanted to tell Carla especially because she hoped that maybe Carla could speak to her Mum and maybe offer up some advice. Whist her parents weren't together Santana knew that her Mum still cared about her Dad and that Carla must have still cared about Peter when they had spilt up. "My Dad's in prison." Santana said bravely.

"Okay." Peter said slightly taken aback, Carla on the other hand nodded, she had guessed something was up earlier and the thought of Santana and Carmen's Dad maybe being in jail had come to mind.

"Carmen doesn't know about it, she thinks he is away working… I don't think he did anything really bad as he only got four months but I still worry about him." Santana said.

"Have you not been to see him then?" Carla asked.

"No… Mum says that he's in one of those more relaxed prisons, one where Carmen wouldn't even be able to tell where we were and where we could say Dad's on a lunch break or something but… it's me… I don't want to go but I know that Carmen is really really missing Dad." Santana said, finishing the drying up and then looking at Peter. "Is prison… really bad Peter?" She asked, "I know it sounds stupid but… is it?" Peter thought about lying to Santana for a moment, he thought about saying that Prison wasn't so bad and that her Dad would be fine but he decided that Santana wasn't a little kid who could be fobbed off with some prison fairytale, the truth was probably better.

"I'm not gonna lie, Prison is tough, really tough but from what it sounds like, your Dad's only got a small sentence and whilst I don't know the guy, I do know that if there is one thing that will get him through it… it'll be seeing you and Carmen." Peter said,

"I know that you're probably thinking that it'll be really scary in there but it won't be…" Carla said, "Trust me… I've been there… plenty of times and also trust me when I say the moment you see your Dad, you wont be scared anymore… you'll just be so happy to see him."

"Carmen would love to see him." Santana said as a tear ran down her cheek. "So would I."

"Then what are ya waiting for girl… when you get home tell your Mum that you wanna see him asap." Carla said reaching over and putting an arm around Santana.

"Okay... I think... I will." Santana chuckled hugging Carla tight.

"Good." Carla said, Peter smiled at the sight before him and as Santana let go of Carla and went to hug him, he said,

"Our Simon's got himself a right little keeper ain't he?"

"Thanks." Santana giggled before hearing her little sister screech,

"Tana! Come and play with us." Santana smiled before going into the living room to join her sister and boyfriend in a game of snap.

As it got later it became clear that Carmen was beginning to get tired, She went and sat on the sofa next to Carla and Peter and was nodding off when Santana's Mum had phoned to say that she was on her way to pick them up.

Juliana arrived at almost eight Pm and was welcomed into Number one to meet Ken. She stayed for a cup of tea and finally took Carmen and Santana home at half past eight. They both hugged everyone goodbye and it wasn't long before Carla Simon and Peter decided they needed to go home too. After a lot of long goodbyes and walking back to Peter's, Carla snuggled up against him whilst Simon walked slightly ahead, texting away on his phone and talking to Santana.

"Mmmm I had a great day today baby." Carla said happily as they turned the corner onto Peter's road.

"Me too." Peter said with his arm around her, "Can't believe it's almost December."

"It's not is it?" Carla said frowning, "Already?"

"Baby it's the first on Tuesday." Peter said as they got to his front door.

"No way." Carla said as Peter opened his door, "Can't be." She grinned,

"Can't be what?" Simon asked wondering what Carla was so surprised about.

"It's December on Tuesday?" Carla said walking into the flat.

Peter laughed quietly to himself whilst Simon and Carla talked about how quick the year had gone and as they went upstairs he decided that he definitely had to do something special for his and Carla's wedding anniversary.

* * *

**_I hope you enjoyed that chapter, I know there was a slight lack of Carter action but I wanted us to get to know Santana's family situation a little :)_**

**_Let me know what you think and thanks to all those who are still reading this every week_**.


	31. December 4th

_**Apologies for the late update, I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to upload today since the past few days have been really really tough for me but I've found myself with a spare hour or so this afternoon, so I thought I'd upload...**_

* * *

December 4th 2013.

This was the date that Carla Connor and Peter Barlow joined together in holy matrimony, it was two years ago now but Peter was dammed if he was not going to do something special about it.

Their wedding didn't feel like it was two years ago, it actually felt like it was a lifetime ago. So much had happened since then, so much had changed but the most important thing was that Carla and Peter were back together and happier than ever.

As the beginning of the week went by, neither Peter and Carla had mentioned their upcoming wedding anniversary but it was constantly in the back of both their minds and as they continued going from strength to strength, Peter thought it would have been a crime to not acknowledge their wedding date.

So on Friday the 4th of December, he got up extra early and made his way to Carla's so that he could take her out for the day starting with some breakfast in town. He had been let into the building by another resident who was on their way to work so he went upstairs, knocked on her door three times. There was no answer at first and so Peter knocked even louder and called out Carla's name before she answered.

"Morning!" Peter said with a huge smile.

His smiled faded when he saw the state of Carla. She had wild hair and dark circles underneath her eyes. She looked like she'd had a rather heavy night of drinking and was wearing her pyjamas and a dressing gown. When Peter looked further into her flat he saw that an equally worse for wear Michelle was sprawled across her sofa.

"Not too loud eh Peter." Carla groaned, rubbing her head and letting Peter into her flat.

"So I take it you and Michelle had a good night then?" Peter said trying his best to hide his disappointment. Carla had said that she and Michelle were only going out for dinner and yet here they both were at almost eight am looking very very hungover.

"Yeah… Some how dinner turned into a bar and then a bar turned into this club that me n Chelle are way too old for." Carla said going into her kitchen and running herself a glass of tap water. "I don't even remember how we got back ere if I'm honest." Carla said sipping her water. It took her all but two seconds for her to see that Peter was a little troubled about the sight before him. "What's wrong?" She asked, wondering if it was the fact that her and Michelle had obviously had a night of heavy drinking.

"Nothing." Peter said putting on his best smile, "I just wanted to take you out for breakfast that's all."

"Oh right." Carla said going and sitting down on one of the stools at her breakfast bar. She leant forward and rested her head on the bar as Peter went over and joined her. "Sorry baby but I don't think I'm going anywhere this morning." Carla said looking up at him apologetically. "I don't even know if I'll be going to work."

Peter looked over at Michelle who was still fast asleep on Carla's sofa and then back at his wife. He pondered something, he was sure she would have remembered but as she sat opposite him and showed no interest in spending the day with him he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Carla what day is it today?"

"Errrr the 4th… Why?" She replied with her head still rested on the breakfast bar.

"No reason." Peter said. He had wanted to check if she knew what date it was and she did. He couldn't work out if she had simply forgotten about their wedding anniversary or if she was pretending but all he knew was that there was no way he was going to be able to take her out now, not in the state she was in.

"Peter... I hope you don't think I'm being rude but I really need to go n lay down." Carla moaned, rubbing her head and getting up of the stool she was sat on, she looked at Peter's casual clothes and then asked, "You not working today?"

"Erm… No." Peter said awkwardly, wishing he hadn't of taken the day off after all because it seemed like there was no point now, he waited for Carla to ask him why he wasn't working but she never did. She yawned and walked towards her bedroom as Michelle stirred on the sofa. "I guess I'll leave you to it then." Peter said.

"I'll see you later yeah baby?" Carla called after him as he went towards her door.

"Yeah." Peter said before letting himself out of Carla's flat. She knew that something was wrong with him but as her stomach lurched and her hangover stared to properly take affect, she quickly ran towards her bathroom and decided she'd sort Peter out later.

* * *

Peter went back to his empty flat and felt sorry for himself for the rest of his morning. He ventured back out of his flat at around midday and went to Roy's Rolls to grab himself some breakfast. Ken and Tracy were sat in there making their way through their lunch as Peter strolled in. Ken watched Peter as he ordered himself a breakfast and then slumped down in the empty seat at the table.

"Peter? Weren't you supposed to be out with Carla today?" Ken asked,

"Yeah… I was." Peter said with a sigh.

"Well why aren't you then?" Tracy asked.

"Because Carla is totally hungover and can barley walk let alone leave her flat today that's why." Peter said.

"Well why would she go and get so hammered on the eve of your anniversary?" Ken asked, Tracy stifled a laugh and said,

"Oh come on Dad, I'm starting to like her n everything but this is Carla we're talking about ere, she'd find any excuse to get drunk." Peter did not find this comment funny at all but just didn't have it in him to argue with Tracy.

"I think she's forgotten." Peter eventually said with a sigh.

"She wouldn't forget something like that Peter." Ken said sipping coffee and even Tracy nodded along with him.

"He's right, you're everything to that woman, there is no way she would ave forgotten the day you two got married."

"I'm not sure… I mean she didn't even mention it this morning when I went to see her." Peter said miserably as Tracy bit into a slice of toast.

"Well did you mention it?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No." Peter admitted feeling slightly foolish now. "She was in a bit of a state and Michelle were there, fast asleep on the sofa… I didn't mention it all week because I wanted today to be a surprise."

"So how d'ya know that she's not doing the same as you then?" Ken asked, "Maybe Carla has a surprise planned too."

"Maybe…" Peter said. He hadn't thought about it like that and as his breakfast was brought over, he sincerely hoped that his Dad and Tracy were right and that Carla was just as excited as he was to celebrate their special day.

* * *

At around one thirty pm Carla got a phone call from Sally, she was obviously wondering why her boss's hadn't made it into work yet, especially as she had an important meeting at two o'clock in the bistro.

"Crap!" Carla cried, having completely forgotten about this meeting. She threw some clothes on, covered the dark circles under her eyes and left Michelle fast asleep on the sofa.

She raced over to the factory to grab some files for the meeting and was met by Sean who was stood on his phone, she glanced at him expecting him to get straight back to work but he was so engrossed by what ever he was reading on his phone that he hadn't even noticed her.

"What did I say about mobiles on the factory floor?" Carla asked fiercely, Sean jumped and almost dropped his phone in the process.

"Sorry Mrs Connor!" Sean cried and as he went off to sit as his machine he then said, "Or is it Barlow again? Seeing as it is your wedding anniversary after all." This stopped Carla in her tracks.

"Eh? How do you know?" Carla frowned wondering how on earth Sean could have remembered the exact date of her and Peter's wedding. Sean got up again and got out his mobile phone.

"Oh it's cause of this app, see. It's called timehop... It takes you back in time and tells you what you tweeted and facebooked about each day, so two years ago today I tweeted _Off to the boss' wedding, can't wait for free booze! _and then later on I tweeted _The bride looks stunning, the groom looks gorgeous, they truly are a perfect couple._" Sean was expecting Carla to look pleased this compliment but instead she just sighed and said,

"Just put your phone away Sean…. That's the last time I'm gonna tell ya about that."

She was in and out of her office within minutes and as she was still very hung over, she was not looking forward this business meeting at all. Her head ached and her stomach lurched as she had to sit and listen to a potential client drone on and on about a new line he was interested in. She tried her very best to stay professional but the client could see that obviously Carla wasn't all there and thankfully suggested they meet up again on Monday.

When Carla got back to the factory she found that her employees had gone and got out all the Christmas decorations. They were busy stringing up lights and hanging tinsel everywhere as the Mariah Carey Christmas album blared from the CD player.

Kirk was up a ladder in one corner, trying to fix some fairy lights to the wall whilst Beth and Sean where having a tug of war over a gold piece of fabric and when Sally saw her boss' expression, she rushed over to her.

"Oh Mrs Connor, I hope you don't mind, we're slightly ahead of schedule so we thought why not decorate the place… I mean it is December after all." Sally said cautiously. Carla who had no problem with the factory being decorated at all just nodded at Sally and said a very plain,

"It's fine Sally." She then went into her office but Sally being Sally quickly followed her inside.

"Sean said that we should start calling you Mrs Barlow again but I wasn't sure I mean I know that you and Peter are back together but it is early days and we wouldn't want to tempt fate would we?" Sally said not being so cautious anymore.

"What d'ya mean?" Carla snapped, "Are you trying to say that me n Peter aren't going to last or summat?"

"No of course not." Sally said a little shocked by Carla's tone. "I just didn't know if you were ready to be called Barlow again that's all."

"Well I am…." Carla said but she didn't look one hundred per cent convincing and couldn't help but sigh after she had said it.

"Okay... Well I'll let all the staff know." Sally said and she hastily made her way out of the office before she offended Carla again.

Carla sighed heavily and wished that she wasn't in such a bad mood today. She regretted going out and getting so drunk with Michelle last night because it really made her feel lousy and even though everyone in factory was getting well into the Christmas spirit and even thought she had plenty of reasons to be happy, Carla just couldn't seem to cheer up.

Something was on her mind and the more she tried not to think about it, the more she ended up thinking about it. The more she tried to ignore all the thoughts about what had happened this exact day two years ago, the more upset about it all that she got.

* * *

Hours later and when Carla was on her way home from Work, she saw Peter who had a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth standing outside the community centre. He inhaled as an exhausted looking Carla, made her way towards him.

"I thought you were too hung over to go out?" Peter said with a raised eyebrow. Carla frowned at his accusing tone and sighed,

"Yeah well I had to go into work didn't I? We can't all take random days off for no apparent reason."

Peter blew smoke out of his mouth and shook his head disappointedly at Carla.

"No reason eh?" He said, Carla nodded at him, which made him even more dismayed. "No reason?"

"Peter look, I'm feeling really rough…" Carla began but Peter interrupted her.

"Carla I took the day off to be with you and d'ya know why? Because today is our wedding anniversary, I honestly thought you had remembered but what given the fact that you spent last night and half of this morning with Michelle and now you're ere acting like today is just any other Friday, I'm guessing that you ave forgotten and I ave to say I'm quite shocked to be honest." Peter said, he was looking at Carla in a way that she couldn't stand, in a way that made her feel slightly angry, in a way that forced her to say,

"I haven't forgotten today Peter, I remember exactly what day it is today, It's the day you promised that you would love me above everyone else and d'ya know what it's also the day that you cheated on me for the first time, so excuse me if I'm not jumping for joy about it." Carla snapped, Peter took a step backwards, stunned and distraught.

The last thing he had been expecting was for Carla to have said that. He had expected her to have maybe forgotten about their wedding anniversary but he had now realised that of course she hadn't forgotten.

How could she have? He had done a terrible terrible thing and he knew that there was no way she could have forgotten about today.

Carla could tell that she had upset Peter, She could see it in his eyes as he finished his cigarette and then flicked the butt onto the ground.

"Peter…" She began but he shook his head at her.

"No… Carla you really don't have to say anymore." He said, he began walking away from her towards the direction of his flat and rather than leaving things really awkward between them she followed after him.

"Peter!" She cried, running so that she could get in front of him. "Baby look I'm sorry."

"Carla don't apologise, it's obviously how you feel about the situation, I'm sorry I even mentioned it." Peter said, he was trying his hardest to not cry like a baby in the middle of the street and in front of Carla. He had been planning to leave it like that but he had to say more, he had to say what he was thinking because keeping stuff inside always made him feel nervous. "So what about next year? And the year after that and the year after that?"

"What do you mean?" Carla asked,

"Well if we can't celebrate our marriage this year, then when can we celebrate it?"

"Peter I never said we can't celebrate it, I was just saying that you ave to understand that what you did still hurts me." Said Carla.

"So what are we just never going to ave an anniversary?" Peter asked, he watched Carla for a moment, as she stood in front of him, unable to think of the right thing to say. "Carla?"

"Peter I don't know what you want me to say ere?" Carla said awkwardly, "I mean you should ave told me this morning that you wanted to go out and celebrate out anniversary rather than acting all coy about it."

"Oh well I'm sorry for trying to let you ave a surprise Carla and sorry for thinking that it was important for us to acknowledge this day." Peter said, he was becoming very distressed and as Carla stood hopelessly before him he then asked, "Carla what am I to you? Am I your husband or just your boyfriend?"

"Peter don't be ridiculous you're my husband." Carla sighed, wishing she had just gone along with Peter today and not said anything about Tina.

"Well I don't feel like your husband right now…" Peter said sadly,

"Peter... I've got everyone at the factory calling me Mrs Barlow again." Carla began but Peter was having none of it and as he looked on in the distance he saw that Simon and Santana, who had been walking hand in hand had stopped and were watching. Carla knew that they should probably stop arguing in the middle of the street and said, "Look lets go to your place… we can have a nice night in and forget this ever happened."

"No." Peter said, "No it's ruined now."

"Oh don't be like that." Carla sighed, getting slightly irritated.

"Well what d'ya want me to be like, I realise that what I did was wrong but I thought we'd be able to get past this, I thought that you and me could have a beautiful day together and that it wouldn't be mentioned but obviously I was wrong." Peter snapped.

"The only reason I mentioned what happened was because you were trying to make me feel bad about forgetting our anniversary, which I didn't because that day was the most special day of me life and you were the one who tainted it forever, not me!" Carla turned around and walked off leaving Peter stood alone.

"Dad?" Simon said, crossing the road and joining his Dad. "Dad what's going on?" Santana followed him and watched Carla as she walked away from them.

"Nothing." Peter lied, not wanting to get his twelve-year-old kid involved. "Me n Carla were just having a little argument that's all."

"How come?" Simon asked concerned. He'd seen the look on both of their faces, he'd seen how upset Carla was when she stormed away from Peter and he could see how distraught his Dad was.

"Look it's fine Si, I don't want you to worry. It was just a little spat that's all, we'll be over it by tomorrow and everything will be back to normal." Peter insisted, although deep down he wasn't too sure that things could go back to normal. He wasn't sure how he and Carla could carry on if they couldn't even celebrate the day that they got married and he knew that once again all of this, was all his fault.

* * *

Carla could have gone home but she really didn't want to be alone right now, so she went into The Rover's instead. She went up to the bar and found a rather pale looking Michelle stood at the bar.

"Hey…" Michelle said weakly, Carla had left her back at her flat and the last time she had seen her, she had been looking rather rough, she still looked rather tired but as Steve had planned to take out Amy and Liz was busy Michelle had to run the bar for the rest of the evening until they got back.

"Hi." Carla said rolling her eyes at the silly argument that her and Peter had just had, it was the kind that could either be solved easily or turned into something big if they didn't move fast.

"What's wrong babe?" Michelle asked, she was skilled in being able to tell when Carla was upset about things, not that she was hiding the fact that she had tears in her eyes and that she had just had a rather over the top crying session as she made her way down the street.

"Peter..." Carla said sighing.

"What happened? Isn't today your wedding anniversary?" Michelle asked.

"Seriously? Does everyone round ere know about that?" Carla said, "I suppose you ave that app too then?"

"Yeah." Michelle nodded, "Sean made me download it but it's actually quite fun." Michelle picked up her phone and found a picture on the app, that she and Carla had taken at the wedding, they were both pouting in comical fashion and had their arms wrapped around one another. "Look." Michelle said showing Carla the photo, she then remembered what Carla had said about Peter. "So what's got you looking so grumpy on your own wedding anniversary?"

"Well that's just it Chelle…" Carla said, "It's _our_ wedding anniversary." It took Michelle a few more seconds to realise what Carla was getting at.

"Oh." She said quietly. "So what happened?"

"Long story short? Peter thought I'd forgotten and was trying to make me feel bad about it and so I might ave stupidly mentioned Tina to him." Carla said regretfully.

"Oh dear." Michelle said shaking her head.

"Oh dear indeed." Carla said, "and before you say it Chelle, I ave forgiven Peter it's just the way he was looking at me earlier, it made me feel like such a bad wife."

"And you wanted to make him feel bad?" Michelle said,

"I know... I know... I'm a right cow." Carla said, as Roy Cropper suddenly made his way over to the bar. "Hi Roy…" Carla said, a little surprised to see him in the pub, he gave her an awkward smile as he put his shopping bag on the bar.

"Hello… Carla... Michelle." He nodded and then he looked directly at Carla, "I errr overheard you and Peter whilst I was closing the café and I wanted to make sure that you were okay.

"Oh right." Carla said,

"I'll leave you to it." Michelle said with smile as she went to serve another customer.

"So are you… okay?" Roy asked, watching Carla as she wiped her tired eyes.

"No… not really." Carla said, going to sit down in one of the booths, Roy followed her and sat opposite her and said,

"I suspected as much."

"So just how much did you hear then?" Carla asked, not realising just how loud her and Peter's argument must have been.

"Well I heard you saying to Peter that he was the one who had ruined the memories of your wedding." Roy said quietly.

"Right." Carla said sorrowfully.

"I had remembered it was today that you and Peter had got married and was expecting the two of you to have been enjoying yourself rather than arguing outside my café."

"I dunno Roy…" Carla began with another sigh, "Today's been such a rubbish day... maybe I should ave just done what Peter wanted and tried to pretend like Tina wasn't in the back of me mind."

"You can't ignore the way you feel Carla." Roy said, "That is never a good idea... all it does is make you feel more alone."

"I know but I should ave just got past that stupid little voice in my head that kept reminding me of what happened back then." Carla said still feeling bad for have mentioning it. "I mean now that I think about it I honestly don't care about Tina... all I'm thinking about is that I really hurt Peter's feelings."

"Yes well I'm sure that Peter knows that you didn't mean to do that." Roy begun, "I sure given time you and Peter will be able to get over this."

"Really? Because he looked pretty upset when I left him earlier." Carla said frustratedly, "Oh I should ave gone out with him this morning n right now we'd probably be in some swish restaurant somewhere, enjoying a nice meal out on our anniversary."

"Well it's not over." Roy said, "Your wedding anniversary is not over and you can still spend the evening with him if you want to." Carla looked down at her watch and saw that it was only half past six.

"That's true… I just don't know if Peter would be up for spending any time with me right now." Carla said chewing her lip slightly, worried that she might have really ruined things between her and Peter.

"I think he will. Whilst you may have upset him a little I know that he probably knows that he is partly to blame for this. You two have been through a hell of a lot and I think it would be rather stupid to just let this set back ruin things between the two of you. I think... that you both need reminding of just how happy you both have been recently. It is important that you don't dwell on your past and that you focus on your future instead."

"You're right." Carla said smiling at Roy lovingly, "So how did you remember that it was our anniversary then?... I'm guessing that you didn't download that magic time travel app?" Roy who had no idea of what Carla was talking about just shrugged and said,

"Well I seem to have a knack for remembering things like that and also… Hayley… she always had the date on her mind." Roy said reminding Carla that of course he would have remembered as Hayley was the one who made her wedding dress. Steve and Amy then came into the pub, armed with a Christmas tree and a whole load of decorations. "I can't quite believe it's that time of year again." Roy said sadly as Steve put the tree down and beckoned Michelle over to help him.

"Yeah… me neither." Carla said. There was a moment of silence between them both, as Roy's mention of Hayley and Steve's sudden appearance with the tree reminded them of just how much Hayley loved Christmas.

"So… what are you still doing here?" Roy said they'd had a little more chit chat, Carla gave him half a frown and said,

"What d'ya mean?"

"As I mentioned earlier, you still have a whole night of your anniversary left and I know that you don't want to be in here, spending it with me." Roy said getting up off the sofa. Carla smiled at him and got up too.

"Well if I'm not spending the night with Peter, then you're the next best thing." she said giving him a hug. Roy hugged her back before leaving the pub. Carla watched him leave, feeling a warm rush of love as he closed the door behind him. He had said such kind words about Peter and had been really supportive since they had got back together. Carla knew that Christmas was, once again going to be a hard time for Roy and that she was going to really try and make him enjoy it this year but for now she knew she had to try and make things up with Peter.

* * *

It was half past nine at night and a miserable Peter was sat in his PJ'S flicking through the channels on his rather huge TV. He hated the way he had left things with Carla but he just didn't know how to rectify the situation. She was obviously still thinking about what he did with Tina and even though before getting back together, Carla had insisted that she had forgiven him, Peter was beginning to think that she would never really get over his betrayal, not that he blamed her of course.

He didn't have a single ounce of resentment for Carla he just hated the fact that they were both spending their wedding anniversary alone.

After feeling sorry for himself for just a little bit longer, he decided that enough was enough. He was going to sort things out between him and Carla. He went into his bedroom to get dressed again when he heard the buzzer on his door go.

"Hello?" He said cautiously into it, he was hoping it wasn't someone coming to see him because he was planning on going to find Carla but luckily for him it was the woman in question.

"It's me… can I come up?" She asked. He could tell by her tone that she was rather nervous.

"Of course." Peter said, pressing the button and letting Carla into his building.

He waited for her knock and when he opened the door he was truly taken aback by the sight before him.

Carla was stood in her leather jacket and white cotton skater dress. Her legs were bare even though it was freezing out side and she was carrying a white carrier bag along with her handbag. Her long hair was half up and half down and she had obviously run a curling wand through it, because she had soft waves running through her light brown locks. She looked gorgeous and had made sure she had taken a load of pain killers so that her lingering hang over wouldn't stop her from having fun.

"Hi." She said with an apprehensive smile.

"Hi." Peter said still in awe at Carla's appearance.

"So… can I come in?" She asked, Peter moved aside and let Carla in. As he closed the door behind him, Carla put the white carrier bag and her handbag down on his kitchen counter. "I brought us a curry…" She said awkwardly. She had been guessing that Peter would still be a bit frosty with her but what she didn't know was that he had been planning on going over to her place that very moment.

"Thanks." Peter said with a reassuring smile, one that let Carla know that he really wasn't mad at her, not one little bit.

"I'm sorry." They both said simultaneously. Then they both laughed infectiously and then went in for a hug.

"Peter I am so sorry this is all my fault, I should have just gone out with you this morning and I should ave never mentioned... y'know." Carla said again, as Peter's arms went around her.

"No… I should ave thought about how this day would ave affected you." Peter said shaking his head and letting her go. "I was being selfish, acting as if this day was all about me, instead of about us."

"Yeah… well." Carla began, "What you said earlier was true, it's still important for us to celebrate this day… to celebrate the fact that we are husband and wife." She then leant forward and went into her bag. She pulled out a little silver package and handed it to Peter.

"What's this?" he grinned.

"It's your present." Carla said proudly with a nod. "I'll admit that I only just made it. I thought that seeing as we missed last years and how the first anniversary is paper…" Peter tore open the silver paper to find a little white book. When he opened it he saw that each page had a different photograph on it and each photo was accompanied with a little caption and some delicate little heart shaped sequins and that Carla had obviously taken the time to stick each and every picture down onto each page.

The first photo was of Carla, Simon and Peter at the bowling alley on Peter's first weekend back in Weatherfield. The next was the one that she had taken of Peter in the back seat of her car with the two minion toys. Then there was the photo of them at Ken's house that was taken the very next day. Each photo of them had been taken within the last six months and as Peter looked at them lovingly Carla smiled and said,

"Something Roy said earlier reminded me of how much fun we ave had over the past six months." Peter grinned down at the photo that Tracy had taken of the two of them asleep on his Dad's sofa. "Yeah… I had to call Tracy in the hopes that she still had that one." Carla said. Peter turned the page to see another photo of he and Carla dressed up as a Vampire and a Cat at The Rover's Halloween party. They were both grinning at the camera and had their arms around each others waists. That picture was followed by some photos that they had taken during the fireworks display and then there were also some more recent pictures that they had taken since they had gotten back together. "I've left some pages blank… I thought we could take some pictures tonight and then stick em in. D'ya like it?" Carla asked, watching Peter closely.

"It's perfect." Peter said, a little chocked up and a little surprised at how much effort Carla had clearly gone to, to make such a personal gift. "Seriously Carla… I love it and I love you." he sniffed and wiped his eyes.

"You're not crying again are ya?" Carla teased poking Peter in the side.

"Come ere." Peter said pulling Carla in for a kiss.

"Mmmmm I love you too." Carla said as Peter's lips met with hers. After a few more passionate kisses, Carla grinned and said, "Come on… that curry is gonna get cold." She let go of him and went into Peter's kitchen to start serving the food that she had bought.

"You look lovely… I wish I'd made more of an effort." Peter said as he looked once more at Carla's white dress and then down at his boxers and old T Shirt.

"Don't be silly, I think you look beautiful." Carla said beaming as she took some plates out of Peter's cupboard.

"I still reckon I should go n put some more clothes on." Peter grinned going into his bedroom.

"Why bother?" Carla called after him "I mean we're only going to be naked again in an hour or so." She heard Peter chuckle from his bedroom. He was gone for quite a while so she then called, "Peter… what are ya doing?" He eventually returned, in a white shirt, black trouser and looking sheepish as he clutched a rectangle shaped blue box. "What's that then?" Carla asked excitedly as Peter took her hand and led her over to his sofa.

"It's your present." Peter said, as Carla sat down. "Let's just say you're not the only one who thought we should act like this is our first anniversary and who knows that the first one is paper." He handed Carla the box nervously, wondering what she would make of it. "I wanted to do something really special." He said as Carla smiled at him and pulled the lid off the box. She looked down into the box to see lots of little bits of paper that had been carefully folded up. She then looked up at Peter with an intrigued smiled and asked,

"What is it?"

"There's one for you to take out for each day of the year…" Peter began, still wondering if this idea was rather foolish, or cringy or both. "I'll admit I saw it online but the white ones ave some of my favourite memories of us on, the purple ones ave song lyrics and the pink ones… the pink one are reasons why I love you."

"Can I take one out now?" Carla asked, her throat rather dry and her eyes filled with tears. She was genuinely moved by such a thoughtful gift and was finding it difficult to stop herself from bursting right into tears there and then.

"Sure." Peter said with a nod. Carla reached into the almost overflowing box and pulled out a pink bit of paper. She opened it slowly and read,

_"Because no matter what, you never fail to make me smile… even at times when I really don't want to." _

"It's true." Peter said nodding as he leant forward to see which one Carla had chosen. She sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek. "Look who's crying now eh?" Peter said with a smug grin. Carla gave him a playful shove as he leant forward and kissed her on the forehead.

"It's the best present I've ever had." She said sincerely, as she closed the blue box and put it down on the coffee table, another tear ran down her cheek as she said a heartfelt, "Thank you baby."

"Happy anniversary." Peter said as she put her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her.

"Happy anniversary." Carla replied before kissing him properly on the lips, then she flashed Peter a naughty grin and said, "I honestly don't know why you got dressed…"

"Yeah… what was I thinking?" Peter said as Carla stood up and pulled him up with her. He knew exactly where she was taking him and as they passed the curry that she had left on the counter, he knew that they would probably be heating it up in the microwave, much later.

* * *

**_I just want to say Thank you to everyone who is still reading and reviewing. _**

**_There's plenty more to come in this fic, I have at least the next twenty or so chapters planned out, if you're all still interested._**

**_If you have time and haven't already, please make sure you have a read of "Fade Into The Background" because I'm dying to read some more thoughts on it and whether I should update or not._**

**_I really really appreciate any feedback that I get, so thanks again._**

**_:)_**


	32. Cake & Christmas Trees

There was a knock on Carla's door on Saturday afternoon, she ran over to it and opened it to find Peter stood there. He was wearing his warm black coat with gloves and a hat, as it was now the middle of December and was fairly cold outside. The warmth from inside Carla's flat had hit him fast as he stepped inside.

"Hey baby this is a nice surprise" Carla said putting her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss on the lips. "You're freezing" she shivered, pulling away from him a little because between the heat in her flat and the feeling of his cold body made goose bumps run along her arms and neck. She still kept her arms around his neck though.

"I've been watching Simon play football all morning, so I thought I'd come ere and let you warm me up." Peter smirked giving Carla another kiss. He then took a proper look at her, she was wearing jeans and a black vest top, only she was covered in a white substance, one which he could only assume, was flour.

He took a quick look at the kitchen and saw a load of cake ingredients scattered all over her work surface. Carla watched him look around her kitchen and looked sheepish as he then stared back at her.

"Has there been a flour explosion?" he asked, amused with his eyebrows raised.

"I'm baking a cake…" Carla said, smiling coyly at him.

"A cake?" Peter said surprised because he didn't think Carla even knew how to use her oven let alone bake a cake. Carla giggled as she let go of him and went to close her front door.

"Hold on." Peter said before she closed it.

"What?"

"I just want to make sure that you're my Carla and not some strange, cake making, alien shape shifter..." Peter said looking suspicious and laughing. Carla rolled her eyes as she went ahead and closed her door.

"Ha ha very funny" She said giving him a playful poke when walking past him into her kitchen. "I saw this Christmas cake in me magazine and as crazy as it sounds I wanted to give it a go." She said pointing at the magazine that she had laid out on her kitchen counter.

Peter looked down at his jacket and saw that it was now covered in little specks of flour from where he had been pressed up close to Carla. He dusted it off and then peered over at the magazine, which was also drowned in flour. There was a picture of a complicated looking Christmas cake on one side of the magazine and then on the other there was just a simple sponge cake with butter cream icing. He looked at Carla and smirked,

"So which one of these are you making then?" He asked taking off his coat and going to hang it up as he was practically sweating now, Carla rolled her eyes at him again and said,

"Hmmm let's see… I've never made a cake in me life, In fact I think this is the first time I've used my oven properly since I've moved in, so which one d'ya think I'm making eh?" She said peering at the magazine to double check something. Peter came over to the kitchen and laughed as she picked up the flour bag and in her haste, sent even more of it into the air.

"D'ya reckon you should be wearing an apron?" Peter asked, looking again at Carla's flour stained clothes.

"Oh please... as if I would own an apron." She said, shaking her head and pouring flour into her big glass bowl. She'd already mixed up some butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla into the bowl and the flour was the last step before putting her mixture into the tin.

"D'ya want any help?" Peter offered, sitting on a stool opposite her as she began whisking her mixture together.

"Nope I can manage…" Carla said, shaking her head again then she laughed "Although If I'm honest, this is me second go at this." She admitted "I wasn't paying attention the first time, I just chucked everything into the bowl, I didn't realise you were supposed to do it in a special order and anyway I got rather carried away when I was listening to Beyoncé and ended up pouring salt into me mixture instead."

Peter laughed as Carla continued to mix up her ingredients. He watched and he just couldn't help but smile affectionately at her as she stood there covered in flour, especially as it was even in her hair. She looked so cute as she kept peering into the bowl, as if she was trying desperately to get it right. He had never seen this side of her before, even after knowing her for so long he'd never seen her baking or even trying to cook properly.

Eventually Carla stopped mixing her ingredients as her arm began to ache and asked,

"Does this look right to you?" Peter had no idea why she was asking him, as he had just as much cake experience as her. He got up and walked over to where Carla was and took a look into the bowl.

"It looks okay to me." he said truthfully and he even poked a finger into the cake mix just so he could taste it. Carla looked back at him hopefully and Peter thought she looked so adorable, that even if it had tasted disgusting he probably would have found himself lying just to keep her happy. "Tastes amazing." he said, Carla didn't look too convinced so Peter dipped his finger back into the bowl and then raised it up to Carla's lips. She grinned and gave his finger a little lick, then she sucked the cake mix off it suddenly. "See?" Peter said also grinning as she made sure she licked his finger clean, it was all he could do not to throw everything off the kitchen counter and grab Carla there and then but she then smiled triumphantly at him and nodded.

She went into a carrier bag that was further up the work surface, She pulled out two cake tins and began to peel off the plastic, she had bought the tins earlier on in the day because she obviously didn't own that sort of thing. She placed to two tins on her counter and emptied the mixture evenly between the two. She then checked that she had the oven on properly and then double checked the time before gingerly placing the cake tins inside.

She turned around, proud of her efforts, to see that Peter was busy running a finger around the empty bowl.

"Peter don't do that its got raw egg in it!" she cried but Peter continued to lick his fingers. "Peter, you'll make yourself sick." Carla said, reaching over and trying to get the bowl off of him.

"Carla it's harmless, didn't you used to do this as a kid?" He said trying to pull the bowl back. Carla suddenly let go of it and stared at Peter. He quickly realised that Carla had never made her Mum sound like she would have been the baking type and that asking if she had ever been in such a situation was slightly ridiculous. "Sorry." he said apologetically and he put the bowl down on the counter. He put both arms around her waist and kissed her on the nose.

"It's fine." She giggled as Peter wiped some flour off of her cheek with one of his hands, She looked down at Peter's thick navy blue jumper and smiled, "Awww look at you in your cute little jumper."

"Eh are you takin the mick? It's freezing out there y'know."

"I'm being serious, it's well cute." She said kissing Peter on his nose, just the same as he had done to her.

"So… how long does this cake take then?" He asked as Carla leant forward so she could see what the magazine said.

"It says twenty to twenty five minutes…. Hmmm maybe I'll do twenty two minutes just in case." she said looking at the clock, Peter let go of her and took another look at the picture in the magazine.

"So what you gonna put on the top of this cake then?" he asked. Carla reached over to the same carrier bag that she had pulled the tins out of earlier, She got out a tub of ready made buttercream icing and also little box of green trees that were made out of fondant icing.

"Found these in Waitrose earlier." She said opening the icing tub as she spoke, "I know it's kind of cheating, not making the icing an all, but I thought why run before I can walk eh." She reached over and took a spoon off of the side. Peter watched her as she put the spoon into the tub and scooped up some of the icing. Her eyes widened with pleasure as she put the spoon into her mouth. "Oh my god" She gasped, licking her lips. "This stuff is amazing." She pointed the spoon towards Peter so he could taste it. "Open."

"Mmmmmmm" Peter said as he swallowed down the sweet creamy icing, Carla dipped her spoon back into the tub as Peter grinned and put his arms around her again.

"So..." he began with a wicked grin on his face as Carla helped herself to some more icing. "We've got twenty minutes or so to kill." Carla shook her head at him and took the spoon out of her mouth.

"I've got to keep an eye on me cake." she said but she leant in and sucked in Peter's bottom lip, he kissed her hungrily and pushed her playfully towards her bedroom making her giggle "Peter wait…" she cried as she was still clutching the tub of icing but Peter mischievously, shook his head.

"Bring it with you" he growled and they both disappeared into Carla's bed room.

* * *

It was almost half an hour before the smoke alarm, which was placed on the wall in Carla's kitchen suddenly began beeping loudly.

"Oh crap!" Carla cried, flying out of her bedroom in her black satin dressing gown. Her kitchen was full of smoke as she flung the oven door open, Peter soon appeared in his boxers as she pulled on her oven gloves and took the cake tins out of the oven. She sighed as she slammed the burnt cakes on top of her oven. "This is just so flamin typical!" she cried and then she threw her oven gloves across the room.

"Don't start throwing things…" Peter said almost laughing but then he felt sorry for her when he saw the look of disappointment on her face as she folded her arms frustratedly. The smoke alarm eventually stopped beeping and Carla sighed. "Why don't you just make another one?" He suggested.

"I can't, I aven't got enough ingredients to try again, I don't even know why I bothered, I'm so useless at stuff like this." She said sighing and turning off her oven. "Always ave been."

"Hey don't say that, you're not one bit useless" Peter said softly, as she leaned against her fridge.

"Peter I can't even bake a simple Victoria sponge without almost setting me flat on fire." Carla mumbled.

"Baby you did everything right, that cake mix tasted amazing before it went into the oven." Peter insisted, Carla thought for a moment and then grinned at him.

"It did didn't it." She said smugly and then she looked at the burnt cakes. "Y'know I feel inclined to blame you for this" she said pointing at them.

"Me?" Peter exclaimed, "What did I do?" Carla moved forwards and put an arm around his neck.

"You were the one who dragged me into the bedroom." She said, kissing him roughly on the lips.

"Dragged?" Peter smirked with an eyebrow raised. "Sure I did." he said as Carla put her other arm around him. She sighed heavily and looked at the mess in the kitchen. "I'm sorry about your cake" Peter said following her gaze.

"Ahh well, you get points for tryin right" She paused "It's a good thing I didn't tell Roy I was makin it in the first place, at least he won't be too disappointed."

"Roy?" Peter asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah I saw him earlier and he seemed so depressed. I've been talking to him recently and I know that he's finding it really hard without Hayley, especially at this time of year spreading her Christmas cheer. She loved Christmas Hayley did…" Carla sighed sadly.

"Awww, she did didn't she?" Peter said reminiscently.

"She used to loved making Christmas themed foods n then I saw this cake and thought that if I made it and maybe took him a slice…. Y'know maybe it would cheer him up… Maybe I'll just take him for a drink instead." Carla said sighing and beginning to make her piece with the fact that her cake seemed to be history.

Peter smiled at Carla adoringly as she spoke, he loved how kind hearted she was at times, especially where Roy was concerned and he thought it was such a shame that the cake had got burnt. He gave her a quick kiss and made her let go of him.

"Right give us that magazine then." he said pointing at it, Carla stared at him.

"Why?" She asked handing it over to Peter suspiciously.

"I'm gonna go down to Dev's n get you some more ingredients." he said looking at the list of things that he needed to buy, Carla shook her head at him lovingly and said,

"No Peter it's fine." but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He reached over and pulled his phone out of his coat pocket and took a picture of the recipe so that he didn't have to take the whole magazine out with him.

"Right I'll be back soon, is there anything else you need whilst I'm down there?" he asked.

"You going down there in ya boxers?" Carla smirked looking down at his bare legs. "I guess it's a good thing that Sophie likes girls isn't it?" Peter laughed and went into the bedroom to get dressed again. He came back after a few minutes, in his jeans and blue jumper. He picked up his coat and gave Carla another quick kiss.

"Don't you dare get dressed" he said huskily, running his hands down the silky material of her dressing gown, Carla nodded obediently and said,

"I'll miss ya."

"I'll miss you too" Peter said kissing her twice more before finally going towards her door.

"Peter…" Carla called after him, he spun round and looked at her to see what she wanted. "I'd see if Dev sells that icing if I were you."

* * *

Peter was gone for roughly fifteen minutes, he'd took a key with him and when he'd let him self back in, he found Carla sat on the sofa watching television. She was still in her dressing gown as Peter had instructed and had her bare legs propped up on the coffee table. She was eating the butter cream icing straight out of the tub with a spoon when he came in. She grinned at him in a guilty fashion and took the silver spoon out of her mouth.

"Hey." She said.

"You're not still eating that icing are ya?" Peter said, closing the door behind him as Carla got up off of the sofa and met him in the kitchen with a kiss.

"I can't help it, it tastes so good" she said kissing him again and undoing the zip on his coat and taking his jacket off for him. He handed her the bag of cake ingredients. "Thanks baby." She said and she took the bag into the kitchen.

Carla then set about making cake number three, Peter watched her from over the counter as he'd been given strict instructions to stay away. Carla was almost quite used to the mixing and measuring by the third time around and she was placing cake tins into the oven in no time.

"Did you not hear me earlier?" Carla said to Peter as he tried to pull her away from the kitchen.

"But you're finished now…" Peter practically wailed, Carla chuckled at him and shook her head.

"I've still got to keep an eye on the oven though and your sexiness is far too distracting." Carla said turning away from him and grinning. She then picked up her phone.

"Come on Car, we won't forget this time I promise." Peter insisted, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

"Your damn right we won't forget because I'm putting a timer on me phone." Carla said setting her clock to go off in twenty minutes.

"Okay so now you've done that can we at least have a cuddle on the sofa?" Peter suggested knowing that if he at least got Carla on the sofa she'd be like putty in his hands.

Carla reluctantly gave into Peter's suggestion and went to sit with him on her sofa. He instantly pulled her over to him and kissed her, he kissed her so passionately that she got scared that she would get too distracted again. As Peter ran a hand up her dressing gown and made her gasp excitedly she pulled away from him suddenly.

"Honestly Peter you said cuddle."

"Yeah we can cuddle…Naked" Peter grinned.

"You my friend, ave only got one thing on your mind." Carla said backing away from him a little, He chuckled and reached out and took her hand instead.

"Well what can I say eh? I mean have you seen yourself in the mirror." He said squeezing her hand tightly and smiling. "Come on then." He said with his arms out wide, Carla gave him a suspicious look "It's just a cuddle I promise." He said and Carla leant against him and snuggled into his soft jumper.

"I mean what I said earlier, I think this jumper is well cute." Carla said running a hand along it and stroking the material.

"Really? Me Dad got it me when he went shopping last week, I thought it were a bit random at first but it's actually really warm, A little too warm for in ere though." He said because Carla's fireplace was still on, full blast.

"Eh d'ya reckon I should give ya Dad a slice of cake?" Carla asked looking up at him "That's if I mange not to burn this one to a crisp that is."

"I think he'd love some." Peter said kissing Carla on the head. "And this cake will be fine, third time lucky and all that." They cuddled up tight on the sofa and just listened to the music that Carla had been playing, At first Carla would sing along to the lyrics every so often but that soon ceased and by the time her phones timer went off her and Peter had almost fallen right asleep.

Carla practically jumped off the sofa and ran over to the oven, Peter got up and joined her in the kitchen as she put her oven gloves on, She bit her lip and looked at him.

"Right, third time lucky, ere goes." She said hopefully, almost closing her eyes because she wanted this to turn out right so bad. She then opened the door to her oven and pulled out one of the cake tins. The cake had risen to the top of the tin and the mixture was now a nice shade of golden brown "That's more like it eh?" She said putting it down on her work surface, she then got the second tin out placed it next to the first.

"Baby they look delicious." Peter said going behind Carla and wrapping his arms around her. She smiled proudly and picked up a skewer that she had set aside earlier. "What you doing now?" Peter asked still with his arms around her.

"Checking it's cooked the whole way through, you're meant to stick one of these in the middle and if it comes out clean then it's done... well that's what the magazine says anyway."

"Check you out, you're a regular Mary Berry." Peter said looking rather impressed and making Carla laugh. "Go on then." He said. Carla poked the metal skewer gingerly into the middle of one of her cakes and then pulled it out again, it came out as clean just as it had gone in. She checked the other one and the result was the same. "Wahey… and the winner of the next Great British Bake of is… Carla Barlow." Peter said nudging her and kissing her on the cheek.

"I actually did it." She breathed, turning off the oven, rather astonished that it truly had gone well.

"I'm proud of you baby." Peter said turning her around, "I can't wait to taste it." He then smirked, looking at her in a way that she was all to used to. "Now whilst it cools down…" he began but Carla was way ahead of him and had already begun undoing his jeans.

* * *

It was almost an hour by the time Carla had made it back to her kitchen, so she could ice the cake. Peter followed her and watched as she emptied the cake tins onto a plate and filled the middle of the sponges with Strawberry jam and the rest of the butter cream icing that she had bought earlier.

Peter had bought another tub in Dev's luckily and that was what she began to use to ice the top and the sides of the cake. It was messy job but after a while the entire cake was covered and as she finished up by putting on the little green Christmas trees that she had bought, she kept helping her self to some of the left over icing that was in the tub.

"Honestly Carla." Peter said watching her in disbelief. "You're gonna make your self sick if you eat anymore of that stuff."

Carla just grinned as she suggestively licked the spoon that she had been using to eat the icing with.

"I saw a strawberry and a chocolate one whilst I were shopping earlier, I bet they taste amazing, Did Dev have any of those ones?" She asked grinning with her eyes wide.

"He did but don't get any ideas because I will be going down there in a minute and telling him and Sophie not to sell em to you because this is getting a little out of control isn't it." Peter said because Carla was already eating another spoonful "You and that sweet tooth though, you're gonna need dentures by the time your fifty."

"Yeah well... you would know." Carla joked, Peter then leant forward and took the tub of icing away from her. "Oi" She cried trying to grab it back off him.

"Nope, No more. I'm cutting you off." Peter chuckled and he put the lid on the tub and he went put it in the fridge. He came back as Carla was placing a final tree onto her cake.

"That's it I reckon." She said studying her cake and then looking at the one in the magazine.

"It's perfect" Peter said and he then picked up his phone "Come on then, pick it up I want a picture of this."

"No Peter, how embarrassing." Carla said hiding her face as Peter held his phone up to her face. "Stop it." She said pushing the phone away. "I'm half dressed and look at the state of me hair." After an afternoon of baking and having sex with Peter, her long hair was a little on the wild side and she still had some specks of flour in it.

"I'm not gonna show anyone, It's just you've tried so hard and I want to remember how adorable you look right now." Peter insisted.

"Fine." Carla said picking up her cake and smiling triumphantly at Peter's phone. She then took a picture of it on her phone so she could show Michelle what it had looked like.

Peter helped Carla tidy up her kitchen, which took them rather a long time because it had got very messy during Carla's baking session. It didn't help that every time they passed each other they ended up having a little kissing session, eventually Carla's kitchen was back to normal and as she put the last bits of washing up in her dishwasher, Peter grinned and said,

"So now you've baked a cake, what are the chances of you cooking me a nice roast dinner tomorrow?" Carla raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head,

"I'd say the chances are very slim seeing as I don't want to step foot in this kitchen again this weekend." She said as she went to sit down on her sofa.

"Can't blame a guy for trying eh?" he said following her. "So Aunt Bessie, tell me, where's your Christmas tree?" he asked because he had noticed she hadn't had one up yet when he had walked in but had forgot to mention it until now. Carla shrugged and rested an elbow on the sofa.

"Don't ave one."

"You must ave a fake one somewhere." he said but Carla shook her head at him. "So what did you use last year then, I thought you hated the real ones?"

"Well I didn't ave a Christmas tree up last year if you must know" Carla said, leaving Peter rather astonished.

"You didn't ave a Christmas tree?" he exclaimed as if it was the craziest thing he'd ever heard of.

"No I flamin well didn't."

"Why not?"

"Peter, this time last year was a horrible time for me and the last thing I wanted was a tacky green tree filling up me new flat." Carla said, Peter felt an immediate pang of guilt and Carla could tell he was feeling the blame "Baby don't feel sorry for me." She said, "I'm a million times happier this year, if that makes your feel any better." she said giving him a quick kiss.

"So... does that mean that you're gonna ave a tree this year then?" he asked Carla, who just shrugged indifferently. Peter then grinned, "You do realise that if there is no tree for presents go under, they'll be no presents." Carla's face lit up at the word presents.

"Oh you do ave a point there don't you Peter Barlow." Carla said grinning "Maybe I'll get a tree after all, If there are going to be presents involved."

"Oh there shall definitely be presents involved." Peter nodded, kissing Carla on the cheek.

"D'ya fancy going out tonight?" Carla suggested after a little while more of sitting on the sofa.

"Like where?" Peter asked,

"I Don't know maybe we can get Simon and go n get some nice dinner or something?" Carla said,

"Hmmm If I didn't know any better I'd say you were just trying to get out of cooking." Peter laughed.

"Oi!" Carla said, nudging him in the ribs.

"Ow!" Peter cried, Carla giggled and bent down so she could kiss him in the spot where she nudged him.

"So are we going to dinner or not?" She asked, rolling up his jumper and kissing him on his bare skin.

* * *

Hours later and armed with a Tupperware box full of cake Carla and Peter were walking down Coronation Street. They had made plans to meet Simon at half seven but stopped off at Roy's on the way.

He let them into his flat and was very surprised to see that Carla had come baring cake. Homemade cake as well.

"You made this?" Roy asked looking at the cake in awe.

"I did." She nodded as Peter said,

"I wouldn't believe it unless I hadn't watched her do it myself." Peter grinned,

"Are you looking to get another nudge." Carla said poking him in the side as Roy bit into the slice of cake that Carla had cut for him. She watched him anxiously, wondering if Peter's _"It tastes amazing."_ was just him being nice because he was her husband and that the cake maybe tasted awful.

Roy chewed the cake and swallowed it down as Carla awaited his approval.

"How is it?" She asked nervously.

"Delicious." Roy said with a nod, "Honestly Carla this truly tastes wonderful."

"Really?" Carla said as Peter nodded and kissed her on the cheek for about the one-hundredth time that day.

"I told you it tasted good." He said, as Carla smiled elatedly.

"I'm glad you like it." She said as Roy ate some more, as he finished the slice that Carla had given him, she looked into the Tupperware box and said, "D'ya want to take another bit… for later?"

"Sure why not." Roy said. Peter glanced around Roy's flat, another place which also looked like it needed some Christmas love.

"No tree yet Roy?" Peter asked,

"No... Christmas Tress aren't really my kind of thing." Roy said. Peter thought for a moment and then watched as Carla got out another piece of cake out of the box and placed it on a plate for Roy.

"Roy… me, Carla and Si are going to get something for dinner, do you fancy joining us?" He asked kindly, Carla smiled at the idea and looked hopefully as she waited for Roy's response.

"That is mighty kind of you Peter but no thank you, there is a documentary on in a bit that I must watch." Roy said with a grateful nod.

"Are you sure?" Carla said, coming back from the kitchen.

"Yes I'm sure." Roy said.

"Okay." Carla said disappointedly, "How about we maybe meet for a drink tomorrow instead?"

"That sounds lovely." Roy said.

"Well maybe we'll get out of you hair.?" Peter said, as he looked down at the clock and saw that it was almost half past seven.

"Thank you for coming over." Roy said to them, "and Thank you for the cake. I am really pleased to see that you are getting into baking."

"Hmmm I wouldn't exactly say that." Carla smirked before kissing Roy on the cheek. "Bye."

Peter said goodbye to Roy also and then they both made their way over to get Simon who was at his Mum's flat today.

"He's not ready yet." Leanne said letting Carla and Peter in her flat with a raised eyebrow. "Although I have no idea just what he has to get ready." She laughed.

"Hey Lea… want some cake?" Peter said with a grin, Carla shook her head at him and pushed him into Leanne's living room.

"Cake?" said Leanne.

"I made a cake today and Peter seems to think that it's something to shout from the rooftops." Carla said holding up her box that was not so full of cake anymore, especially since they had ran into Ken and Amy on the way to Leanne's and they had both taken a piece home with them.

"You… made a cake?" Leanne said with her eyebrow raised again.

"Yes I did and I ave to say I am quite shocked at how surprised people are about this… I do know how to use me oven y'know." Carla smirked sitting down on Leanne's sofa as Peter looked around at the flat. He pointed at Leanne's Christmas tree and said,

"Nice tree." Carla rolled her eyes at him and said,

"What are you on tree watch on summat?" Carla asked,

"No I'm just saying how nice it is thats all." Peter grinned,

"Aww thanks, Me and Si put it up last night." Leanne said then she looked at Carla, "Ave you been to the pub yet?"

"The pub?" Carla shrugged, "No… why?"

"Oh… I just thought you would ave gone round that's all, I mean you're really close to the Connors, I thought Michelle would ave told you that her cousin is in town." Leanne said sitting next to Carla on the sofa.

"Cousin… which cousin? Aidan?" Carla said as Peter knocked on Simon's door,

"Si… hurry up!" He said,

"No not Aidan... I think he said his name was Rich." Leanne said.

Carla's face dropped at the name Rich, she had been smiling from ear to ear for the whole day so it was very noticeable that her mood had suddenly changed.

"Who's Rich?" Peter said upon seeing Carla's expression and also Simon came out of his bedroom.

"I'm ready." He said smiling, in his blue jacket and best trainers.

"Good." Carla said getting up off the sofa. She then looked down at Leanne, "D'ya wanna come with us?"

"Nah you're alright, Kal's coming over soon so we'll probably just have a relaxing night in." Leanne said with a smile, grateful for the invite from Carla all the same.

"Well let's get going then." Peter said still watching Carla.

"Bye Mum." Simon said, leaning in and giving Leanne a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye... ave fun you lot." Leanne said as Carla, Peter and Simon left her flat.

As they walked around to Peter's flat so that they could get his car, Peter still watched Carla, he had seen how quickly her face had changed upon hearing the arrival of this Rich and he couldn't help but wonder why.

"So… this Rich… who is he?" Peter said, unlocking his car so that Simon could get in, Carla went to get in too, but Peter gently stopped her.

"You know who he is, Michelle's cousin." Carla said casually.

"Yeah but what I want to really know is why when you heard his name mentioned that you're cute and happy expression suddenly turned into the one you ave now." Peter said.

"He's just not a very nice person that's all, He were a right pain to be honest and I were just a bit surprised out to hear he was ere." Carla said,

"You sure that's it?" Peter asked slightly unconvinced that Carla was being completely truthful to him.

"Yeah… I'm sure." Carla said with a smile, one that most people would believe but one that Peter could see right through. He decided he wouldn't question her too much right now as they were with Simon who, then wound down his car window after waiting for his Dad and Carla for a little while.

"Are we going any time soon?" he smirked, Carla nodded at him and looked at Peter.

"Sure." He said leaning in and giving Carla a quick kiss. "We'll talk later." He said opening the door for her. She nodded at him and then got inside the car.

"Hey Si… d'ya want some Christmas cake?" she asked with more believable on her face as Peter got in the drivers seat.

"You made a cake?" He exclaimed, Peter laughed at his son's shock and as Carla turned around and handed Simon some cake.

"Just shut up and eat it." She grinned as Simon chuckled along with his Dad before biting in the cake.

"Well…?" Carla asked still facing Simon as Peter started the car.

"Amazing!" Simon said with a mouthful.

Peter smiled as Carla, once again looked thrilled and even though he was apprehensive about the arrival of this Rich, he was more excited about the next couple of weeks.

Christmas was soon approaching and even though he wasn't sure exactly what his plans were, One thing that Peter new for sure was that after being apart from her last year, he was going to make sure that this year, Carla had the best Christmas ever.


	33. Mistletoe & Wine

**_Thanks to those who are still reading and_** **_reviewing :) _**

* * *

"Mistletoe!" Carla cried, stood outside Peter's plat holding up a piece of mistletoe in the winter air.

It was Monday 14th of December and it was insanely cold outside. She was wrapped up in her black winter coat and scarf as she pouted at Peter and waited for her kiss.

"N how long ave you been out ere waiting for me to come out eh?" Peter grinned, leaning in and kissing Carla on the lips. It was cold out but their loving embrace warmed them up for just a moment.

"Mmmm only ten minutes or so." Carla said when she and Peter had finally let go of each other.

"Ten minutes?" Peter said shaking his head at Carla as she linked arms with him.

"What?... You said you wanted me to get into the Christmas spirt so ere I am, in the Christmas spirit." Carla said proudly as they began walking back towards Coronation Street.

"Carla I said get into the Christmas spirit not freeze your arse off." Peter chuckled. Carla nudged him in the side as they turned the corner swiftly. "So does this mean you've got your Christmas tree yet?"

"No but I am in the process of it, I found the perfect decorations online though, wait till you see em." Carla said excitedly.

"Why what are they?" Peter asked but Carla shook her head mysteriously and wouldn't tell him what she had ordered, instead she said,

"Anyways you ave a cheek asking about my tree, when you don't ave one?"

"Ahhh well that's where you are wrong, I'm getting one today. I'm taking Si with me and we're going to get the biggest one we can find." Peter said and it was now his turn to be excited. He could still hardly believe his luck, back together with his son and wife and at christmas as well. "We're gonna decorate it tonight as well if you want to come n join us."

"I'd love to." Carla said with a smile as they made their way into Roy's Rolls for their breakfast.

After breakfast they both went their separate ways to work and spent their days texting each other excitedly about their plans for tonight. Carla said she'd promised Michelle they'd meet for a drink in the pub but she would be round to help Simon and Peter decorate their tree straight after.

* * *

It was around six pm when Carla walked into The Rover's and saw Michelle stood next to the bar with her arm around someone. It was someone Carla hadn't seen for a very very long time and someone who she really didn't want to see for a very very long time.

"Carla!" Michelle cried, upon spotting Carla who was stood in the pub doorway. "Look who it is!" She said rather over excitedly. Carla had been expecting this eventually after what Leanne had told her on Saturday and sighed as the someone next to Michelle turned around and smiled.

"Well well... look what the cat dragged in." He smirked as he walked over to Carla. He was a tall, dark haired man, clean shaven with bright green eyes. He put an arm around Carla and hugged her tight but she didn't exactly hug him back, instead she stared at Michelle as if to say, _"Why the hell is he here?"_

"Isn't this a nice surprise?" Michelle said with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah… for you I spose." Carla said as the old friend let go of her. "Alright Rich." She said finally acknowledging the man who has suddenly come back into her life.

"Oh I'm good... especially now I've seen your pretty face." Rich said as Liz came from out back and smiled at the unfamiliar face.

"Ello…" She said to him, then she looked at Michelle who was still grinning from ear to ear. "Who's this then?"

"Oh, this is Rich, he's one of my many many cousins." Michelle began, "He used to work in the shoe shop with Carla when she were sixteen." She said, as if this was something Carla really wanted to remember and reminisce about.

"Yeah we used to ave a right old laugh, didn't we Carla." Rich said, still smirking like an idiot at her, when she was doing her very best not to glare back at him.

"I wouldn't go that far." Carla said sighing and then looking at Michelle. "Are we having that drink or not then Chelle?"

"Yeah of course, you will join us won't us Rich." Michelle said still not picking up on Carla's blatant hostility towards her cousin.

"Course I will." He said walking over to a table and sitting down on the sofa, he then patted the space next to him and said, "Come on Carlaroo." Carla winced at the old nickname and looked at Michelle.

"Look Chelle I've got to meet Peter n Simon soon so I can't be long." She began but then Rich interrupted her.

"Peter? Isn't that your ex? The one that cheated on you?" Rich said with yet another annoying smirk on his face. Michelle's eyes went wide and she shook her head at Rich suddenly.

"Yes but... Peter and Carla are back together actually." Michelle said quickly, going around the bar and pouring them all some drinks. Carla joined her at the bar and when she was sure Rich wasn't listening she hissed,

"Michelle what the hell is he doing ere?"

"He said he was just in the area." Michelle said smiling, genuinely glad to see an old face from the past. "He's just come to say hello."

"Yeah right… He wants something Chelle… Probably money or an alibi of both." Carla muttered, Michelle sighed and shook her head at Carla's attitude towards her cousin. "He's trouble Chelle."

"Don't be like that. People can change you know." She said,

"Yeah well I'm willing to put money on the fact that _he_ hasn't." Carla said as Michelle handed her a glass of wine.

"Look Carla I know you two haven't always seen eye to eye but can't you just be civil to him, like he is to you." Michelle said pointedly, Carla nodded at Michelle although she was sure Rich was actually taking the mick with her rather than being civil. "I'll be over in a minute, go on." Michelle said nodding Carla over to where Rich was sat.

Carla went and sat down on the seat opposite Rich but got her phone out to pretend like she was busy so that she didn't have to make small talk. Rich watched her for a moment and then said,

"Wow… Talk about anti social." Carla looked up at him from her phone for a moment and then back down at it. "Charming." Rich sighed as Michelle came over with a bottle of beer for him and some wine for herself.

"Isn't this nice." Michelle grinned trying to make everything seem all light-hearted and fun but Carla was still looking down at her phone instead of up and at the people that she was sat with.

"Is she always like this?" Rich asked her, still with his eyes fixated on Carla.

"Oh… She's probably texting Peter." Michelle smiled but she gave Carla a swift kick underneath the table. Carla glared up at her best friend but put her phone away anyways, she knew Michelle had to be nice to her family but that didn't mean she had to.

"I'm going to meet him and Simon soon so as I said I'm only ere for just the one." Carla said taking a huge sip of wine and then another and another, so that she could finish it quickly and then make a run for it.

"Woah woah what's the rush?" Rich said,

"I just said... we ave plans." Carla said.

"Why don't you invite him in ere? I want to meet this Peter." Carla shot Rich a dark look and then shook her head, "What... I do?" He grinned.

"Well I doubt he'd want to meet you if I'm honest."

"Carla!" Michelle exclaimed.

"Ahh don't worry about it Chelle, I'm sure she's joking." Rich smirked as Carla picked up her glass and finished her drink.

"Trust me, I'm not." Carla said standing up and she was about to say goodbye to Michelle when Peter came through the pub doors. "Peter?" She said, surprised to see him without Simon.

"Hey..." Peter said, "Si's not ready yet so I thought I'd gate-crash this drink." He spoke cheerily but his expression changed when Carla went and put an arm around him and shook her head.

"Can we just go please?" She asked. Peter looked at her for a moment and then at Rich who was watching them both.

"I'm guessing you're Rich." Peter said, leaning forward so that he could shake his hand.

"Good guess." Rich said, returning the handshake and grinning at Peter smugly.

"I'm Peter." Said Peter as Carla sighed, he noticed this sigh and then looked at her. "You really want to go home?"

"Yes." She said,

"Oh come on Carla that was barley five minutes." Michelle said getting up, "Sit down you two, Peter I'll get you a lemonade."

"A lemonade?" Rich exclaimed as Carla reluctantly sat back down on the sofa opposite him.

"Yes. I don't drink." Peter said sitting next to Carla.

"You're crazy mate." Rich said then he looked at Carla who was still sulking about having to stay in the pub with him. "Especially if you're married to this one, I mean she's had enough alcohol in her system to last us all a lifetime."

"Oh what would you know about it? The last time you saw me I were what? Eighteen." Carla said bitterly, as Michelle returned with Peter's lemonade.

"Thanks Michelle." Peter nodded but he was continuing to watch Carla closely. He knew something wasn't right about this situation and he knew that this Rich was really getting to Carla.

"Even so…" Rich continued, "You used to knock it back like it was going out of style."

"What's this?" Michelle asked smiling at Rich and Carla, thinking that they were having a reminiscent chat about the old days.

"Carla and her drinking." Rich said smirking, "Remember Chelle all those parties that we went to, she used to really go for it."

"She still does." Michelle said, leaning over and poking Carla, who didn't respond.

"Good times eh?" Rich said, picking up his beer and drinking it.

"So… how long d'ya reckon you'll be in the area for?" Michelle asked as Peter put an arm around Carla's waist and pulled her towards him a little. She leant against him and smiled properly for the first time since she had stepped foot in the pub.

"Hmmm I'm not sure yet?" Rich said watching Carla and Peter closely and from where Peter was sitting it almost looked like this Rich was jealous.

"Probably just until you get what you want eh Rich?" Carla said dryly as Peter picked up his lemonade and started to drink it.

"And what makes you think I want something?" He replied trying to stare Carla out, She stared back at him in a way that made Michelle nervous.

"Because you always do… you always want what you can't ave." Carla said, Rich shook his head at her slowly and drank a sip of beer before saying,

"N what's that supposed to mean?" Peter put his glass down on the table and then turned to Carla, he looked at her, wondering the same as Rich actually.

"You know flamin well what it means." Carla said, giving Peter a nudge and getting up off the sofa. "Come on you, we've got a Christmas tree to decorate." Peter got up and obeyed his wife although the current topic of conversation had been really intriguing him. He knew that Carla and Rich obviously had history and he tried to rack his brains to see if he could remember Carla ever mentioning Rich before.

"Carla…" Michelle sighed shaking her head.

"Simon is waiting for us." Carla said to Michelle as Peter took her hand.

"See ya." Peter said wanting to stay but not wanting Carla to be in a situation like this for a moment longer.

"Bye." Michelle said, irritated that Carla was leaving.

Once they were outside, Peter turned to Carla and said,

"Okay… what was all that about?"

"Oh… do I ave to Peter… I'm meant to be getting into the Christmas spirit ere, not talking about that creep." Carla said as they began walking hand in hand to Leanne's flat to meet Simon.

"and why's he a creep again?" Peter asked, concerned now because Carla's childhood and teenage years had seemed to be full of horrible people who did horrible things and he was really hoping that this Rich was one of them, for Rich's sake if anything else because if he found out that Rich had ever done anything to hurt Carla, he knew he wouldn't be responsible for his actions.

"He just is…" Carla began but she knew Peter's mind was going to some quite dark places, Simon soon appeared in his black coat and smiled as he said,

"So are we going to get this tree then?"

"Course we are." Peter said and as Simon started walking off he looked and Carla and said, "You ain't off the hook… we'll talk later."

Carla nodded at him although talking about Rich to Peter was really one of the last things that she wanted to do. She just hoped that he would forget about it and that she would be able to distract him in someway.

* * *

Three hours and a lot of driving later, Carla held the door open for Peter as he and Simon stumbled into his flat with their brand new Christmas tree. It was huge, over Six foot in fact. They had driven to various places that were selling them but it took them ages to find the "perfect" one.

"You don't think this is a little OTT…" Carla said as Simon and Peter had to squeeze past her, tree in both of their hands.

"Nah… it's just what we wanted isn't it Si." Peter said triumphantly, as they took the tree over to the corner where they had been planning to put it.

"Yep." Simon said, helping his Dad stand the tree upright and then smiling. Carla smiled too at the thrilled look on Simon's face and closed the door to Peter's flat as they took of their winter coats.

"Uh… look at all the little green bits on the floor… this is why I hate real trees." Carla said, as she tiptoed over them.

"Carla they aren't going to hurt your precious boots y'know." Peter chuckled as she took off her coat and hung it beside his.

"Dad where are all the decorations that you bought?" Simon asked excitedly, wanting to get started as soon as possible.

"In the cupboard down the hall." Peter said as Carla wrapped her arms around him from behind and gently kissed him on the back of the neck.

"Hmmm I bet you went really tacky and bought a whole load Fresco's finest..." Carla said with her lips still pressed against his neck. In her high heels she was a lot taller than him and she rested her head on his shoulder as he laughed and said,

"Oh we sure did." Simon returned with some bags full of decorations that Peter had bought earlier in the week and as he looked in them Carla spotted some brightly coloured tinsel and shuddered. "N what exactly ave you got against tinsel?" Peter asked her as she let him go and delved into the bag.

"It's not the tinsel… it's the colour of it? I mean what's wrong with just sliver n gold?"

"Oh that's just boring… besides me n Simon couldn't pick, so we just went for it all." Peter said grinning as Carla pulled out a bright blue piece of tinsel and shook her head at it.

"Nah… you cannot ave all these colours on your tree Peter, it'll clash." She said as Simon got down on his knees and delved into the bags even more. "You gotta at least have some sort of theme."

"We do ave a theme… It's Christmas." Peter replied as Carla pulled out some more of the tinsel and shook her head again.

"I meant a colour theme." She said throwing the bright pink piece of tinsel at him.

"A colour theme?" Simon scoffed opening a box of Christmas lights. "Dad can I put the lights on." He asked, Peter nodded at him and then shook his head at Carla, amused.

"A colour theme eh? I'm guessing that you have one in mind then?"

"I'm thinking white lights and silver tinsel." Carla said dreamily as Peter lassoed the tinsel around her body.

"Yeah…" he said, pulling her towards him by the tinsel, "As I said, that's boring." Peter grinned as Carla giggled and put her arms around his neck.

"No… I think it sounds rather classy actually." She said.

"Well you can decorate your tree like that but me n Si here are going to go completely mad with this one, aren't we Si." Peter said, as Simon was already up on his feet and stringing lights around the tree.

"Yep…" he said, Carla looked at the lights that Peter had bought and then sighed,

"Oh wow, coloured lights n all… god this tree is going to look like a right state." She grinned.

"You are supposed to be ere to help, not criticise." Peter said poking Carla in the side.

"I am trying to help." She laughed, Peter kissed her, as Simon realised he needed to start his light organisation again and began unwinding them from the tree. He turned to ask for some help and said,

"Oh do you two ave to." He was cringing at his Dad and Carla, who were kissing passionately, Carla still with tinsel around her waist. "Oi…" Simon cried, reaching up on the sofa and throwing a pillow at them both.

"Sorry Si." Carla said, wriggling away from Peter and going to join him on the floor. "Right… let me help you with these lights." She said helping him take them off the tree. "Come on Peter… get to it." She grinned pointing at the heap of decorations on the floor.

Peter smiled elatedly at his son and wife as he started taking out the rest of the Christmas decorations out of the bags as he joined Simon and Carla next to the tree.

Simon was incredibly happy to be decorating the tree with his Dad and Carla, he thought about last year and how much time he spent wishing that his Dad was there. It didn't take Simon long to realised that if he wanted this tree done, he needed to take charge as Carla and Peter seemed to keep getting distracted with playful pokes and tempting glances.

"Right you two... I've had enough of this." He said.

Simon told his Dad that he needed to choose some baubles to go onto the tree, whilst he and Carla worked together to wrap the lights around the tree so that they were equally distributed.

"Equally distributed?" Peter laughed, "Check him out."

Simon and Carla got the lights perfect, just how Simon wanted them but they then realised that the tree had been placed too far away from a plug socket. So then they all had to work together to move the tree to the other corner of the room so that they could plug in the lights.

"No wait…" Carla cried, just as Simon was about to turn the switch on.

"What?" Simon asked almost laughing at Carla's outburst.

"Don't turn the lights on yet… you ave to wait until the tree is done so that you can get the full effect."

"Good idea." Simon nodded at her, he then smiled at her lovingly.

"What?" Carla said as Peter went into the kitchen to get a drink.

"Nothing... I'm just really happy." Simon said still smiling.

"Me too." Carla nodded putting her arms around Simon and pulling him close. Peter watched them from the kitchen heartfelt, still unable to believe how lucky he was. He then went back into the living room as Carla and Simon let go of each other.

"I'm going to the loo and then we'll get started on the proper decorations." Simon said after looking at the tree once more and double checking that the lights were perfect.

Carla walked over to Peter who was supposed have to be sorting out the baubles but who instead was reading the paper.

"Oi…" She said, giving him a soft kick with her now bare foot. "You are supposed to be deciding which baubles you wanted to put on the tree."

"Yeah… I did... Let's just whack em all on there." Peter said, closing the paper and reaching for Carla again, now that Simon was out the room for a moment.

"All of em? Peter you bought a box of one hundred, I mean talk about overkill." Carla said, as he pulled her towards him by her dress. "What are you doing?" She giggled as Peter leant forward and kissed her.

"Oh nothing… I just can't seem to get enough of you that's all." Peter said,

"Mmmm" Carla said kissing him again, "Simon is so not going to impressed with you when he gets back in ere and sees you haven't chosen which baubles are going on the tree." Carla batted him away gently and then said, "Come on... get up."

"I told you… we're putting all of them on." Peter said getting up of the sofa and following Carla back over to the tree.

"Y'know what… I'm not getting involved." Carla said shaking her head and looking up at the six-foot tree in front of her. "Actually... if you put all the baubles on then you won't ave enough space for all that shocking tinsel… so maybe you are onto something after all."

"You are such a snob Carla Barlow." Peter said wrapping his arms around Carla as Simon came back into the room.

"You're not kissing again are ya?" Simon asked, Carla shook her head at him and laughed.

"No, your Dad just called me a snob, so he's not getting anything from me for a while." She said as Simon went and looked into the box that he had given his Dad.

"You are kinda a snob… But we love ya all the same." Simon grinned as he bent down and looked at the box he had given his Dad. Carla's draw dropped even though she wasn't actually offended by Simon's comment. "You were supposed to sort these out Dad." Simon wined.

"Yeah I did…" Peter began but Carla shook her head at him and said,

"No you didn't, you were reading the paper."

"Oh thanks very much, Supergrass." Peter said to Carla.

"Dad!" Simon sighed, bending down and picking up the box. "You only had one job."

"How about you just put all the green and red ones on the tree, I mean you really don't want a thousand different colours on this thing… It'll give you a right headache." Carla suggested with Peter's arms still wrapped lovingly around her body.

"Yeah… Good idea." Simon agreed nodding along with Carla again.

"Oh I'm just full of those, me." Carla said smugly as Simon took some baubles out of the box.

"Come on Dad put her down and help me." He grinned. Peter nodded and went to help Simon decorate the rest of the tree.

They placed some baubles all over the tree and then much to Carla's annoyance added three separate pieces of tinsel.

"No... I am not letting you put that pink one on there... no way." She cried grabbing it off Peter as Simon's phone buzzed on the coffee table, he went over and looked at it as Carla and Peter stayed in front of the tree. As the three of them were all way under six foot it was a bit of a job putting the decorations up the top and it looked slightly bare. Peter had tried to put some baubles up there but he couldn't quite reach.

"Hmmm maybe we should just leave the top." Peter said with his hand under his chin in thinking mode after trying to successfully put one on the tree.

"Don't be ridiculous Peter, you can't leave the top." Carla said, she had her high heeled boots off ages ago but got on her tip-toes and tried to reach the top branch and then said, "Here hand me that decoration."

"Oh like you're going to be able to reach." Peter scoffed,

"Well I am just that little bit taller than you." she teased, giving him a nudge.

"Oh you are not!" Peter chuckled.

"Give us a piggy back then instead." Carla said his giggling and hopping onto Peter's with out any warning.

"Ahhh" Peter cried as she wrapped her legs around him.

Simon was texting on his phone as Peter and Carla worked together to put the decorations on the top of the tree. They were nearly done when Peter stumbled forward and almost crashed right into the tree_, _with Carla in tow.

"Peter!" Carla screamed as Simon looked up and said,

"What are you two doing?" he asked walking over to them as Peter steadied himself.

"Trying to reach the top of the tree." Carla said, still on Peter's back as he edged towards the tree.

"Oh right…" Simon laughed, as Carla fixed a decoration onto it. "You know you could have just taken one of the stools from the breakfast bar?"

Peter and Carla both grinned at each other and looked sheepish, as Simon's idea was an obvious one.

"Well it's too late now." Carla laughed, "That were the last one… well except for the very top of it… what you got?"

"There's an angel somewhere in one of those bags." Peter said then he grinned at Carla cheesily and said, "Or we could just put you on top."

"Mmmmhmm." Carla said quietly as Simon rolled his eyes.

"Dad you are so cringe." He said going into the bag and pulling out the Angel. "Who wants to put it on top?"

"You do it Si." Carla said with a smile.

"Yeah go on Si." Peter said nudging him forward.

There was a moment of silence as Simon went forward on his tip-toes to put the angel on the top of the tree. He couldn't reach it either.

"Hop on Si." Peter said chuckling, Simon sighed and then jumped onto his Dad's back.

They moved forward and put the angel on the top of the tree. When Simon jumped down, the three of them stood and looked at the tree for a moment.

Something was not right and it took a while before they noticed it.

"Errrr the lights." Carla said, Simon laughed and ran over to the plug socket.

"Ready." He said before turning on the plug and then getting up to join Carla and Peter.

They looked at the bright likes together and there was another moment of silence, a happy one, one where the three of them just smiled at the tree in front of them. They were all having such a perfect time together, one that this time last year they would have never dreamed of having.

"So… what d'ya think?" Peter said to Carla who had her head on one side.

"Actually… I kinda... love it." She said looking at the tree earnestly.

"Really." Peter asked as Simon put his arm around Carla.

"Yeah… It's still kinda tacky but… we did it together." Carla said her arm going around Simon's shoulders.

"I think it looks dead good." Simon began, "I can't wait to show Santana."

"Santana?" Peter said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah… I invited her over for dinner tomorrow… if that's okay." Simon said sheepishly, hoping his Dad wouldn't mind about his secret plans.

"No wonder you showed so much interest in the tree." Peter said putting his arm around the other side of Carla.

"Awww it's sweet." Carla said, "He wanted it to look all perfect for his romantic dinner for his girlfriend."

"It's not a romantic dinner it's just dinner…" Simon said,

"Well… speaking of dinner… what should we have tonight then?"

* * *

They eventually ended up calling for a Chinese and after stuffing their faces Simon was tired and took himself to bed leaving Carla and Peter alone in his living room.

"So… when are you going to get your self a Christmas tree?" Peter asked Carla as he joined her on the sofa.

"Friday I think… although it'll be a little fake one… nothing like that monstrosity over there." Carla laughed pointing over at their tree.

"Hey… I thought you said you like it."

"I do… I really do." Carla chuckled putting her feet up onto Peter's lap.

"So… are we gonna talk about Rich then?" Peter asked cautiously.

"Wow… you don't waste anytime d'ya?" Carla sighed as Peter took hold of her feet gently.

"Nope…" Peter said shaking his head and giving her foot a rub.

"Do we really have to talk about him tonight? I mean we've had such a nice evening." Carla said,

"Carla I just want to know more about this guy that's all… I mean I saw the look on your face the whole time you were with him... I know something is up with him."

"Okay…" Carla sighed, "So… Rich is Michelle's cousin."

"Yeah… I got that much." Peter grinned but Carla kicked him gently and shook her head,

"Are ya going listen to me or not?"

"Sorry… go on." Peter said.

"He used to work in the shoe shop with me, it were before I got with Paul and at first we got along… everything was fine and then he asked me out, he asked me out and I said no. He took it well at first but then he kept asking me and asking me… he wouldn't take no for an answer." Carla said and when she saw Peter's eyes widen she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Carla…" Peter's reaction made her feel nervous, he looked angry, really angry and she knew she had to stop him from getting too worked up.

"Baby I want you to calm down… I can see your little mind working away and trust me when I say that he didn't touch me… he didn't get a chance to." Peter looked relived but confused,

"What d'ya mean?" he asked,

"One of the other guys we used to work with in the shoe shop, me n him were good mates and he just kept an eye on me that's all." Carla said truthfully.

"Are you sure?" Peter asked, something about Carla's story seemed unfinished and he wondered if maybe she was leaving something out.

"Yes… I'm sure." Carla nodded "He's just not a nice man, he's got quite a big history with drugs n stuff and I just don't want him around reminding me of my childhood." She said, hoping that Peter would leave it there. He did and she was thankful and she hoped that Rich wouldn't be sticking around for too long and that she wouldn't have to see him too much.

Unfortunately for Carla as she was on her way to work the next day, she ran into Rich as he came out of Roy's Rolls.

"Morning Carlaroo." He said smiling at her in a way that she detested. "Nice cafe that is,"

"Look Rich..." She said sighing, "It's just me n you now, Chelle's not ere, let's not do this eh."

"Oh come on... we're friends." Rich said walking alongside Carla.

"No we are not... we used to be friends but you went n ruined that didn't ya?"

"Oh we are still friends... in fact we're practically family if you think about it." Rich said and he still had that stupid smirk on his face as he continued to walk Carla down the street.

"Actually we're not." Carla said stopping, "I'm not a Connor anymore, I'm a Barlow."

"Oh yes that's right... a Barlow." Rich said in a cruel, mocking sort of tone. "Cheating aside your husband seems like a right nice bloke, me n him should hang out whilst I'm ere."

"Yeah except there is no way on this earth that Peter would want to hang out with you..."

"Why? What ave you told him about me?" Rich said, looking rather worried now.

"Oh not much... just that you dabbled in a hell of a lot of drugs and that you kept asking me out... over and over again." Carla said and then went to continue walking but Rich took her by the arm, she glared up at him and said, "You better take your hands off me now."

"Y'know I really don't get why you are so hostile... I mean the past is in the past right?" Rich said but he still had hold of Carla's arm.

"Yeah well it won't be for much longer, if you don't take your hands off me right now, I will give you such a hard smack you'll still feel it next christmas and then I'll go and tell Peter the real reason why I hate you so much and trust me... when he finds out what you did... he'll be the hostile one."

Rich let go of Carla because he could tell that she was being deadly serious.

"Now stay the hell away from me." She said and walked away from him so that she could continue going to work.


	34. Rich Connor

To understand why Carla Barlow hated Rich Connor so much, you have to go back to when she was sixteen years old and to when many people knew her as Carla Donovan...

_Carla Donovan was the type of sixteen year old that you really didn't want to mess with, she was feisty and gobby but she was only that way because she had to be, she grew up on one of the roughest estates in Manchester, her home life was full of dodgy men coming and going as they pleased, a teenage girls's nightmare to be honest and everywhere she went she was judged for being her mother's daughter._

_Life wasn't all bad for Carla though, she used to really enjoy working in this posh shoe shop in Manchester central and when she had first got the job she was so proud. She felt that way because she had been chosen over a few other girls from her year at school . Her mother had also told her she didn't think that she would get the job because she was too common so to hear that she had aced the interview was music to Carla's ears._

_She was also ecstatic to finally have a way of making her own money. Money that she didn't have to give to her Mum or her brother or what ever "uncle" was around at the time, it was all hers to spend how she pleased. _

_Teenage Carla felt very grown up and sophisticated with a job and __this job came with a whole new set of friends too._

_Other than the owner and the manager, most of the people who worked in the shop were young, they were almost all students who were in school, college or Uni and Carla was the youngest of the group. It didn't matter though, they all treated Carla like she was one of the gang and they always used to all go out and have fun together after their shift on a Saturday._

_The Uni students were all old enough to purchase the alcohol legally and one of those Uni students was Rich Connor._

_Now Rich Connor had always had thing for Carla, ever since he'd met her one-day back when she was about fourteen and on the estate she used to live on. She was sat on a wall with Michelle, braiding her long dark hair when Rich had walked up to them and Michelle had told her that he was her cousin. At first he seemed like someone who Carla really liked._

_He studied accounting, he seemed decent and someone who she was pleased about working with. __Everyone at work trusted Rich a lot, he was alway good with the customers and always handy to have around in a crisis, so he was eventually given keys to the building._

_Sometimes he closed the shop with Carla. She was glad when he was around because she knew that she could slack off a little. One-day, when it was just the two of them Rich decided to bite the bullet and finally ask Carla out._

_She declined his offer politely and said that she thought that he was just a friend, she also said that Michelle would never allow her to go out with her older cousin of course at the time, Carla had no idea that she would eventually marry Michelle's older bother._

_Rich took Carla's slight refusal to not go out with him well at first. He didn't mention it again until they had gone to the cinema one night with everyone else from the shop that is and he was walking her home when he asked her out again._

_Carla said no and Rich tried to talk her round. He said he would treat her really well and take her out to some really nice places but she just shrugged him off, still saying that she didn't think of him in that way._

_Once again Rich took Carla's no, quite well and didn't ask her out again for the longest time._

_During her time at the shoe shop, Carla had also gotten close to a boy who was in college doing his A Levels. He was called Guy and he and Carla got on like a house on fire. They liked the same music and bonded well over their rather crazy families._

_Rich didn't show it but he didn't like how close Carla had gotten to Guy and secretly resented him for it, he was sure that Guy wanted Carla all for himself. He didn't know that Guy was actually gay and had only confided in Carla about it because they had become such good friends._

_Months went by before Rich asked Carla out again and this time she told him a little more harshly this time that she really really wasn't interested in him._

_At all._

_Rich was not pleased with the way Carla had spoken to him this time but he kept his anger in. He told himself that one day she would change her mind but as the months went by it soon became clear to him that she wouldn't._

_She once joked about it with Guy who had called Rich pathetic and said that Carla was way too good for him, They were unaware that Rich had heard all this, he detested the way that they were mocking him but made sure that he kept his cool all the same._

_Then one Saturday night just before Christmas, there was a party in one of the old abandoned houses on the estate where Carla lived. The owners had long moved out and this house was now just used for some rather wild and rather illegal parties. This party was organised by Rich's best friend Joe and everyone knew that was sure to be full of endless amounts of alcohol and drugs._

_Drugs were something that Carla had never ever wanted to touch. She had grown up in a house with a drug dealer and has seen just how destructive they could be._

_Drugs had almost torn her household apart, so whenever she had been offered them and she had been offered them a lot due to where she lived, she always made sure that she said no._

_This party was no different of course and she had gone along to it, dressed in a rather low cut top and short black skirt with Michelle in tow, planning to get a little bit drunk and have an amazing time._

_She got more than a little bit drunk and she didn't have an amazing time._

_Michelle's boyfriend was also at this Party and it wasn't long before Michelle had gone off with him and left Carla to it. She wasn't alone though, she was with Guy and some of their other friends from the shoe shop and as they danced the night away and swigged vodka Carla felt stupidly happy._

_She was happy because she was really doing well at work, that very day in fact her boss had come up to her and said he was raising her pay because he thought she had done so well. Her home life was still rather hellish but all in all everything else seemed to be going okay, even Rob was starting to behave himself a little._

_Guy and Carla hung out together for most of the night but then Guy went outside for a cigarette and left a rather tipsy Carla alone with Rich. She wondered if he was going to ask her out again but he didn't. He just chatted away as normal and poured her another drink before saying that he was going to go outside and join Guy for a smoke._

_That was the last thing Carla remembered about that night._

_The next thing that she knew she woke up in her bed at home, feeling totally ill and very hungover. She was sick as soon as she sat upright and clambered out of bed as she tried to piece together the events of last night, then her Mum came bursting into her room._

_Screaming and shouting about how Carla was a little tramp and that she had embarrassed the family, which Carla had felt was a slight case of a pot calling a kettle black because her mother was the one who was known by everyone for causing many a scene and it was only when Carla looked down at her legs that she saw the state of them._

_Her tights were ripped, with long ladders in them, when she went to look in the mirror she saw that she had her make smudged all over her face and her hair was totally wild._

_As her mother continued to hurl abuse at her, so much so that Rob had come in looking very concerned for his big sister only to be sent away again, Carla knew that what she was feeling right now was no ordinary hangover._

_Even though she was only sixteen Carla had a lot of experience with drink, but this time her stomach lurched over and over again, she felt dizzy and her head pounded like it had never done before._

_She got up and pushed her Mum aside as she went to be sick again and as hard as she tried she just couldn't work out what had happened to her. She knew that she hadn't of gotten drunk, she couldn't have, not just on that rather small amount of vodka that she had drunk._

_It was later on that day that she found out what really happened._

_Guy had come over to see how Carla was that afternoon. Even though Carla's Mum didn't want him to come in and see her, eventually he was allowed in. Carla took him up to her bedroom and Guy revealed all._

_He said that he had come back inside from his fag to find Carla dancing by herself, swaying to the music and nodding along like she was in some sort of trance._

_Guy had said that he found it amusing at first, that he thought Carla was just drunk and that she was having a good time, he soon realised that she wasn't quite right._

_Her pupils were huge and she wasn't making any sense when she spoke, Guy wondered if she had maybe taken something and had put her down on the sofa in front of a whole crowd of people who were chatting away, he had told them to keep an eye on her and that he was going to find her best friend Michelle._

_Guy found Michelle outside in her boyfriends arms and told her about Carla, Michelle scoffed at him and said there is no way Carla would ever try drugs and that she was probably just drunk._

_Frustrated and sure that Michelle wouldn't be torn away from her latest boyfriends arms, Guy decided to sort out Carla himself._

_He went back into the room where he had left her, only to find that she was gone. He went around asking people if they had seen her, peeved because he had told them to keep an eye on her and yet that they had let her go._

_They told him to calm down, they said it was fine and that her friend Rich had picked her up off the sofa and that he was probably going to look after her._

_Guy didn't like Rich and he also didn't trust him, he had an older sister at the same Uni as him and she had told him all about Rich Connor. Guy had also found the way he used to ask Carla out every chance he got rather desperate, so he raced around the house to see if he could find them._

_Something about this situation didn't sit right with him and for a very good reason._

_Guy eventually found Rich and Carla._

_Carla was sprawled across a bed, completely out of it. Her eyes were shut but she was trying to bat away Rich who was almost on top of her, pulling down her tights and saying that he knew she wanted it really._

_Guy didn't give Rich a second longer to put his filthy hands on Carla. He went absolutely crazy and yanked Rich off Carla's body in a instant. He pushed him against the wall and even though he was smaller than Rich, thankfully he was a lot stronger._

_Rich tried to say that he wasn't doing anything and that he was just checking if Carla was okay but Guy wasn't that stupid and besides Rich's jeans were undone and Carla's tights were still pulled down, her underwear still thankfully pulled up._

_Guy hit Rich hard, so hard that he was sure that he seriously hurt his hand in the process. Rich hit the ground instantly and Guy wasted no time in pulling Carla up and getting her right out of there._

_He lifted her up off the bed and tried to get her to talk to him._

_She didn't make any sense and then was suddenly sick. It was clear to Guy that Rich had obviously drugged Carla and as she suddenly passed out again he knew he had to get her safe and home._

_He dragged her through the party goers as quick as he could, she was unresponsive as he staggered through the crowds and told her that everything was going to be okay. _

_He went to find Michelle and told her what he had stumbled upon but Michelle was rather drunk at this point and was sure that Carla was just drunk herself, Michelle's boyfriend then got annoyed and just told Guy to push off._

_Some of the other people who worked at the shoe shop saw Guy struggling with Carla so they helped him take her home._

_They helped him walk her to her front door and when her Mum answered she looked livid._

_She took one look at Carla's ripped tights, low cut top and the way she was hanging off Guy and went mental._

_To everyone's surprise she reached over and slapped Carla hard across the face. _

_Carla's head rocked and she blearily opened her eyes, her Mum __then pulled her inside the flat without even saying thank you to Guy or his friends for bringing her home and even though Guy tried to explain that Carla's drink had been spiked and that he thought she needed to go to hospital, her Mum just slammed the door shut._

_Guy told Carla all of this, whilst holding her hand tightly and making sure she knew that none of this was her fault. The news that Rich had done such a thing had really stunned Carla because like everyone she really trusted him. __She couldn't believe that Rich would have stooped so low but she knew that it must have been him, especially as he had been the one to pour her that last fateful drink and upon Guy's encouragement to get checked over Carla went to the hospital._

_She told her Mum she was going and of course her Mum refused to go with her so Guy accompanied Carla instead. It really hurt Carla that her Mum had refused to support her but she tried not so show it as they took a cab to the nearest hospital._

_A medic checked her over and took all the necessary tests but Carla knew that no matter what happened, Rich was going to get away with it._

_There were hundreds of people at the party and there was no proof that he had been the one to drug her, there was no way she could prove it was him but she decided she was going to go around town and make sure everyone knew about it even so._

_On their way home from the hospital Carla and Guy actually bumped into Rich. He had a black eye from where Guy had punched him but still looked pretty pleased with himself. Carla confronted Rich straight away but he denied it off course._

_He said that they were all drunk and that Carla was probably just not used to drinking so much vodka and that she obviously couldn't handle it that's all. He then said that Guy had probably just stumbled in on them both in a drunken embrace and had over reacted because he was jealous._

_Guy threatened to punch Rich again at this point but Carla stopped him and said it didn't matter what Rich said because she was still going to tell everyone what he did._

_Rich didn't seem too bothered about this, he just shrugged and told them both that no one would believe them and that if they did try and drag his name through the mud they would both regret it._

_Guy said he wasn't scared of Rich and that he was going to make sure that everyone knew what he was like._

_The next day Guy was taken to hospital after being savagely beaten up on his way home from college by a bunch of thugs. Carla knew Rich had something to do with it but she still couldn't prove anything._

_Everyone just assumed that Carla was drunk, that Guy was drunk too and had overreacted. They said that if she had been drugged it was probably because she had taken it herself, Like mother like daughter they said._

_They assumed all of this because Rich was such a lovely and genuine guy. He would never do anything like that to someone he had worked with for almost a year and especially not to Carla, she was Michelle's cousin after all, she was practically family._

_Carla didn't give up at first, she kept telling anyone who would listen but she was starting to see that the truth was falling on deaf ears._

_Michelle's Mother found out about the things that were being said about her nephew and called Carla a dirty little liar. She blamed her for leading Michelle astray and making her go to this party in the first place. Michelle was a little peeved because she was now grounded and not allowed to see her boyfriend, she said that she wanted to believe Carla but there was no way her Mum would let her say it out loud._

_Carla said she understood, she knew Michelle had to stick up for Rich, he was her cousin after all._

_After weeks of trying, Carla just couldn't seem to convince anyone that Rich had been the one to drug her at that party so in the end, she gave up._

_Her own Mother didn't even believe her and as Guy was now in hospital she knew that Rich was a lot more dangerous than she had ever thought._

_Of course he made sure that he was on his best behaviour, he carried on as normal and everyone continued to love him..._

Almost an exact twenty-four years later and everyone still seemed to love Rich Connor. Everyone who met him thought he was hilarious and a real decent bloke.

Carla was sat in the corner of The Pub on Friday night, with her arm draped around Peter. He was on the phone discussing something with his boss but every so often he would kiss Carla on the nose or cheek. As always she relished being in his company and it wasn't until she saw Rich come out and start helping Michelle behind the bar that she remembered the secret she had been keeping from Peter.

She hadn't told him about Rich because she knew that he would fly right off the handle, he'd confront him about it, which would probably cause some friction with Michelle and with Christmas fast approaching Carla really didn't want any trouble, especially as this Christmas with Peter and Simon looked like it might just be her best one ever.

* * *

**_Please review and let me know what you thought of this update... I wasn't sure about it but I thought it was a different way to tell the story._**

**_:)_**


	35. Last Christmas

**_Thanks for all your reviews on the last chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed it and this next one picks up right after the last..._**

* * *

Peter was still nattering away on the phone when Ken came and sat down at the table with him and Carla. Ken had been watching Tracy who was at the bar with Beth and he had noticed that she had just so happened to be getting along very well with Rich.

The pub was heavily decorated with Christmas decorations and the jukebox was full of classic Christmas tunes that had been playing non-stop.

"It's nice to see Tracy smile like that." Ken said to Carla, assuming that she would be thinking the same because she and Tracy had also been getting along well these days.

Carla wasn't thinking the same as Ken of course, even though she had been watching Tracy but she was doing it to think of ways that she could get Tracy away from Rich and fast. Of course Carla couldn't tell this to Ken so she said the only thing that was appropriate.

"Yeah… it is."

When she thought about it, Carla had to be honest with her self and admit that she hadn't seen Tracy look this happy in ages. She was laughing hysterically at something Rich said and even though he was a total scumbag, Carla let Tracy be, for now.

"Who is he?" Ken asked Carla, as Michelle also joined in with the rather over the top laughter. "Is he a family friend?"

"He's… Michelle's cousin, Rich." Carla said as Peter finally hung up the phone. "Oh about flamin time." Carla said, poking Peter in the stomach, "I've only been sat ere for almost an hour."

"Sorry about that, there was a drama in the old office… but don't worry because now all my attention is on you."" Peter said going in to kiss Carla but then he noticed his Dad was sat opposite her. "Alright Dad." He said awkwardly, nodding towards his father although he was a tiny bit disappointed because he had been looking forward to a little quite time in the pub with Carla.

"Yes, I saw you and Carla sitting here and I thought I'd join you… if that is okay?"

"Course it is." Peter said. He soon noticed that Carla was slightly distracted and that when he followed her gaze her saw that she had her attention on Rich who was saying something to Tracy and she was listening intently and looking at him with a dreamy gaze.

Peter could tell that something else had to be going on with Rich and Carla, it just had to be by the way she was acting. Ken soon got up and said that he was going to buy a round of drinks, so when he was out of the way, Peter moved up, closer to Carla and said,

"You okay?"

"Yeah…" Carla insisted as Peter leant in and kissed her full on the lips. He had wanted to do it for ages but had decided against it as his Dad was sat in front of them.

"Hmmmm why don't I believe you eh?" Peter said as Carla brushed her nose against his.

"Because you are a very suspicious man Peter Barlow." She said with a grin, they kissed again and until Ken returned to the table and he had brought Audrey Roberts along with him.

"Oh ello you two." She said as she sat opposite Peter and Carla.

"Hiya Audrey." Carla said, draping an arm over Peter's knee and letting her arm hang down the side of it.

"Oh don't you both look like loves young dream eh?" She said grinning at them.

"Young." Carla smirked as Ken handed her a glass of wine. "Thanks Ken."

"So Peter your Dad was just telling me about this Swimathon that you're taking part in." Audrey continued.

"Dad I wish you wouldn't keep telling people about it." Peter said as Ken then handed him an orange juice.

"Ahhhh why not? He's proud of you… n so am I." Carla said kissing him on the cheek and nudging him.

"So when is it?" Audrey asked, sipping on her drink as Ken sat down next to her.

"End of January." Peter said,

"We're taking sponsor money that goes to charity, if you wanna make a donation." Carla said, Peter chuckled at her because she had already been going around forcing people to give her money for the Swimathon and was probably getting on a lot of peoples nerves because of it.

"Ohhh yes of course." Audrey said, getting her purse out and rifling through it. She pulled out a ten-pound note and then handed it towards Peter.

"Ohh no, give it to Carla… she's in charge of the money it seems." Peter smiled appreciatively, Audrey handed Carla the money who said,

"Wow thanks Audrey, y'know this is the first note we've had, People round ere are so stingy." Carla said, putting the money into an envelope, which she had kept in her bag for any money that she might have been given.

"Well it is Christmas after all, maybe it'll be better to ask them for money afterwards." Ken suggested but Carla shook her head,

"Nah that'll be even worse, people are always broke in January." Carla said sighing, "Honestly Peter why couldn't you do this Swimathon in August eh?"

"Well I'm not exactly in charge of all that." Peter said taking a sip of his juice and grinning.

"Just how far is it you're going to be swimming Peter?" Audrey asked,

"It's 5k." Peter said nervously now, his lack of confidence showing, "I'm slightly regretting signing me self up for it If I'm honest."

"And how are you finding the training for it?" Audrey asked,

"Okay at the moment I mean it's a lot harder than I thought... I definitely need to step up my game after Christmas." Peter said, "I've been trying to get this one to come with me." He nudged Carla in the side, "But she's forever coming up with excuses about her hair n stuff."

"Oh it's not an excuse Peter, my hair does not react well to chlorine at all." Carla said nudging him back. Peter moved swiftly and grabbed Carla's hand, she giggled and kissed him quickly as Audrey raised an eyebrow and said,

"I reckon it's probably a good thing that you two don't go swimming together actually, I mean you can barley keep your hands off each other as it is."

"Exactly…" Carla nodded, "Imagine us half naked and in water. She grinned, poking Peter and proving Audrey's point because she simply couldn't help but make sure that her and Peter were always touching.

They spoke some more about the Swimathon but it was long before Ken and Audrey got lost in a very long and wordy conversation about one of their new favourite books. Peter raised his eyebrow at his Dad and Audrey getting along so well and then felt Carla press a kiss on his cheek.

"I know what you're thinking…" she said, kissing him again because she knew that Ken and Audrey were more than preoccupied with their conversation to care.

"Oh yeah… n what am I thinking?" Peter said,

"Your Dad n Audrey… they seem like good friends and you're starting to think that it's maybe a little bit more than that." Carla said quietly, looking at Peter and then at Ken and Audrey again.

"Wow… you really did know what I was thinking." Peter said, glad that his Dad had a new companion.

"Mmmmmm see if you can guess what I'm thinking." Carla grinned, with a suggestive eyebrow raise.

"I ave a few ideas." Peter smirked back at her as Tracy came bounding over to the table.

"Oh my god… how funny is Rich?" she said, Carla sighed and rested her head on Peter's shoulder. She said nothing even though she new that Tracy was obviously speaking to her.

"I'm glad to see you smiling so much Tracy." Ken said beaming back at her in a way that mad Carla feel sick. She really didn't want Tracy to get close to Rich as she really didn't trust that he had changed his ways.

"He was telling me all about when you two worked in the shoe shop together, Carla." Tracy said, slightly amused.

"Did he now?" Carla said, "Did he also tell you about his drug habit?" She hadn't meant to say it so candidly but it had just come out and as Ken and Audrey were both stunned into silence it was too late to go back now.

"No…" Tracy said frowning, slightly taken aback.

"Well why doesn't that surprise me?" Carla said, picking up her wine and sipping it as Rich watched her from the bar, Tracy turned to look at him and then looked back at Carla.

"Are you sure?" She asked,

"Of course I'm sure… Tracy I grew up with the man. I know what I'm talking about." Carla insisted. "He might seem like he's all sweetness and light but I know the real him and trust me… he is not the kind of man you want in your life."

"Definitely not." Audrey said looking concerned now.

There was an awkward silence whilst Tracy frowned down at her hands, it didn't take long for Rich to realise that Carla had said something to her and when she was on her way back from the toilets, he stood in front of her suddenly.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Carla said dryly, staring Rich down and letting him know that she wasn't someone he could hurt anymore.

"What did ya say to her?" he said, nodding towards Tracy. "We were getting on rather well until she went and sat down with you."

"Ahhh well lets just say Tracy has come to her senses shall we?" Carla said going to move past Rich, only he didn't let her and got in her way again. She rolled her eyes and said, "Move."

"What did you say to her?" He asked again, slowly this time, almost as if he was trying to intimidate Carla.

"I'm sorry… did you not ere me ask you to move." Carla tutted, giving him a shove. Rich did not respond well to this shrug and grabbed Carla by the wrist instead of letting her go. "Get off!" she cried, trying to get away but his hold on her was strong.

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time Carla… what did you tell Tracy?" he said, breathing heavily as if he just couldn't control himself.

It didn't take long for Peter to see what was going on and the moment he saw that Rich had a hand wrapped firmly around Carla's wrist, he lunged towards him.

"D'ya think I'm scared of you or summat? Rich…." Carla said, as Peter approached them.

"You better get your hands off my wife right now." He shouted furiously, then he suddenly gave Rich a hard shove. It was one that sent him flying into the wall behind him and one that now had everyone in the pub watching what was going on. Carla gave Rich a smug look of warning, one that said you really don't want to mess with my husband.

"This has nothing to do with you." Rich said, stupidly ignoring Peter's angry tone of voice.

"You're man handling my wife n you tell me this has nothing to do with me." Peter said, shoving Rich again.

"You should tell that wife of yours to watch her mouth." Rich said and Peter who was just about to turn to Carla and leave the situation be, turned back to Rich and said,

"First of all I don't tell my wife to do anything! And second if you don't turn around and walk right out of this pub right now you'll regret it."

"Oh yeah?" Rich said, almost challenging Peter in a way that Carla knew wouldn't end well.

"Oh just give it up Rich… I already told you what would happen if you messed with me again." Carla said shaking her head as Michelle came from out back to see the confrontation. "Now go… whilst people still think that you're decent... unless you want everyone around ere to know what a nasty piece of work you really are." Rich thought about things for a second, as Carla took hold of Peter's hand which was almost trembling because he was so angry.

"You're not gonna say anything." Rich said, shaking his head and calling Carla's bluff.

"Oh you wanna bet?" Carla said stepping closer towards Rich, "Try me… See what happens if you don't walk out of ere right now."

Michelle was watching from the bar, she knew she should probably step in to do something but she also wanted to watch, to see what Rich would do and what Carla might say.

"Fine… Tell em." Rich said shrugging, still calling Carla's bluff. "Tell em all about it… They may believe you but they probably won't… I mean even our Chelle didn't believe your little pity party… And she never will. I'm family you're not simple as that… Even after all these years she'll never turn her back on her own cousin." Rich smirked, Carla shook her head at him, still clutching onto Peter's hand for life.

It was as if holding onto him kept them both safe, holding onto him kept him from lashing out and kept her feeling strong.

"Y'know those lines may ave worked on me before Rich… But they won't work now because I'm not the same sixteen year old girl that you drugged all those years ago." Carla said, she felt Peter's hand tighten with anger and she stopped with him her other free hand as he moved towards Rich again. "Stop it Peter…" She said calmly, "He is so not worth it baby."

"You drugged her." Peter said crossly, the cheesy Christmas songs were still playing but everyone else in the pub was rather silent.

"No I didn't." Rich lied, backing away from Peter and Carla slightly because even he could see that Peter's temper was rising by the second and the only thing that was holding him back was Carla.

"Not only did he drug me but then, when I was passed out... he tried to have sex with me." Carla said, staring at Rich as she went and stood in front of Peter with her back pressed up against his chest. It was to stop him from moving any more further forward. She knew he was probably processing everything he had just heard and even though the pub wasn't the place for him to have found out, she was glad that he finally knew about it.

"I did not." Rich said, almost laughing and shaking his head at Carla in a totally mocking way. "She's lying."

"Yes you did." Michelle suddenly said, Rich didn't know she was there and he turned his head to look at her. The fact that Carla was telling the truth was written all over his face. "Come on... Rich you're only lying to your self."

"I am not, Carla's got it all wrong… I was just checking on her... it ain't my fault that the little slag took a drunk that she couldn't handle... like Mother like daughter I guess."

That was it, Carla could no longer hold Peter back after that comment. He went right around Carla and before she knew it he had hit Rich in the face with one swift punch.

"Peter!" Carla cried as Rich's head hit the side of the bar on his way to the ground. Steve who had been watching, started clapping comically at Peter but he stopped when Michelle gave him a tap on the shoulder and shook her head.

"Steve!" She said, as Rich scrambled up off the floor to reveal a bloody nose.

"This aint over!" He shouted, stepping towards Peter but Steve took him by the arm and said,

"That's enough from you tonight Rich." He roughly pushed him towards bar and saw Peter staring down at his hand which had turned rather red. "I'll bring you some Ice." Steve said as he and Michelle took Rich out back.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Peter said, turning to Carla exasperatedly, "Why didn't you tell me that he tried to ra…" He trailed off, not wanting to say the actual word of what Rich tried to do to her.

"This is why…" Carla said, gently taking him by the hand and sitting him down at the nearest table.. "I didn't want any drama."

"Carla…" Peter winced at his hand as she bent down kissed it tenderly. "You know that you can tell me anything right."

"I know I can… N you know that the only reason I didn't tell is because I knew that you would lead with your fists." Carla said and then she began telling Peter the truth about Rich from the beginning. She was just finishing it up as Steve brought out some ice for Peter that was wrapped in a tea towel.

"Ere ya go Rocky." He said with a smirk.

"Eh it's not funny Steve." Carla said taking Peter's hand and putting the ice on it.

"Ow!" He cried as Carla held the ice on his hand and looked down at it.

"Don't be a baby." Carla said, shaking her head at him as he winced. It wasn't long before Michelle had come over and sat down with them.

"Carla…" She said quietly, Carla looked up at her and shook her head.

"Don't apologise Chelle... it's fine."

"I ave to. I shouldn't ave let Rich stay ere… N I should ave stuck up for you more back in the day." Michelle sighed.

"Don't be silly Michelle, you did as much as you could. There's no way you could have done anymore whilst living in your mother's house."

"Yeah... but he's still my cousin." Michele said sadly.

"Chelle... You can't choose your family eh?" Carla said sighing, "Honestly babe... it's fine." Michelle didn't look convinced so Carla let go of Peter's hand and hugged Michelle really tight.

"I've told him to go." Michelle said as Carla kissed her on the cheek. "He's packing as we speak."

"Good." Peter said, "Because if I see him again…"

"You're going to ignore him, Peter he is so not worth all this drama." Carla said getting up and pulling Peter up with her. "Come on… let's go n sit back with your Dad n Tracy." The walked over to Ken's table, ignoring all the people who were watching them.

"Honestly Peter…" Ken said shaking his head as Carla and Peter sat back down again. "What were you thinking?"

"Dad the man had hold of Carla what did ya want me to do?" Peter said irritably.

"I understand that but violence is really not the answer." Ken sighed, he was more worried about Peter than anything else, he knew he sometimes had a temper and didn't want it to get him into trouble.

"Oh please, Rich Connor is a big boy… he'll be fine." Carla said.

"Well I think it was justified." Tracy said, "I mean... he drugged you and then... wow what a creep."

"I ave to say I agree Ken." Audrey said much to Ken's surprise. "After all he was fighting for Carla's honour… I think it's rather romantic actually."

"Exactly..." Carla nodded, "Although I do think Peter is too old for this fighting lark." she grinned, never missing an opportunity to make fun of Peter's age.

"Oh ere we go again." Peter said, grinning and rolling his eyes at Carla, "I'll ave you know that I am not that old... I mean Johnny Depp is older than me."

"Baby... I love you but you are no Johnny Depp." Carla chuckled, but as Peter leant in and whispered something in her ear she giggled and said, "Hmmm you're much better than Johnny Depp."

"Oh yeah right." Tracy nodded almost recoiling at Carla and Peter's never ending public displays of affection.

"How's your hand doing Peter?" Audrey asked a little while later, when they were almost all finished their drinks.

"I think I just bruised it… I'm sure it'll be okay." Peter said, looking down at it and inspecting it to make sure that it was okay.

"It better be… your hands are very important to me." Carla grinned and nudged Peter in the side as Tracy rolled her eyes.

"Uh! Who wants another drink?" She said.

It took a while but things eventually got back to normal in the pub, people stopped staring and talking about Peter and Rich's brawl and they went back to their drinks. Tracy got fed up of feeling like a gooseberry so she went and re-joined Beth, whilst Audrey and Ken continued to chat the night away.

It was almost nine pm when Carla had remembered what she had planned to be doing tonight. She was immensely glad that Peter had found out the truth about Rich and even though she had pretended other wise she was glad that he had given Rich one hell of a punch. She leant over and kissed him gently on the cheek as Ken and Audrey were still engrossed in deep conversation.

"Baby when are we going home?" Carla whispered, as her kiss trailed over to his ear lode. Peter smirked at her and turned his head so that her lips met his for a proper kiss.

"When ever you want." He said, unable to resist Carla when she looked at him in that desirable way, especially once her hand had slipped underneath the table and began suggestively stroking his knee. "Carla..." he breathed.

"Peter..." Carla mocked, stroking his knee again and saying, "When am I gonna get you alone?"

"I guess it better be soon eh?" he breathed as Carla began kissing his ear again.

"Mmmm yes... it better be very soon." She said, her hand getting higher and higher up Peter's thigh, Peter struggled to maintain some composure as she gently bit down on his ear lobe, her face was hidden by her hair but it was still mighty clear what they were doing.

"Oi… you two… get a room!" Michelle called from over the bar.

Carla and Peter both laughed and didn't have to ask if she was talking to them. They stuck around for a little while more but when they realised that Ken and Audrey truly wouldn't care if they stayed, they left the pub and hurried over to Carla's place.

Peter had thought that she would be taking him straight to bed but she had something else in mind.

"How's your hand?" She asked as she took off his coat for him and hung it up alongside hers.

"Fine…" he said going to kiss her and then he realised the boxes that she had stacked up on her coffee table.

"You sure?" Carla asked, suggestively. Peter nodded, excitedly moving towards Carla again. "Good… you can help me decorate the tree then." She grinned running over to her coffee table and picking up one of the boxes.

"Y'know... when you were in such a rush to leave The Rover's... I didn't think you had this in mind." said Peter.

"Mmhhhmmm I know exactly what you had in mind." She smirked as she opened the first box with a look of pure glee. Peter leant forward and took a look at what was inside and said with a grin,

"Only you Carla… only you."

"Amazing aren't they?" Carla cried, pulling out one of the decorations and staring at.

She had somehow found shoe and handbag Christmas tree decorations on the Internet. They were covered in silver glitter and matched Carla's colour theme for her tree perfectly.

Her Christmas tree was an artificial one and it was only three foot tall but it was rather wide for such a small tree and there was plenty of space for the decorations that she had bought.

It didn't take long for Carla to see that Peter was not as helpful as she had been when it came to decorating his tree and after many attempts of him trying to distract her, he was eventually banished to her sofa instead.

"I could watch you do that all night y'know?" Peter said, smiling affectionately at Carla as it looked as if she had forgotten all about Rich and had well and truly had got into the Christmas spirit, she was busy stringing white lights around the tree and without a single piece of tinsel in sight, she then begun to add on her newly bought decorations. She hung the shoe and hang bag decorations around the tree, making sure that each one was equally spread apart. She had also bought some silver baubles and had put some of those on her tree before stepping backwards to admire it.

"I think… that's enough." She said with her head on one side.

"Yeah?" Peter said getting up off the sofa and walking over to her, He put his arms around her waist and then said, "What about the top?"

"I were just about to do it…" Carla said, pointing over to a bag on her counter. Peter went over to it and pulled out a silver star, it was made out of a type of wire and was beautifully delicate.

"Go on then…" Peter said kissing her on the cheek, Carla shook her head at him and said,

"You do it…" She nudged him in the side and pushed him towards her tree.

"Me?" He chuckled, "Carla you've been decorating that thing for almost an hour now? Don't you want to be the one to finish it?" He asked. Carla shook her head at home and then said,

"I know I ave but… I want you to put the star on top."

"Alright." Peter nodded, leaning forward and putting the star on top of Carla's rather poised and elegant tree. She then switched on the lights and took a step back so that she could see her tree in its full effect.

"It's gorgeous ain't it?" She said, smiling at it proudly.

"Mmmhmmm just like you." Peter said pulling her away from her tree and over to her sofa.

* * *

An hour or so later, Carla and Peter were snuggled up on her sofa underneath a blanket that Carla had always kept nearby. Carla's fingers danced around Peter's as they sat with just her Christmas tree lights on and nothing else. Every so often the white lights would slowly fade and then brighten again, creating a rather romantic atmosphere and it was only helped buy the fact that they had some music playing quietly in the background as they lay in a serene state.

"I'm really happy y'know." Carla said quietly with her head rested against Peter's chest.

"Good…" Peter said with a smile, kissing Carla on her head and then saying, "Me too."

"No… I mean I'm astoundingly happy." Carla said, Peter chuckled at her and then said,

"Look at you using the word astounding."

"It's not funny Peter." She said poking him in the stomach. "I mean when I think about how I felt this time last year… I honestly never thought I'd be spending Christmas like this… in your arms… back together… it's the best thing that could ave ever happened to me… Thank you for coming back ere."

"No… thank you." Peter said, now stroking Carla's hair softly. He smiled as she kissed him on the chest and then asked,

"What did ya do last Christmas?"

"Nothing…" Peter said, "Last Christmas was like any other day for me really. I was still a bit of a mess around that time. I didn't ave Simon… I didn't ave you or me family and every one I knew back in Portsmouth was busy with their own lives so I just stayed in me flat… alone… all day."

"Really?" Carla said raising her head and looking up at him. "You stayed alone all day?" She had asked Peter about his last Christmas just out of general curiosity but now she was actually thinking about it, she realised it must have been really lonely for him.

"Yes…" Peter said but he could see Carla's guilty expression, "Hey… don't look like that. It was me own fault. I could ave gone out if I wanted to but I didn't, I was the one who chose to stay in and feel sorry for me self." Peter said.

"Yeah… but you should ave been ere Peter." Carla said shaking her head, "With Si… n your Dad."

"I was exactly where I needed to be Carla. I needed to spend that time on me own. Everything that has happened to me over the past year has made me the man I am today." Peter said, Carla smiled at him and kissed him again, understanding that what he was saying was true. "So… what did you do last Christmas then?"

"Well… I stayed at home in the morning. I watched a few cheesy films n then I went to Roy's for dinner. It were just me n him and it were rather lovely then I went down the Rover's… it weren't to bad considering..." Carla said with a sigh, "Well I mean I were able to keep the I'm happy act up until I got in anyways… I stepped through me front door and just burst into tears."

"Why?" Peter asked,

"I'm not exactly sure… I think it was a mix between missing you n Rob." Carla said, "I kept thinking about what you two might ave been doing and how much I wished that you were ere… at least I've got one of you ere now eh."

The sound of Carla's buzzer soon interrupted their peaceful state, they ignored it at first but as it went off twice more and then there was a knock on the door. Carla sighed and got up off Peter, she took the blanket with her.

"Oi…" Peter chuckled getting up as well and following her because they weren't dressed, he stood behind her as she took a look through the viewfinder. She swallowed hard and then opened the door to find two police officers stood there.

"Yes." She said, her throat going dry because the police turning up on her doorstep was never a good sign.

"Mr Barlow?" One of the policemen said, Peter nodded at him and said,

"Yes."

"If you could get dressed please." The policeman said, Carla shook her head in confusion and said,

"I'm sorry what's this about?"

"Mr Barlow is going to have to come down to the station with us to answer a few questions."

"What about?" Peter asked but Carla was a step ahead of him now.

"Rich." She said shaking her head. Peter looked at her and then at the policeman.

"Is that what this is about?" he asked,

"Mr Connor says that you assaulted him."

"Assaulted? Really?" Carla scoffed, "Please."

"Yes I punched him but he was perfectly fine, he got up straight afterwards unfortunately." Peter said much to Carla's annoyance because he was acting as if going around punching people was a normal thing to do and the police did not look too impressed with his candid tone.

"You really need to come down the station Sir." Said the other policeman who hadn't spoken yet. "We'll explain everything once we get there"

Peter nodded and went to get dressed, leaving Carla stood at her front door.

"Are ya arresting him?" she asked the police who both looked at each other and then back at her. "Because Rich Connor is a trouble maker and he was just trying to wind Peter up... you can ask anyone."

"Look Mrs Barlow, this is just a formality. We've had an accusation of assault and we have to take it seriously."

"I take that as a yes then." Carla said irately, letting the police in so that she could also go and get dressed.

Rich Connor had said that it wasn't over… and he meant it.


	36. To The Moon n Back

Being sat down Weatherfield police station was not how Carla and Peter had wanted to spend their Friday night but as Carla sat with her arms crossed in the police waiting room, she knew that if Peter didn't start to behave himself, that he would end up spending a lot more time in there.

On the way out of her building, they saw Rich stood on the street corner and he was looking very smug.

He grinned at over at Carla and said,

"I told you it wasn't over."

This angered Peter… a lot. He ignored all requests from the Police and Carla to just ignore it and he lunged towards Rich in anger. The police obviously ran after him but Peter was slightly quicker and had got in another punch before they had caught up with him.

They held him back and warned Peter that he would end up being arrested for assault if he carried on with this type of behaviour.

Carla wanted to hit him herself as they both sat in the back of the police car and were driven to the station. She knew that he was just trying to protect her but he needed to control his temper. She didn't want him actually getting arrested for anything and she definitely didn't want to spend the night alone.

As the time passed by Carla wondered just what was taking so long. She and Peter had both been called into separate rooms to talk about what had happened in the pub and Carla's interview had been over for almost forty-five minutes by now.

She had explained all about her history with Rich and about how Peter had just found out about it. She explained how he sometimes struggled to keep his cool where she was concerned and that Rich had been purposely trying to wind Peter up all night.

The police took all of this information and said that Carla could wait for Peter in the waiting room and she had been expecting him to come out shortly afterwards. She looked up at the clock, which read half past eleven and was about to get up and ask someone about Peter, when Michelle suddenly appeared.

"Hey… what are you doing ere?" Carla said, as Michelle came over to her and gave her a hug.

"I just heard… I can't believe he called the police Carla… the flamin nerve." Michelle said shaking her head at her cousin's behaviour. "Ave they actually arrested Peter?"

"I ave no idea Chelle." Carla said, shaking her head in despair. "He's been in there for ages… I just hope he's behavin himself… We saw Rich on the way ere and he went absolutely mental. The last thing I need is for him to get arrested again."

"Oh, they won't arrest him… surely not." Michelle said, although they both knew that they couldn't be sure.

"Chelle y'know what Peter is like… he's got a short temper and a smart mouth… both of which... always end up getting him into trouble." Carla sighed as she sat down on the chair again and Michelle sat down next to her. She watched Carla for a second because she looked worried about something and then asked her,

"Carla… what's on your mind babe?"

"I don't want to lose him Chelle." Carla said, sniffing sadly.

"Lose who? Peter?" Michelle exclaimed, moving closer to Carla and putting an arm around her.

"Yeah… I mean I know I'm being dramatic ere… but the though of one night with out him is giving me heart palpitations." Carla said, as Michelle pulled her close she laughed slightly which made Carla poke her, "It's not funny Chelle… I seriously don't know what I would do without him."

"Awwww you are too cute Carla." Michelle teased, Carla shook her head and sighed as she rested her head against her best friend. "I know it's not the same… but if Peter does end up staying ere tonight… you can stay at my place."

"Thanks." Carla said appreciatively,

"it's… the least I could do eh? After everything with Rich… I owe you." Michelle said sadly,

"Hey… we've spoken about this." Carla said sitting up and looking at Michelle. "It's not your fault. Even if you had stuck up for me a bit more… there is no way people would ave believed ya."

"I know… even so… I was your best mate… I could ave done something." Michelle sighed guiltily.

"You're still my best mate Chelle… don't be ridiculous." Carla said, putting her arm around Michelle this time. "Please can we just try to forget all about this Rich business?"

"Well it's kinda hard… seeing as he is me cousin and Peter is in ere because of him." Michelle sighed, Carla nodded at her wishing she didn't feel so guilty for something that happened so long along and said,

"I know… but as you said, I'm sure they wont actually arrest Peter n once we are out of ere we can all try n move on… okay?"

Michelle nodded at Carla and squeezed her hand as they sat in an companionable silence until Carla looked down at her watch and saw that it was almost midnight.

"Can you believe that in a week's time… Christmas'll be over?"

"That's crazy… I still ave a million things to do as well." Michelle said sighing, then she suddenly looked excited, "Hey I forgot to mention, Ryan is coming back from Ibiza for Christmas."

"Really… ahh that's great news Chelle." Carla said smiling, she was still upset about the whole Peter and Rich situation but the news that Michelle's son was going to be here for Christmas made her feel slightly happier. "What day is he coming?

"The twenty third, ahhh I'm so excited for this Christmas… me n Steve are married, I've got my Ryan coming… not to mention you n Peter are back together... It's going to be such a good one." Michelle said, Carla nodded and she just couldn't help but feel excited too.

Seeing as Carla hadn't had the best of childhoods she had never been this excited for Christmas in her life. She had never been the kind to count down the days but she recently had been and the thought of Peter being locked up for the duration of it made her get up in anger.

"Right… I've had enough of this." She said, walking over to the desk where a police officer was sat. Michelle got up and followed her but luckily for the policeman, Peter suddenly came through the doors opposite.

"Oh baby, thank god!" Carla breathed, as Peter walked towards her.

"Your husband is free to go." A police offer said, "We've…" he trailed off when Carla practically threw her arms around Peter and kissed him passionately. Michelle raised an eyebrow at him and smirked as Carla let go of Peter who was almost bowled over by Carla's sudden embrace.

"You okay?" Peter asked,

"Me? What about you? Are you okay?" Carla frowned, Peter nodded at her and kissed her again before the policeman who had had escorted him out cleared his throat awkwardly. Peter pulled away from Carla and grinned as Carla said, "Sorry… go on."

"What I was going to say is that we've let him off with a warning seeing as it really does seem as if this attack was provoked." The police officer said, as Peter put an arm around Carla.

"Oh it was… it really was." Carla said, snuggling up next to him and feeling so relieved that Peter wasn't going to be spending the night in a police cell after all.

"We can see that Mr Barlow is very protective of you." The police offer said, smiling now as he was way too used to seeing miserable people in his place of work, rather than two people like Carla and Peter who were totally ecstatic to see each other again.

"As I am of him." Carla said, kissing him on the cheek. She wrapped her arms around him as The Police man stood in front of them looking like he wasn't quite finished. "So can we go now?"

"Well… there is something we need to discuss. The information you have both given us on Mr Connor has been very useful to us and we may have to call you in for some more questioning."

"What about?" Carla asked, wishing that this could all just be over, except it looked like it was just the beginning.

"Does this mean that you are going to arrest him?" Michelle asked, looking concerned, Carla did too and she frowned before saying,

"You can't arrest him right? I mean it was all years ago right?"

"Well we've explained it all to Mr Barlow, but it does turn out that Mr Connor is known to us for using specific date rape drugs and we've been trying to get a lot of evidence together. We cannot discuss this too much with you but just know that we aren't taking this situation lightly."

"Okay…" Carla said with a nod.

"And obviously we don't need Mr Connor to know any of this." The police officer said, "We'll be in touch."

"Okay." Peter said. The police officer walked away from them and as the three of them began to leave the station Carla said,

"I swear… when I see that Rich Connor… I'll kill him."

"Oi…" Michelle said with a smirk,

"Yeah..." Peter joined in, "Don't go around saying that too loud will ya…"

The rest of Carla and Peter's night was spent at her place and they had discussed what happened at the police station.

Peter told Carla that they had suspicions that Rich was also a well known drug dealer they just didn't have any proper evidence and that it wasn't the first time he had been accused of drugging a girl.

"I feel so bad." Carla said, tucked up underneath Peter's arms whilst they lay wrapped up in her bed. "Maybe if I had of done something… maybe if I had actually gone to the police when I were younger…"

"Hey… Carla please don't blame yourself for this." Peter said softly, "The police are doing everything they can now… it's better late than never right?"

"I suppose." Carla sighed, feeling incredibly guilty about everything and wishing that there was something else that she could do.

* * *

The next morning Carla was up before Peter, she was up way before him due to the fact that she had had a dream that he had started drinking again.

Nothing about the dream had made much sense but all Carla knew was that Peter had started drinking because of stress and she was sure that almost spending the night in a police cell could be a cause for stress.

She had got dressed watched him sleep for a while before his alarm had gone off. Peter rolled over and turned his alarm off and remembered why he had set it because they were supposed to be meeting Simon for breakfast at eleven. Carla was sitting on the end of her bed, putting on her shoes when Peter sat up and she looked at him properly, he had dark circles under his eyes and he yawned at her.

"What?" Peter said after noticing her staring at him.

"You look exhausted." Carla said pulling up the zip on her boots. "You didn't sleep did ya?"

"Nope… kept thinking about that Rich n how much of a bastard he is." Peter shook his head when he saw Carla's guilty expression "Hey don't look like that… I'll be okay once I get a good fry up down me."

"Baby… I'm sorry." Carla said sighing, as Peter moved down the bed and went to sit next to her.

"Eh? What on earth are you apologizing for?" Peter said, Carla shook her head at him and looked down at her hands.

"Because… being with me is so dramatic." Carla said. Peter laughed silently and shook his head at her.

"What? And being with me isn't?" Peter yawned again, thinking about everything he had caused Carla in her life.

"You don't need this drama Peter…" Carla began, "You need a stress free life… you need calm." Carla said, thinking about her dream last night.

"Y'know you make me sound like I'm about eighty years old." Peter said as he yawned for the third time.

"Well… you aren't far off." She grinned poking him. Peter rolled his eyes at her joke and moved even closer to her, knowing that she was thinking about his current sober state and how well he had been doing. He could always tell exactly what she was thinking and now was no exception.

"Carla… I know what you're getting at… and trust me… as long as you're fine… I'm fine." Peter promised, kissing Carla on the hand gently. Carla smiled at him affectionately and believed every word that he said, so she leant in a kissed him properly.

"You are not fine… you are exhausted." Carla said, pushing him back down onto the bed. "Go back to sleep n I'll meet Simon."

"You sure?" Peter asked, watching Carla closely and hating the way she had just apologised for what had happened last night.

"Yes… I'm sure... you come n see us later." Carla said and with that she kissed Peter and left him to sleep.

She explained that Peter hadn't slept to Simon and they were walking towards the café, when Rich Connor was seen again. He had a black eye and Simon had heard all about what had happened last night from Amy who had heard it from Tracy. He sneered when Rich walked up to them and said,

"What do you want?" Carla was slightly shocked at Simon's bravery and she hated the way that Rich was looking at them both. Rich didn't have a clue who Simon was so he just looked at Carla instead and said,

"Who's this then? You traded that alcoholic waste of space in for a younger model ave ya?"

"That waste of space your talking about is my father." Simon snapped, showing that he had definitely inherited his Dad's temper. "Why on earth are you still ere? No one likes you."

"Oh be quiet shortie!" Rich laughed in Simon's face which only made him angrier. Carla took Simon by the hand and pulled him away from Rich before he did anything thing else.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Carla said shaking her head at Rich. "You're standing there mocking a teenager."

"Well he can't fight people his own age can he? From what I hear my Dad almost knocked him right out." Simon grinned, not afraid of the man who was stood in front of him. Carla couldn't help but grin too and she wanted nothing more than to tell Rich that police were onto him but she knew that would just end with him doing a runner and after everything he had done, Carla knew he needed to get his comeuppance.

"If I were you… I'd shut that stupid little mouth of yours." Rich said, looking down on Simon in disgust.

"Or what?" Simon replied, still not showing any signs of fear as Rich stepped towards him, although Carla was starting to get nervous now.

"Simon…" Carla warned, but Simon still didn't look worried, especially as he saw his Dad in the distance. Peter took one look at who Carla and Simon were stood in front of and started picking up his pace.

"Oi!" Peter cried, Rich sighed and rolled his eyes but he looked scared, almost as if he hadn't been expecting Peter at all.

"Great…" Rich said as Carla shook her head at Peter.

"I thought you were having a lay in…" she said as he made his way towards them.

"Changed my mind didn't I…" Peter said, "And it's a good thing aint it?" He looked at Rich with actual hate and then said, "Did you or did you not get the message last night?"

"Actually… your kid started talking to me first." Rich said with an eyebrow raised. Peter looked down at Simon who nodded and then he looked back at Rich.

"Right… you listen to me and you listen good… I don't care if he spoke to you first… from now on, you leave my son and my wife… alone, do ya understand?" Peter warned. He could feel himself getting angry again, he knew that what happened to Carla, happened ages ago and that Carla was okay but the thought of what Rich did to such a young and vulnerable girl, made Peter feel so angry that he could barley contain himself.

"What makes you think I want anything to do with your wife or son." Rich scoffed but he looked embarrassed that once again Peter seemed to be owning him.

"Oh... I think it's obvious to everyone around ere just how much you want my wife." Peter said. Carla could tell that he was getting angrier by the second and decided that this would play to Rich's manipulative strengths.

"Rich… I suggest that you leave… now." Carla said standing in front of Peter and showing him that the were united. Rich smirked at her but he wasn't stupid enough to hang around Peter for too long and he began to walk away from them.

"Good riddance." Simon called after him.

"Oi." Carla said, nudging him in the side. "I know you think your big n bad but you seriously don't want to mess with that guy."

"Him… he's nothing." Simon said, shaking his head in pity. Carla tutted and watched as Peter couldn't help but look proudly at his son.

"Peter don't you dare." Carla said, rolling her eyes at him and giving him a nudge too because it seemed that he was praising his sons bravery.

"Carla's right Si… whilst it's good that you wanted to stick up for her... that guy is seriously messed up." Peter said as Carla walked into the Café.

They sat down at the table and were halfway through their breakfast they were soon joined by Santana, she had come into Roy's Rolls in a black jacket and black UGG boots and pretended like seeing Simon, Carla and Peter there was some sort of huge shock.

"Hey…" She smiled waving over dramatically, "Fancy seeing you lot ere."

"Yeah…" Carla said suspiciously, "What a coincidence…" She said as Santana and her family lived about twenty minutes away and she didn't normally hang around on the street unless she was meeting Simon.

"Come n join us." Simon said, waving Santana over to their table. She sat down next to him happily and took off her coat whilst Roy came over and said,

"Is everything okay with your breakfast?"

"It's perfect Roy." Carla said with a smile, Peter nodded with a mouthful of bacon and Simon said,

"Yes…" He then smiled proudly at Santana and then said, "Roy… this is my girlfriend Santana, Santana this is Roy."

"Hi… Roy." Santana said shyly,

"Nice to meet you Santana… Can I get you anything?" Roy asked,

"Erm… yes please can I just have a hot chocolate?" Santana asked, Roy nodded at her and then made his way back towards the counter. Peter and Carla watched Santana and Simon for a moment and knew that they were up to something.

"So…" Peter said once he had finished his bacon. "What's up?"

"Why does anything have to be up?" Simon said nonchalantly, Santana was smiling overbearingly at Carla and Peter and said,

"Thanks." To Roy, who had brought over her hot chocolate.

"So you seriously just happened to walk in ere and find us sat ere having breakfast?" Carla asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes…" Santana said sipping her hot chocolate, Peter and Carla both looked at each other and grinned but it wasn't long before Santana and Simon caved.

"Simon and I were wondering if maybe now that we have finished school for a few weeks… we could help you out at the factory." Santana said, Carla who was halfway through a cup of coffee raised an eyebrow them.

"You wanna help me out?" Carla asked,

"We need money." Simon said candidly, not afraid to be honest to Carla after knowing her for so long. "N we are looking for work."

"What do you need money for?" Peter asked, Simon rolled his eyes at his Dad and said,

"Errr duh, it's Christmas Dad." Simon said,

"We just wanted to get each other some nice gifts and it's hard to do that when you're broke." Santana explained, "I wanted to get something for me Mum too because she's spending so much on me, Carmen and Gabby... I don't want her to wake up to nothing." Carla felt her heart ache as she watched Santana speak and put her coffee cup down on the table.

"We'll… Christmas isn't all about the presents y'know." She said watching them both. Simon and Santana both looked down at their laps disappointedly, thinking that Carla was going to tell them no. "I suppose I could do with some help getting all the filing done before we close for Christmas."

"Does that mean yes?" Santana asked excitedly, Carla nodded at her and said,

"Yes, come on Monday at around eleven and I'll find some stuff for you both to do."

Simon and Santana were thrilled at Carla's offer and Santana actually got up and hugged her.

"Thanks Carla!" Simon said. They all sat and had breakfast together and afterwards, as Carla and Santana walked ahead and talked about their Christmas lists, Simon nudged his Dad and asked,

"Hey Dad… what are you doing for Valentines Day?"

"Valentines day?" Peter scoffed, "Si... Christmas hasn't even gone yet."

"I know… but what I ave in mind will take some planning." Simon said mysteriously.

"Oh god… Simon you better not be trying to upstage me ere." Peter grinned, "I've barley been able to get Carla's Christmas present sorted yet."

"Dad… Christmas is in six days." Simon whispered, "You need to hurry up."

"I've ordered it but it hasn't come yet…" Peter whispered back, walking slower so that Carla and Santana were more in front.

"Good." Simon breathed, knowing it wouldn't be worth Peter's while for him, not to have got Carla a present yet.

"So… back to Valentines Day." Peter said, "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Well… it's also Santana's birthday on Valentines Day which means it has to doubly be special." Simon said,

"Right…" Peter said, wondering where Simon was going with this.

"I want to take her to Disneyland Dad."

"Disneyland." Peter stopped.

"Yeah… and to Paris… it's supposed to be really really romantic there. I was thinking one day in Paris and one day in Disney… Dad it would be really cool there, Santana would love it." Peter grinned at his son's soppiness and couldn't believe how fast he had grown up.

"And just how do you plan on paying for this little trip… Oh and who's going to be accompanying you both on it? Seeing as I know you don't think that you n Santana are going to be traipsing around France on ya own." Peter asked.

"Well… I've been saving up a lot… I thought you could give me some money for Christmas and I also thought… you could come with us… you n Carla." Simon said as Carla and Santana were now stood chatting away to Michelle outside The Rover's.

"Carla… in Disneyland?" Peter said grinning again, thinking about the image of her with Minnie Mouse ears.

"Oh come on Dad… she'd love it… me n you both know that she is nothing but a big kid… besides I know that she would definitely love the Paris part."

Peter knew that Simon was right, that Carla would definitely be up for a day in Paris and as much as she would protest, Disneyland too.

"You know it makes sense Dad. It'll be so much fun… we could get the Eurostar to Paris and... I'll get a job or something… I'll pay my way I promise." Simon begged and it was the desperate look in his son's eye which made Peter say,

"Okay."

"Okay?" Simon repeated, "Really does that mean we can go?"

"Yes. I mean how can I say no eh? Let's get Christmas done and dusted eh n then we'll work out a plan." Peter said as Simon threw his arms around his Dad.

"Thanks Dad! You are the greatest y'know." He said, smiling from ear to ear, still unable to believe his Dad was here with him for Christmas.

"Oi!" Carla called from halfway up the street. "Get a wiggle on you two."

"Come on Si." Peter grinned, "Her highness is calling."

* * *

Simon and Santana both kept their promise and turned up to Underworld on Monday morning at eleven am. Simon was dressed in a black jumper and black trousers, whilst Santana was in a black dress with black tights. They had both obviously come in their best clothes and Carla couldn't help but smile adoringly at them as they stood in front of her.

"Awww don't ya both look cute." She said, taking them by the shoulders and pushing them towards her employees. "Right you orrible lot…" She grinned as her employees looked up at her. "This is Santana and obviously you all know Simon… they are going to be helping out for a few days before Christmas so I want you all to be nice n no, they are not here to get you lot your biscuits n your coffees so you can get that idea out of your minds right now okay?"

"Does this mean that they are coming to the Christmas party in ere on Wednesday night?" Sean asked from his sewing machine. Santana and Simon both looked hopeful at Carla, who narrowed her eyes at them and said,

"Maybe… now get to work."

Simon was asked to help Kirk pack whilst Alya took Santana off to help her learn how to file things away. They were very popular in the factory and even though they were there to work, they had a lot of fun messing about and listening to the Christmas music that they had playing from the speakers.

It was one in the afternoon when Peter knocked on Carla's office door. She was sat with her knees under her chin and was fiddling about with a pen, deep in thought when he walked inside and said,

"Working hard or hardly working?"

"Hmmmm the first one." Carla said as Peter came over to her, bent forward and kissed her on the head.

"Really because it looks like it's the second." Peter grinned, sitting on the chair opposite her.

"I am... anyways... you're one to talk about working hard... what are you doing ere eh?" Carla asked with her head on one side.

"Finished early for the day n I thought I would come and take you out to lunch… so how's the two mini apprentices been this morning?" Peter asked.

"Fantastic actually, they're currently on their lunch break with the girls… and Sean of course" Carla said putting her feet back down onto the ground and smiling at Peter. "I already love having em ere, I wonder if I could get away with making em quit school n work ere instead."

"Hmmm I think that is what more commonly known as Child labour." Peter said, reaching forward and poking Carla. She giggled and leant forward to kiss him lovingly before he asked,

"So… d'ya fancy coming to lunch or not?"

"Not…" Carla said, pulling him towards her by his coat. She kissed him so passionately and in a way where he could tell exactly what she was thinking.

"Carla…" Peter breathed as she started kissing him on the neck. "I've already made reservations."

"Mmmm so ave I baby…" She grinned as she ran a hand down Peter's body. The factory door then suddenly closed and before Carla could stop and pull her self away from Peter, Sally Webster had stepped into the office.

"Oh… I'm sorry." She said, flustered by what she had just walked in on. Carla sighed and pushed Peter away from her as he chuckled silently.

"Don't worry about it Sal." Carla said, getting up off her chair and picking up her jacket off the back of it. "How comes you've come back early?"

"Oh I left everyone else in the café, Simon and Santana ordered milkshakes…" Sally rolled her eyes, "Well they would because they are kids but then Beth and Sean decided to order some as well n then they started a ridiculous _who can down their milkshake the fastest_ contest and… well I won't go into details but they were all acting very juvenile so I thought I'd come back ere n get some work done instead." Sally said, in total sucking up mode as Peter laughed, "It's not funny Peter… Roy looked very overwhelmed by it all."

"Eh don't look at me…" Peter said nodding towards Carla as he got up off his chair too. "They're her employees not mine."

"Eh? Who is this her?" Carla frowned, poking Peter in the stomach but grinning at him lovingly afterwards. "Me n Peter are going to go for lunch Sally… so I'll see you later." Carla said, pushing Peter towards the door. "These reservations you ave… they better be good."

* * *

"Peter… there are no restaurants down ere." Carla said, as Peter parked his car on a street that was fifteen minutes away from the factory. She double checked and yes, there were no restaurants around them.

"I know…" Peter said, taking her hand and leading her towards a Tattoo studio that was just across the road from them.

"Peter… what are we doing ere?" Carla asked as he opened the door for her to go inside.

The tattoo shop was surprisingly bright considering and was painted white inside with a red carpet. There was a huge Christmas tree in one corner, which was decorated with skulls, and there was loud Christmas music playing over the sound of the tattoo needles that were buzzing away in the background.

There were black books piled up on a sofa where two people were sat waiting and the walls were covered in endless amounts of flash work. There was a heavily tattooed girl sat at a desk who smiled at Peter when he walked in behind Carla and said,

"Hello… do you have an appointment?"

"Yes at two o'clock, the names Peter." Peter said as Carla gazed around her and shook her head.

"This… was your reservation?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well… Yes... I'm getting one of my tattoos touched up." Peter began,

"And…" Carla said because it sounded as if he was going somewhere with this.

"I want you to pick something." Peter said pushing Carla towards a wall with some delicate looking flash work on it.

"Y'what?" She exclaimed. Peter chuckled and put his arms around Carla's waist from behind.

"Choose something… after what you said on the weekend about being with you means drama… I want you to know that I would rather be with you than anyone else in this world and I spoke to Michelle who had said how scared you were down at the station about losing me... So I want to get a tattoo for us... to prove that no matter what... you are never going to lose me" He said, Carla turned to him and then shook her head.

"Peter… you can't…" she said in shock, almost in tears from the gesture.

"Why not?" He asked, taking off his jacket and putting it down on the sofa next to them.

"Because… tattoos last forever." Carla replied with another shake of the head.

"Yeah… I'm aware of that." Peter said dryly, then his tone of voice softened and he said, "Unless you don't think that me n you will last forever that is."

"Of course I do…" Carla assured, turning back to look at the wall in front her.

"Well then… pick something." Peter said kissing her on the cheek still from behind.

"Like what… Peter gimme a clue." Carla begged,

"Anything baby… something special… something that will always remind me of you... something that only we'll get." Peter insisted.

Carla took a while to look at the walls in front of her. She couldn't pick something and it soon came time for Peter to get his current tattoos touched up. He left Carla outside to make up her mind. She gazed up at all the generic looking tattoo ideas and racked her brains for inspiration... then she saw it. She eventually emerged into the room where Peter was getting his tattoo touched up and smiled as she went and stood next to him.

"So… ave you decided yet?" he said, not even flinching at the pain because he was more than used to it by now.

"I sure ave…" Carla grinned mischievously.

"Uh oh." said the tattoo artist who was inking Peter. "I've seen that look before."

"What is it?" Peter asked nervously, looking at the sparkle in Carla's eyes and becoming slightly afraid of what she had chosen.

"Well… I want you to get my name… in big celtic lettering… right across ya chest." Carla said holding her hands in the hair and looking deadly serious.

"W… what?" Peter stammered, the tattoo artist who had finished what he was doing, raised an eyebrow at Carla and said,

"We're pretty liberal in ere but even we really don't recommend the names of your other halves."

"Why not?" Carla asked,

"Because… y'know the old saying. Ink don't come off… even if rings do." the artist said. Carla nodded at him slowly but she was unable to keep the serious look on her face for much longer. She broken into a grin and started laughing, making Peter realise that she was just messing around with him.

"Oh… ha ha." Peter said, shaking his head at her.

"I couldn't resist." Carla said with a cheeky smirk. "I did pick something though… d'ya wanna see it?"

"I think I'd better." Peter nodded as the tattoo artist continued to touch up his old ones. His name was Dave and when he was done wrapping Peter's arm in cling film and throwing away all the needles he had used, Carla took him outside and left Peter in the chair.

"Oi…" Peter called, "I thought that you were going to let me see it."

"I am…" Carla called back, Peter could tell that she was up to something. When she and Dave finally returned, she gave Peter a little shove said, "Budge up then." She sat down next to him on the bed, as Dave came over to Peter with a image of a delicate moon. It was no bigger than a five pence piece and next to it was also a picture of a rocket.

"What d'ya think?" Dave asked, Peter leant forward and looked at it properly.

"I like it… I really like it… it's perfect." Peter said, smiling down at it.

"Are you sure?" Carla asked intently, "D'ya get it? you know what it means right?"

"Yep." Peter beamed, "Fly Me To The Moon." He said, reminiscing to five years ago when she and Peter had spent the night singing old Frank Sinatra songs to each other one night whilst at The Rover's.

"That night... it's always meant a lot to me." Carla said, on the same wavelength. "We had such a good time together and even though we were just mates I knew that one day... one day we would be something and look at us now eh?"

"I aint gonna lie... that's pretty damn sweet." Dave said with a nod.

"So… where am I getting this cute little tattoo then?" Peter asked, truly touched at Carla's idea because it was something that was going to be so meaningful to them.

"I think it'll look cute on the wrist… what d'ya think?" Carla suggested although she was still a little nervous about this whole idea.

"Sounds perfect." Peter nodded looking down at his wrist.

"You can only get one though." Carla said, "So hurry up n pick one… the rocket or the moon."

"Eh?" Peter exclaimed, as Dave was busy putting the image of the two onto the transfer papers.

"Pick one." Carla insisted, hoping that Peter would pick the moon.

"Okay the moon." Peter said in haste as Carla nudged him again.

"Good." She said nodding as Dave came over and sat back down in front of them.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked as Carla rolled up the sleeve on her jumper, exposing her bare wrist.

"Well… if you're getting the moon… then I'm getting the rocket." She said.

Peter thought he misheard her, he shook his head for a moment and then said,

"What?"

"I said I'm getting the rocket." Carla repeated, as Dave wiped her left wrist clean.

"How's this?" Dave said, pointing in the middle of Carla's wrist. She nodded at him as he placed the transfer paper down onto it and removed it to leave the image of the rocket on her wrist.

"Perfect." Carla said smiling nervously down at it.

"Carla… are you sure about this? I mean tattoos last forever." Peter said as Dave moved over to Peter's left wrist and wiped it clean.

"I'm aware of that Peter." Carla smirked, "Besides… it's like what Dave said… ink don't come off… this way... no matter what happens... me n you will be connected forever."

"Okay…" Peter nodded in awe as Dave placed the moon image onto his wrist.

"You can do his one first." Carla said anxiously, looking down at the tattoo needles that Dave was now preparing.

"Carla…" Peter said, double-checking that she was okay with all this, "Seriously baby a tattoo is a huge commitment… you don't need to do this."

"I know I don't… but I want to…" Carla promised, kissing Peter on the cheek roughly before saying. "Come on Dave… get on with it will ya." Dave raised an eyebrow at Peter as he moved his chair towards him and said,

"She's a bossy one aint she?"

"She sure is." Peter grinned, feeling such a rush of love for Carla right now that he was sure he probably wouldn't feel the pain of this tattoo at all.

"Wait!" Carla cried, as Dave went to start on the moon tattoo.

"What?" Peter breathed, startled by her outburst. "You know now is not the time to be shouting like that... just as the guy with the needle is about to stick it into my skin."

"Do me first… that way I don't chicken out." Carla said, thrusting her wrist towards Dave. He looked at Peter who nodded and then moved his chair back in front of Carla.

"You ready?" Dave said, watching Carla closely to see if she was ready.

"Yeah…" Carla said taking a deep breath.

"You sure?" Dave asked, just because he always made sure he asked twice.

"Go on… I'm ready." Carla insisted.

Peter took hold of her other hand and squeezed it tight as Dave got started on the rocket tattoo. Carla took a sharp intake of breath as the needle was switched on and started to buzz but when it hit her skin and started to actually make a mark, she looked a little relieved.

"Oh…" She said, thinking that the pain wasn't half as bad as she had expected.

Peter smiled at her and kissed her softly on the cheek as Dave got on with the tattoo, she winced once or twice but it was fairly small so it only took a few minutes or so. Dave got up and put the needles he had just used on Carla and put them in the bin, as she moved her wrist up towards her face and looked closely at her newly inked skin.

"How was it?" Peter asked leaning in as Carla admired her rocket.

"Not as bad as I thought it would be." Carla smiled as Dave came back and began wrapping her wrist in cling film. "I love you baby..." She said kissing him softly and feeling immensely proud.

"To the moon n back eh?" Peter grinned, Dave rolled his eyes at how soppy it sounded but Carla didn't care.

"Absolutely." She said as Dave finished wrapping her wrist.

"You ready Peter?" he asked, getting out a fresh packet of needles and sitting back down in front of them.

"Course I am." Peter nodded, holding out his wrist so that it could be connected with Carla's forever. He still couldn't believe what Carla had done for him today and now every time he looked down at his wrist he would be reminded, he would be reminded of his beautiful wife and just how much she loved him.

* * *

**_Sorry this is slightly late. I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to review :)_**


	37. Stupid

_**This is a long one... **_

* * *

"I can't believe you two got matching tattoos!" Michelle cried, grabbing Carla's wrist and staring down at the newly inked rocket that was tattooed on her skin.

"Me neither…" Carla said, smiling down at it. It was now a day old and Carla hadn't regretted getting it once.

"So where's Peter? I want to see his?" Michelle said, picking up her glass of wine and sipping her freshly poured drink again. The date was December 22nd and Michelle and Carla were in the bistro having a drink together.

"He's out shopping with Simon… I reckon they are getting some last minute presents." Carla said already halfway through her glass of wine.

"Oh right, they should ave took Steve with em, cause by the sound of the things he hasn't got all his gifts either." Michelle laughed.

"Seriously? Oh what is it with these men? Why does everything have to be so last minute." Carla said shaking her head at the idea of Steve, Peter and Simon running around town looking to buy gifts for their loved ones.

"I dunno… I mean if Steve hasn't got the hint of what I wanted yet then I don't know what's wrong with him." Michelle sighed, putting her glass down and rubbing her forehead.

"You alright Chelle?" Carla asked, looking at how Michelle hadn't drunk much of her drink.

"Yeah… I think so… I just have a bit of a headache that's all." Michelle said truthfully. Carla nodded and then finished off her own glass of wine as if she was making up for it.

"So…" Carla began nervously, "I need to ask you a favour Michelle."

"What is it?" Michelle asked suspiciously because Carla looked as if she was onto something.

"Well, I'm gonna need you to make things up with Rich." Carla said, picking up the bottle of wine and pouring herself another glass.

"What?" Michelle exclaimed, "Carla you're gonna ave to say a lot more than that."

"Okay…" Carla said, putting the wine down and taking a deep breath. "I need you to make it up with him because I kinda need him around."

"You need him around why?" Michelle asked, "What are you up to Carla?"

"Well… I got a call from the police this morning." Carla began, "Long story short, they told me that a few girls came forward and said that Rich had spiked their drinks a few weeks ago which is why I'm guessing he showed up ere to keep a low profile... but anyways, without any proper evidence they couldn't do anything about it… So... I've decided that I'm going to give them evidence."

"Carla…" Michelle said, shaking her head and immediately thinking that this was a bad idea.

"Look Chelle… I feel really bad for not reporting him when he spiked me and the idea of him drugging other girls has been tormenting me for days." Carla explained. It was true because she had been thinking about just how many other girls Rich had maybe took advantage of and it genuinely made her feel sick. She hadn't told Peter about it of course because she didn't want him to worry about her. The dream she had about him drinking again was also weighing heavily on her mind and she really didn't want to stress him out so, even though in the end she knew Peter would probably have a go at her because of it, she knew she had to do something and she knew she had to keep it from him for as long as possible.

"But Carla how on earth are you going to get evidence?" Michelle asked,

"Well… I'm not exactly sure yet… but I'm thinking if I hang around him a bit more, maybe pretend that I've warmed up to him a little bit... maybe some of his old habits might start to surface…" Carla said, swallowing and biting her lip agitatedly.

"Carla!" Michelle cried, "Look babe I know you feel bad but you cannot put yourself in danger like that?"

"I won't be in danger…" Carla said, "I'm not stupid enough to hang around Rich alone… I'm thinking about the Underworld Christmas Party tomorrow, I was thinking if you tell him I've invited him as a way to make peace then maybe he'd come and then… well I don't know yet but maybe I can get a confession out of him or maybe… catch him in the act… I dunno."

"This is crazy Carla." Michelle said but Carla wasn't going to give up.

"Chelle I feel crazy... thinking about all of this has been driving me insane… I ave to do something."

"N what exactly does Peter think about this little plan of yours?" Michelle asked, sure that he wouldn't let Carla go through with something like this.

"Oh come on… I aven't told Peter… I'm not totally insane." Carla said with a raised eyebrow. "There is no way he would go along with it."

"You're telling me?" Michelle said as the meals they had ordered were brought over to their table.

"Are you going to help me or not Michelle?" Carla asked, one best friend to another.

"Of course I will... but Carla you are crazy if you really think that Peter is going to believe that you have just changed your mind about Rich?"

Carla didn't answer Michelle this time. She knew Michelle was right and that Peter wasn't going to let her even talk to Rich without him by her side, she chewed her lip as she sat in front of her best friend and was silent for a while.

"I'm right aren't I?" Michelle eventually said.

"Yes…" Carla sighed, picking up her wine glass. "But that doesn't mean that I'm still not going to try and make sure Rich gets his comeuppance. I'm serious Michelle… I'm going to do whatever it takes."

They finished their meal together and spent most of it racking their brains and thinking of how they could get Rich put away. They had come up with half a plan and whilst they were on their way home Carla linked her arm into Michelle's as she said,

"You sure you wanna do this Carla?"

"Yes… I'm sure." Carla said firmly, as they walked towards the pub. "Rich has to get what he deserves."

"Actually I was talking about the not telling Peter part… y'know he might be able to help?" Michelle suggested, but Carla shook her head.

"Michelle you n me both know that all Peter will do, is worry about Rich and I can't ave him worrying… I just can't." Carla said thinking about her dream again.

"Well…" Michelle said, stopping outside the pub and shaking her head. "I'll give Rich a call and try to talk him around but I really don't think that it'll work."

"Of course it will, Michelle you're family, you're a Connor and so is he… blood is thicker than water and all that." Carla sighed, "Just try eh?"

"I will… but I'm not promising anything." Michelle said before hugging Carla goodbye and going into The Rover's to call Rich.

* * *

"I ave a feeling I'm going to regret this." Carla said to herself, shaking her head as she stood in the middle of the Underworld Christmas party.

She had decided to throw it in the factory again because it was local which meant everyone could get to and from the party safely. After their last outing Carla didn't want to take any chances in hiring any sort transport to take them somewhere. She told her staff that the money that they saved on not hiring a venue they could spend on food… and a hell of a lot of drink so of course they agreed.

Carla closed the factory at twelve Pm that day and left Sean, Beth and Sinead in charge to decorate whilst she took care of some other important business.

All the sewing machines had been moved and There was also a dance floor and a bar which had been stocked up with endless amounts of drink. Someone had leant Kirk their DJ equipment and he was busy spinning some cheesy Christmas records as all of the Underworld employees became very very merry.

Simon and Santana were both at the party too after being so helpful over the past few days and they were stood in a corner giggling away at some of the hilarious dance moves that were being pulled on the make shift dance floor. They were having a great time and felt really mature due to the fact that they were at a proper adult party. The party was only an hour in and already people were starting to get slightly drunk and Simon and Santana were busy capturing some of the best moments. Carla was stood at the pop up bar helping herself to a drink as Peter walked inside the factory with Tracy in tow. He had been instructed to invite her by Carla and made his way over to her as Beth ran over to Tracy and hugged her tight.

"Hiya Babe!" Beth screamed, drawing Carla's attention over to Tracy and Peter. Her face lit up when she saw him approach her as she hadn't seen him since before going out with Michelle last night.

"Hey Handsome…" Carla said, wrapping her free arm around Peter and kissing him on the cheek. He was dressed in a black shirt and black trousers as he put both of his arms around her and pulled her close because he too had missed her throughout the day.

"Hey beautiful." He replied also with a kiss. "You look… very…" he didn't finish his sentence as Carla's lips met his ever so passionately. Before she kissed him, he was going to comment on how amazing Carla looked. She was dressed in skin-tight red dress that she had chosen especially for the Christmas party. She had matching Red high heels on but had stayed well away from the red lipstick for this very reason.

"Oh god…" Tracy sighed as she approached Peter and Carla, who were now lost in their kiss and almost pressed right up against the bar. "Can you two peerrrlease get a room?" She begged, nudging Peter in the side as she tried to get herself a drink. "Or at least take it into the office instead…"

"Hey… that doesn't sound like a bad idea." Peter grinned, dragging Carla over to her office before she could say anything. He closed the door behind her and made sure the blinds were closed before throwing himself towards her again.

"Peter…" Carla giggled, as he pushed her towards her desk.

"Carla…" Peter said back, kissing her again pushing his body towards her. "Baby you look so damn good…"

"Mmmm right back at ya." Carla grinned, "But you cannot be serious ere… your son is in the next room as well as my entire work force…everyone will know exactly what we are doing in ere, if we stay for too long."

"Oh… I know." Peter said, running a hand through Carla's long hair and letting it run all the way down her back. "I just wanted a moment alone with you that's all." He said, kissing her softly on the cheek.

"Awww… sweet," Carla cooed, wrapping her arms around him and cuddling him close. "I missed you today."

"Me too... how's your tattoo doing?" Peter asked, looking down at Carla as she rested her head on his chest.

"It's itchy as hell." Carla said, looking down at it and resisting the urge not to scratch. "I've been loading it up with that delightful nappy cream all day."

"Good." Peter said nodding and kissing Carla again on the head.

They stayed in each other's arms for a moment before there was a knock on her office door. Carla looked up as Michelle walked in with her eyes closed.

"At the dangerous risk of interrupting something…" Michelle began comically, scared that she was walking in on Peter and Carla in a compromising position.

"It's fine Michelle." Carla laughed.

"Yeah… we're decent." Peter chuckled as Michelle opened her eyes.

"Good…" She said, taking a sigh of relief. She looked at Carla intently and said, "He's ere."

"Oh… alright… thanks Chelle." Carla said, as Michelle left her office.

"Who's ere?" Peter asked, watching Carla as she took a deep breath.

"Rich." Carla began, Peter suddenly looked infuriated but before he could leave the office and tell Rich were to go, Carla stood in front of him. "Peter… let me explain things..." Peter wasn't happy with Carla's explanation, in fact it almost enraged him but he listened to Carla and he knew that she was right, Rich did have to get what was coming to him. They left the office and Carla didn't hesitate before she walked over to Michelle and Rich, who was still carrying the black eye that Peter had given him.

"Hiya…" Carla said, trying not to be too cheery but also trying not to be too distant either, she didn't want to make Rich suspicious.

"Hi…" Rich said, unable to refrain from looking Carla up and down.

"Look…" Carla began, "I erm… I feel bad for what happened in The Rover's the other day. I spend a lot of my time thinking about my past and sometimes it's hard for me to let go of things… anyways as it is Christmas and as you are Michelle's cousin... I'm willing to be civil."

"Really?" Rich asked, surprised. He looked at Michelle for validation who nodded.

"Yes." Carla nodded. "I mean whatever happened with us two back in the day is unimportant, What is important is the ere and now. I wanted to clear the air which is why I asked Chelle to bring you ere tonight."

"And what does your thug of a husband ave to say about this?" Rich said, looking at Peter who was stood with Simon and Santana and who was trying not to let his pure hatred for Rich show.

"Well he's not pleased about it but this isn't about him." Carla said, trying not to make it obvious that Peter not being pleased was the understatement of the year. "So… are we… being civil?"

"I suppose we are." Rich said, nodding again and smiling at Carla enthusiastically.

"Good." Carla said with a false smile, Michelle smiled too as Simon watched from a distance.

"Why is Carla talking to him?" Simon said to his Dad, staring at Rich and shaking his head, Simon was unintentionally dressed similarly to his Dad in a black shirt and black jeans. Santana in a green velvet dress and black tights.

"She's… trying to make friends." Peter said, hating using the word friend where Rich was concerned.

"Who is he?" Santana asked, watching Simon's outraged expression.

"He's that guy… the one I told you about… the one who drugged Carla." Simon said.

"What?" Peter said, stunned. "Si… how on earth d'ya know about that."

"It was talked about in the pub Dad… everyone knows." Simon sighed, holding a coke in his hands and shaking his head at his Dad.

"Well it shouldn't have got back to you." Peter said, angry that idle pub gossip has got to his twelve year old kid.

"Yeah but it did didn't it and that guy is seriously weird." Simon said, "Why on earth is Carla trying to be his friend?"

"She says she has a plan." Peter said, "She says I just ave to go along with it… which means so you do too, I don't want any of your lip d'ya understand?"

"Yes." Simon nodded. Eventually Carla had managed to get Michelle on her own and when she did she wasted no time in asking,

"So… how did you get him over ere?"

"Well… if I'm honest… I didn't have to try too hard." Michelle said, sipping a drink that she had helped herself to. "I just called him up and told him what you said, blood is thicker than water n all that."

"Really? I mean I know I said it but I wasn't actually thinking it would work… I just thought you'd managed to talk him round." Carla said, watching Rich and then turning back to Michelle. "You… don't think he knows do ya?"

"Carla knows what?" Michelle said, shaking her head. "He might think you're up to something but he doesn't know what, I mean he doesn't know that the police are on to him."

"You're right." Carla nodded, trying to tell herself that Michelle really was right and that Rich had no clue that she was trying to catch him out. A hour or so later and Peter was stood chatting to Kirk who was still DJ-ing when a drunken Beth came over to them both, clutching a bottle of champagne.

"Peter!" She exclaimed, grabbing hold of Kirk so that she could stand upright as _I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday_ played through the speakers.

"Yes Beth." Peter said amused and with an orange juice in his hand, he was also smiling at Carla who was on the dance floor without a care in the world.

"Can I ask you a question?" She slurred, as Kirk struggled to stay upright because she was putting all of her weight onto him.

"I don't know Beth… can ya?" Peter grinned, Beth laughed an over the top laugh and nodded at him before saying,

"Well… I get why your ere… n I know she is me bezzie mate but what is Tracy actually doing ere? I mean she aint worked at underworld in years."

Peter glanced around the room so that he could found Tracy, just to see what she was doing and he was very disturbed to see her talking to Rich, with a large glass of wine in her hand.

"Erm… give me a minute will ya?" Peter said, but he didn't even look at Beth as it said it. He marched over to Carla who was dancing with Michelle, he put his orange juice down on the table nearby and suddenly took her by the hand.

"Peter…" Carla cried, as he pulled her towards the door of the factory and led her right outside. "Peter what is going on?"

"I should ask you the same thing?" Peter said, "Why is Tracy talking to Rich?"

"Eh? Why are you asking me?" Carla asked, "She's your sister."

"So she's not involved in this little plan of yours then?" Peter said, shaking his head and trying to stay calm. He didn't mean to snap at Carla but the idea of Rich hurting anyone was making him nervous and he wondered if Carla had maybe asked Tracy to help.

"No course not… she has no idea about it." Carla started but then she couldn't understand why Tracy would be standing there talking to Rich after everything she had heard about him.

"Well that's even worse isn't it?" Peter said, "I mean if she knew what you were trying to do I could understand it but the fact that she is just casually chatting away to the man has me slightly worried."

"Look Peter… nothing is going to happen to Tracy okay." Carla assured but Peter didn't look to assured as he said,

"It better not… because if he lays a finger on her or anyone else for that matter… Carla I swear I will kill him."

"I know baby... trust me... I know what I'm doing okay?" Carla said, Peter nodded at her and they headed back inside and into the party hand in hand. Michelle who had obviously been there and seen how troubled Peter had looked before taking Carla outside, said,

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah it's fine…" Carla said, looking over at Tracy who was still talking to Rich with a glass of wine and looking as if she was truly enjoying being in Rich's company. Michelle followed her gaze and then bit her lip as Peter who still had hold of Carla's hand said,

"I really hope you two know what you are doing." Carla wasn't sure anymore as Tracy and Rich started laughing at something but she tried to stay calm and enjoy the party. It wasn't until later on, when Tracy let Rich pour her a drink that Carla looked incredibly angry and wanted to go right over there and slap Tracy silly.

"Is she insane!" Simon suddenly said, Carla, Peter and Michelle all spun around to see Simon and Santana stood behind them with their gaze fixed on Tracy.

"Simon…" Carla said, looking at Peter who sighed,

"Oi... what did I tell you about keeping it shut?"

"Peter?" Carla asked, knowing he was keeping something from her.

"Oh yeah… I meant to say, Si knows." Peter said.

"What?" Carla cried, her arms going up in the air and then back down again in frustration. "How?"

"I overheard people talking about it in the chip shop." Simon said with an eyebrow raised. "Everyone knows… including Auntie Tracy… so what the hell is she thinking?" Simon had his fists clenched and looked angry as Santana took in a deep breath. "Is no one going to do anything?" Simon cried, looking over at Rich in disgust. "You're all gonna stand there whilst Auntie Tracy drinks a drink he has just given her?"

"Simon calm down." Santana sighed, taking his fist and opening it out so she could hold it. Carla rolled her eyes and walked over to Tracy and Rich, leaving Peter stood with Michelle and the kids.

"Hey… Tracy can I ave a word." She said, as nonchalantly as she could, keeping half of her gaze on Tracy's freshly poured drink.

"Go on then…" Tracy smiled at her, obviously slightly intoxicated by this point and obviously not getting the fact that Carla didn't want Rich there. Carla didn't want to make things too obvious but luckily for her Michelle suddenly called Rich over and said she wanted to get a picture of them both.

"I'll be right back," Rich smirked, at Tracy and not at Carla before walking away. Carla sighed and took the drink off Tracy before saying.

"Tracy what are you doing?"

"What are you on about?" Tracy frowned.

"What are you doing talking to Rich?" Carla asked because she didn't have the time to beat around the bush.

"Hold on…" Tracy said, "I thought you two were trying to be civil with each other."

"We are…" Carla began but she couldn't seem to think of anything to say to Tracy other than. "Tracy I told you that the man spiked my drink and you're standing there letting him pour you a glass? Are you crazy?"

"Carla you are the one who invited him ere not me?" Tracy swayed, letting the amount of alcohol in her system show and letting Carla see that she clearly wasn't think straight.

"I know I did but it wasn't for you to go n get yourself involved with him." Carla said shaking her head despairingly.

"Look… he is the first guy that has shown me any attention since Tony." Tracy began, "I asked him about the drink spiking thing and he said he thinks that you just got your wires crossed or something."

"Oh Tracy for goodness sake!" Carla cried, wanting to slap her hard and knock some sense into her sister in law. "The man is liar and I want you to stop talking to him now, d'ya understand."

"No…" Tracy said confused, "No I don't understand. You invited him ere and said that you were going to be civil, I heard ya, I'm just talking to him and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" Tracy then pushed past Carla and walked back over to Rich, who was chatting to Michelle.

"Come on… where were we?" Tracy said to him, before pulling him away from his cousin. Carla tutted at her and made her way back towards Peter. As she did she had to walk past Tracy and Rich who smiled at her sickly and said,

"Hey…"

"What?" She stopped, with a blank expression.

"You don't ave to be like that." Rich said, as Tracy leant over to the bar and poured herself another drink. "I mean that's not very polite is it?"

"I said I'd be civil to you not polite." Carla said, rolling her eyes at Rich, unable to be nice to him any longer. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

"I don't know what you said to Tracy…" Rich said because Tracy was now out of earshot, going further up the table to get some more coke. "But it obviously didn't work." Carla sighed and shook her head at Rich, trying to pretend she didn't know what he meant. He laughed cruelly at her and then continued, "Look… I don't know what you're up to but I'm guessing your little invite to this party wasn't because you wanted to make up with me."

"Well done Sherlock." Carla nodded because she was completely done with trying to catch Rich out. She felt defeated to know that he wasn't stupid enough to fall for her plan and was about to walk past him when he asked,

"Who's the girl with your annoying little step son?" Rich asked, stopping Carla in her tracks. She turned to him as he looked menacingly at Santana and said, "Y'know she looks just like you did… way back when... it's funny cause she's come to Christmas party that she is way too young for… just like you did… it would be a right shame if she ended up like you did when you did that night… wouldn't it."

"What?" Carla said as Tracy returned holding two cups with drink in them.

"I'm just saying…" Rich said, sipping his drink and then smiling. "It would be shame if you didn't turn around and leave me and Tracy to it… wouldn't it?" Carla wasn't sure if Rich was just trying to disturb her on purpose or not but she quickly backed away from him and continued walking back over to Peter and Michelle. They could both tell that she was slightly on edge but they didn't even have a chance to ask because she spoke first.

"Peter, take Santana and Simon home." Carla ordered, unable to even think about the fact that Rich had just compared her and Santana and what was going through his mind. There was something about the grin on his face as he had said it, that made Carla sure that he was just trying to bother her and that he really didn't mean it but she still wasn't taking any chances.

"Why?" Simon moaned.

"Because you shouldn't be ere… " Carla said, remembering Simon's hate filled gaze over to Rich and knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut for much longer. He took after his Dad way too much and Carla knew it.

"But I've calmed down now." Simon said, knowing what Carla was getting at.

"Well you still need to go." Carla sighed, trying not to let how sick she was starting to feel show.

"Carla it's fine…" Peter began, because he knew that Simon and Santana were having a really good time and that they had been looking forward to the party all day.

"This has nothing to do with you Peter…" Carla snapped, "Get your coats, you're going home." She said looking at the two twelve year olds now. Santana and Simon both nodded obediently and ran off to get their jackets as Peter stared at Carla.

"What's going on?" He asked but Carla just shook her head, knowing if she told Peter what was going through her mind that he would go completely crazy and would probably hurt Rich even more than he had done the other day.

"Nothing…. I just want promised Santana's Mum I'd ave her home early, it's Christmas Eve tomorrow and she has a lot to do." Carla said because it was true, She had told Juliana that Santana would be brought home safe and sound so she could have a good nights sleep before doing their last minute visiting family run.

"Why don't I believe you?" Peter asked, watching Carla who was breathing rigidly.

"Just take em home Peter." Carla sighed as Simon and Santana returned in their jackets.

"No…" Peter said, "I don't want to leave you ere… not when you're in this kind of mood." He could tell Carla's mind was now going a mile a minute and that Rich had definitely done something to wind her up and get her agitated. "We'll get someone else to take Santana home."

"Like who?" Carla asked, "Peter everyone ere is half cut and has been drinking except you so would ya just do as you're flaming well told!"

"Oh well at least me alcoholism is good for summat then." Peter said irritatedly, shaking his head and turning to Simon and Santana. "Come on you two… lets go." He said because he knew he had to get Santana home and he really couldn't send her with a stranger. Simon and Santana reluctantly went with Peter, who hadn't even said goodbye to Carla before leaving. She ignored how him walking out like that had upset her and turned to Michelle who had been watching the whole thing.

"This was a mistake wasn't it?" She asked, Michelle shook her head and shrugged at Carla.

"I did try to warn ya babe." Michelle said. "What did he say to ya?"

"He knows I didn't invite him ere to be civil." Carla said, trying to ignore the Santana part of the conversation because it was still making her feel sick.

"I thought so… but Carla I really don't think that taking it out on Peter is a good idea."

"I wasn't…" Carla sighed but then she stopped talking because she knew she had snapped at him and that he didn't deserve it.

"Maybe we should just call this whole thing off… I mean maybe after all these years, Rich is just too smart to get caught." Michelle said, Carla shook her head at her with tears in her eyes and said a very stern.

"No!" She walked towards her office and Michelle followed her as the oblivious factory workers started a conga line.

"Carla… darling I know you want him to pay but maybe this isn't the way." Michelle started, closing the door behind her.

"No! you don't know." Carla cried wiping her cheek. "Michelle you couldn't know how much I despise that man… the fact that he almost raped me… and the fact that I did nothing… kills me. The fact that he's probably done it to loads of girls because of me is imbedded into my soul…. I was too frightened of what might happened to do anything back then but I just ave to do something now."

"Okay…" Michelle nodded, "Like what? I mean he's obviously not going to do anything tonight is he? If he knows you're on to him." Carla nodded hopelessly at Michelle and wiped her eyes as she said, "Maybe tonight is just not the night eh? And don't worry about Tracy we'll make sure that we keep an eye on her… nothing will happen… he's probably only hanging around with her to annoy you, the police will get him Carla... I promise." Carla eye's suddenly widened as if she'd had an epiphany.

"You're right." She said with a tearful nod. "Michelle do me a favour…"

"Oh what another one?" Michelle said with half a grin.

"Yes… get Rich in ere… I want to talk to him… alone."

"No way Carla..." Michelle began but she eventually did what she was told, even though she wasn't happy about it. She tried to stay calm as she walked over to Rich and wondered just what Carla had up her sleeve. She told Rich that Carla had wanted a word and pointed him towards her office and when Rich closed the door behind him she hoped their chat would be done before Peter had got back… or there really would be trouble.

"So… what did ya want?" Rich asked with a raised eyebrow as Carla sat on her desk chair with a glass of brandy in her hand. She had poured her self a stiff drink from her secret stash to try and steady her nerves about being with Rich alone. It wasn't that she was frightened of him because she knew he would never be stupid enough to do anything with a factory full of people but it was more because she really really wanted him behind bars and that this was her only chance to do so.

"Sit down." She said, pointing to the chair opposite her. He laughed silently to himself but he sat down anyway and said,

"What was all that about with your husband earlier?"

"What?" She asked, intrigued because he must have been watching her and Peter.

"Well I saw you n him and it seemed as if you were arguing… trouble in paradise is it?" He asked smugly.

"It sounds as if you were watching us… watching me." Carla said, taking a large swig of her brandy and staring Rich down to show him that he couldn't intimidate her.

"Maybe I was…" Rich began, eyeing Carla up and down shamelessly and smirking. "But can you blame me when you look like that?"

"Spose not." Carla said, finishing off her brandy and then getting up to pour another.

"Don't suppose I could get one of those?" Rich asked, again with no shame. Carla shook her head at him and said,

"No… no this brandy is way too good to be wasted on someone like you." It was a bottle of special brandy that Ken had given her and she was definitely not going to let Rich anywhere near it.

"I'm sorry…" Rich said, standing up and shaking his head in confusion. "Did you call me in ere just to insult me? because if you did then…" He went to walk out of Carla's office but she stopped him by saying.

"No… I called you in ere because we've not talked just us two in a very very long time… and I ave something I want you to do." Carla said, pouring herself another brandy.

"Oh yeah… n what's that?" Rich asked, intrigued and going back to the chair he was sat on.

"Well it's just me n you in ere now… no family no friends… no one but us... I want you to admit that you spiked my drink so I can finally move on from this." Carla said, sitting back down on her chair too.

"Really?" Rich scoffed, glancing around him and then back at Carla. "What?... Are you wearing a wire or something? Have you got your phone lying about somewhere, waiting to record my secret confession?" he mocked.

"No... I don't need any of that…" Carla sighed, shaking her head at Rich. "I don't need any of that because the police are already on to you."

"What?" Rich said, his smug expression being wiped of his face in a instant.

"They know exactly who you are and what you do. Now granted their not a exactly the smartest bunch because they've let you get away with it for this long and yeah… they might not catch you today, tomorrow of even in a week or two... but trust me Rich… they will catch you."

"Will they now?" Rich asked, looking as if he wasn't quite sure if Carla was telling the truth or not. Christmas songs could still be heard in the background and there really was nothing around her that could look like it was recording their conversation, so he played it cool for now.

"Yeah… they will. You'll slip up eventually… men like you always do." Carla said, sipping her brandy and then continuing. "But this isn't about the police… this is about me and I just cannot seem to get past the fact that you never admitted what you did to me."

"I never admitted it because I did nothing… you were just a stupid drunken mess who couldn't handle whatever drug you had foolishly taken." Rich said bitterly.

"So you're still going with that story then?" Carla sighed, shaking her head and putting her glass down.

"It's not a story… it's the truth." Rich said, leaning back on the chair he was sat on casually, as if he truly believed what he was saying. Carla sighed heavily and put her head in her hands as it looked like she wasn't going to get her confession after all. "Let me ask you something Carla." Rich then said, Carla looked up at him and moved her hands down as he said, "If you were so upset at what I so supposedly did, why didn't you just report it?"

"What?"

"You heard me? If you were so convinced that I spiked your drink then why didn't you just go to the police?" He asked, he had scary grin on his face as he spoke and Carla couldn't stand it.

"Because I had no proof… I didn't think people would believe me and I was right wasn't I? but believe me… I wish to god that I had reported you… I wish I had of stopped you because from what I hear, you're still going around putting your filth into innocent peoples drinks." She said with disgust.

"You shouldn't listen to gossip Carla…" Rich warned, shaking his head at her patronisingly.

"Is it classed as gossip when the police tell you it though?" Carla replied with her head titled.

"What do the police know eh?" Rich said, "I mean it were you who said they weren't a very smart bunch after all." There was a slight silence as Carla quickly finished her drink and Rich just sat and watched her. She wasn't completely sure that this idea of hers was going to work but she knew she had to give it a go.

"You know what I'm finding so difficult…" She said, "I mean you're not bad looking as it goes… in fact if I'm honest with ya, you are ridiculously good looking so why do you feel the need to drug girls to get em into bed with you?"

"I've had enough of this." Rich snapped standing up but so did Carla.

"Yeah well I avent." Carla said, "I want you to admit that you put something in my drink that night and I want you to admit it now!"

"I didn't…"

"Yes you did and you're only lying to yourself Rich… y'know that right?" Carla said shaking her head in anger.

"I already told you that it was your own fault… you just couldn't handle your drink and decide to go out n cry date rape rather than deal with the consequences!" Rich laughed as if this was all some big joke, still trying to play it cool just in case.

"Oh I should have reported your sorry ass when I had the flaming chance!" Carla spat but then Rich shook his head at Carla again and delivered one hell of a line.

"And what good would that ave done eh? It's not like it helped you the second time around is it?"

"What?" Carla stammered, not entirely sure what Rich was getting at,

"Well you went and called the police on that Frank when he attacked you didn't ya? And look what happened there… then again some of us are not entirely sure that was even true anyway." Rich said, and he had used air quotes on the word attacked to make it even more upsetting for Carla. She took a deep breath, unaware that Rich had even been made aware of what Frank Foster had done, it was as if she had forgotten that Michelle was his cousin and that gossip can travel around families like lightening.

"Oh it were true alright!" Carla cried her body shaking now because she was so infuriated, "It were true and so is the fact that you spiked my drink… and so is the fact that you are still doing it now!"

"Well guess what!" Rich said, taking Carla by the wrist and pushing her towards her desk alarmingly. "He got away with it… n so will I."

"Let go of me now!" Carla cried angrily, "Now!"

"Or what?" Rich said he had a very tight grip on Carla, one that she couldn't get out of. She glanced over at the blinds of her office and wished that she had opened them so people could seen in and see what Rich was doing. She thought about calling for help but she remembered that there was still music playing and that no one would hear her… she looked down at her desk and then she remembered something else. Something that made her bravely say,

"Y'know what… do your worst." Rich looked at her puzzled and licked his lips in a way that she hated, before he said,

"What?"

"If that's what its going to take to get people to realise what a disgusting piece of work that you are then fine." Carla said shaking, "Do it… do what you were planning to do that night when you spiked me." There was suddenly a frightening look in Rich's eyes, one that made her scared that he make actually take her up on here offer. Carla was feeling brave but her chivalry was starting to wear thin now. "Rich…" She begged but he meant business, he really wanted to teach her not to mess with him so he continued to stare at her for a while.

"You always used to walk around like you were something really special..." He said, raising a hand to her face and stroking her cheek. "You really thought you were some prestige little princess and I really really liked you." He said, taking his free hand and running it down Carla's body whilst he still had a grip on her. She gasped at his touch and tried to wriggle away from her but she simply couldn't.

"Don't" She said, trembling.

"I really did like you... N I could have given you everything you ever wanted but you always said no… which is why I had to take matters into me own hands in the end… which is why I had to put that little white pill into your cup and speed things a long a bit. Now… there's a party out there full of people… people who could walk in ere at any moment… it would be flamin stupid to do anything other than let you go…" Rich begun, "and it would be really really stupid to pull down your underwear and let you get what's coming to you… and I am not that stupid." Carla couldn't help but smirk as she had got his confession after all. "What are you smirking at?" Rich asked, watching Carla as she closed her eyes.

"Oh Rich…" She said, shaking her head in mock pity before opening her eyes. "You know you really are that stupid."

"Am I really?" Rich asked, still holding on to her tightly.

"Yeah... you're stupid because you honestly believed me when I said that I wasn't recording you right now." Rich glanced at Carla and then shook his head at her, he wasn't sure what do next but he didn't let Carla show how suddenly worried he was.

"They'll never catch me." He said, tightening his grip on Carla in a way that she didn't think was possible.

"You wanna bet?" Carla asked, she went to say something but she got irrupted by Rich.

"Well it's gonna take you a while to get this confession down to the station and I'll be lone gone but not before I tell you to watch your back… not before I tell you that this isn't over and that one day I promise you I will finish what I started all those years ago… I will fuck you one day… whether you like it or not." Rich said, letting go of Carla's hand and moving away from her. She took a huge sigh of relief, which Rich had assumed was because he had let go but it wasn't. "Not so brave now are ya." he said with laugh, "Not when it's just us two… not when haven't got your precious husband around."

"Oh but she has got him around!" A voice said, Rich turned around but before he could even register a furious Peter had him by the collar and trusted him against the wall. Michelle was stood in the door way and so was Tracy who watched in horror.

"Let go of me!" Rich cried, but Peter was a hell of a lot stronger than him especially after what he had just heard him say to Carla.

"Not on your life!" Peter said, angrier than he had ever been in his life and shaking as he stood in front of the man who had just threatened his wife but then Peter was suddenly dragged away from Rich by the police. Rich was stunned to see them and so was Michelle, Tracy and Peter.

"That's what I was trying to tell you Rich…" Carla said as Peter was let go and as he took hold of her, and wrapped his arms protectively around her. "I didn't just record what you said, the police where on speakerphone the entire time."

The police arrested Rich and dragged him out of the factory with everyone watching. Carla explained how she had phoned the police officer who was in charge of Rich's case before he had come into her office. She had told him how she was going to get a confession out of Rich one way or another. The police had sent some officers down immediately in case things had gotten out of hand and they had burst into factory's christmas party just in the nick of times by the look of things.

"Alright you lot..." Carla said to her employees, shortly after the police had left the factory and taken Rich with them. "I know this party has come to a rather abrupt end and I am sorry so to make it up to ya all, there shall be drinks on me in Rover's tomorrow night at six pm."

There was a round of applause from everyone and a lot of _"Thanks Mrs Barlow"_s as the Underworld staff started to leave the office as it seemed the party was well and truly over. Michelle eventually went too and took a drunken Tracy with her leaving Carla and Peter in the factory alone.

"I know you probably think that I am crazy..." Carla began, shaking her head at Peter in an apologetic way. "I just had to do something."

"Not crazy..." Peter said, shaking his own head and putting his arms around her admiringly. "Brave... incredibly brave." Carla took in a deep breath and also took in Peter's familiar scent as she stood in his arms.

"I'm only brave because I ave you." She said, pulling him tightly against her and then looking up at him before yawning. "I'm also exhausted... I barley got any sleep last night." She told, because she had been thinking about Rich all night.

"Well... let's go eh?" Peter said, kissing her on the head. Carla smiled at him and nodded, sure that because she had managed to get Rich arrested tonight and because he was now off the streets, that she would get a goodnights sleep after all.

* * *

**_Apologies for the late update, I meant to post earlier..._**

**_Don't forget to review and let me know what you thought of this chapter._**

**_I know it was a little intense but _****_I promise the next few are going to be a lot more cheerier. _**


	38. The Night Before Christmas

"Y'know it takes real dedication to come to the gym on Christmas Eve." Zeedan smirked. He was on the treadmill next to Carla who had just finished a long run and who was now walking slowly to cool down. She had just finished tidying up the factory with the help of Michelle and some of her employees, it was a hard job as everyone was slightly hung over and tired after the dramas of last night but it got done in the end. Carla was going to go home and relax but after the intense evening she'd had, she was glad to be able to let off some steam in the gym and get some good exercise out of it. As it was Christmas Eve the gym was fairly empty, other then Carla and Zeedan there were only two other people in there and they were both at the weights, getting in that that session before Christmas.

"Well I thought I'd better get a quick work out in seeing as I'll be stuffing my face for the next few days." Carla said, as Zeedan walked slowly next to her. He still had the biggest crush on Carla and always chose the machines next to her but she didn't groan as much about it anymore and actually she really enjoyed his company at times. "I guess tomorrow is just another day for you and your family though right?"

"Well normally it would be, but since Garry n his family celebrated Diwali with us we've been invited to Anna Windass' place for Christmas dinner." Zeedan said, not looking to enthusiastic about it either. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Ken's having us all around at three pm." Carla said, stopping walking and getting off the treadmill. "I'm not exactly sure where we're all supposed to be sitting though." She added thinking about the fact that Ken was hosting a Christmas dinner for Tracy, Amy, Simon, Leanne, Peter, Carla and himself. She had offered to get there earlier and help but everyone knew that Carla wasn't the best person to offer help in the kitchen, especially on Christmas Day.

"How's he doing… Y'know with it being his first Christmas without Deirdre?" Zeedan asked as he hopped off his own treadmill and stood in in front of Carla as she stretched.

"Okay…" Carla began although she couldn't be too sure because Ken had been rather quiet over the past few days. "I think he's trying to stay strong for Tracy's sake n… vice versa."

"Yeah that's what Simon reckons, I spoke to him yesterday." Zeedan said as he took a large swig of water. "He seems much happier though."

"Who Si?" Carla asked, standing upright.

"Yeah, I mean I've known the kid for a while now and I've never seen him as happy as this, I reckon it's mostly down to you n his Dad getting back together." Carla nodded and smiled at Zeedan. Then he smirked at her cheekily and said, "I'm still not happy though…"

"N why's that?" She asked knowing what he was getting at by the look on his face.

"Well I just reckon had you given me a proper chance… We could have had something really special." He joked as he made his way over to the men's changing rooms.

"Mmm its my biggest regret." Carla called after him, before walking towards the women's ones to get changed her self. She thought about Simon and how happy he was and it truly made her feel warm inside to hear that it was partly down to her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Simon and Peter were at the Arndale centre doing some very last minute shopping. It was packed full of people who were also trying to get some last minute bits, Peter and Simon had taken a quick break before braving some more shops.

"Why did we do this Dad?" Simon asked, sat on one of the very few spare seats in the shopping centre, exhausted.

"We're men Si… This is what we do." Peter sighed, wishing he had of finished his shopping sooner. He was stood up because people, who were surrounded by shopping bags, took all the other seats around them.

Luckily his main present for Carla had arrived in the post on Monday and he had his Dad's and Simon's all sorted but he was still struggling to find something right for Tracy and Amy. Simon on the other hand was still looking for the perfect gift for his Mum and was beginning to think that maybe he should just give up.

"We've been in like every shop… I'm so tired." Simon groaned, Peter nodded at him and looked at his watch, it was about three o'clock in the afternoon and he knew that if they didn't hurry up, the shops would be closing soon.

"Okay… here's what we'll do… me n you will go halves on a present for your Mum, Tracy and Amy that way we only have to get one present each." Peter suggested as a woman, pushed past him in a rush with three small kids in tow.

"This place is crazy… let's get out of ere as quick as we can Dad." Simon said with a raised eyebrow, he hated shopping at the best of times but today on Christmas Eve, he really detested it.

"Good idea…" Peter said as more people pushed past him in a rush. As they walked through the crowds and decided to try Selfridges, Peter turned to Simon and said, "So ave you decided what you're doing tonight then?"

"I'm going to Pizza Express with Santana." Simon said, but Peter shook his head at him.

"No… I meant who's place are you staying at? Mine or your Mum's?"

"Erm… I haven't decided yet?" He said because he really didn't know. He had been thinking about it for days now and he still hadn't decided. He wanted to spend Christmas morning with the both of them but obviously that wasn't an option. He wanted to stay at his Dad's with Carla and have them all wake up together because he thought it would be really fun but he also wanted to stay with his Mum too.

"Well… I'd say take your time but time is kinda running out." Peter chuckled. He desperately wanted Simon to stay at his place with him and Carla but he didn't want to push him in anyway, he wanted the decision to be all his.

* * *

As promised Carla was sat in the pub waiting for her employees to buy them a Christmas drink. She had told them to get there at six and even though it was only five thirty, she was ready with her purse for when they arrived. She was just about to text Peter and asked where he was when Ryan Connor suddenly sat down in front of her. He had got back to Weatherfield only yesterday and he was already feeling as if he was right at home again.

"Alright?" He grinned, as Carla looked up at him, she did a double take when she saw him, forgetting that he was staying for Christmas.

"Oh my god!" she cried excitedly, putting her phone down and throwing her arms around Michelle's son. "Ryan… How are ya?" She hadn't seen Ryan since he left for Ibiza and was so thrilled to see him.

"I'm good, how about you?" Ryan said as Carla hugged him tight.

"Fantastic." Carla nodded as she let go of him.

"Me Mum tells me you n Peter are back together." Ryan said as Michelle came and sat down too, smiling at her son and Carla's reunion.

"Yeah… We are." Carla gushed, just thinking about Peter still made her smile like a lovesick fool and she knew it.

"What did I say eh? Smitten." Michelle grinned, giving her a poke.

"Oi..." Carla giggled, poking her best friend back. "So how long are you staying for Ryan?"

"A couple days. I'd stay longer but I ave to be back in Ibiza for New Years cause I've got a gig."

"A gig eh? Check him out." Carla said,

"I know right." Michelle said, reaching over and giving Ryan a kiss on the cheek. Carla smiled as Ryan grimaced.

"She's been doing that since I got ere."

"Well I'm happy... It's Christmas and I've got my baby ere." Michelle said as Peter and Simon came bounding into the pub together looking rather drained after an afternoon of shopping.

"Hey you two…" Carla beamed, getting up and kissing Peter before hugging Simon.

"Hi…" Simon sighed as Peter took off his coat.

"Alright you two." Michelle asked, still with her arm around Ryan, practically showing him off. Simon and Peter both did a double take when they saw him sat there.

"Hi." He said with a grin as Michelle hugged him again.

"Hi Ryan." Peter smiled, "How are ya?"

"Good good thanks." Ryan said smiling genuinely at Peter before he looking properly at Simon. "Wow, you've shot up avent ya?"

"Yeah I guess." He nodded sheepishly.

"How old are ya now?" Ryan asked as Michelle got out her phone.

"Twelve and a half." Simon answered before Peter chimed in with,

"Yeah Twelve going on Twenty."

"Peter do me a favour… Get a pic of me Carla N Ryan will ya?" She asked, handing Peter her phone.

"Ahhh really Mum?" Ryan said as she also put an arm around Carla, who looked just as reluctant.

"Yeah… I wanna sent it to your Nan, show her that us three ave been reunited."

"Yeah cause I'm sure that she really wants to see a picture of me." Carla grinned as Michelle's mother had never been her biggest fan, especially after the whole Rich thing.

"I'm sure she'll love it." Michelle said as Peter held up the phone.

"Alright say cheese." Carla, Ryan and Michelle all smiled their cheesiest grins as Peter took the photo. Afterwards Michelle took her phone and took even more photos. Especially when Steve came over to sit down too. They stayed together for a while, exchanging humorous Christmas stories before Steve and Michelle had to return to the bar as Liz wanted to go out.

"So… what ave you two done with your selves today." Carla asked as Peter put an arm around her and pulled her close.

"Don't ask." Simon said, still feeling tired from the shopping trip.

"Why?" Carla said, turning to Peter. "You two weren't doing last minute shopping again were ya?" She asked, because she knew what that look on Simon's face meant.

"No… course not." Peter grinned.

"And why don't I believe ya?" Carla asked suspiciously, She titled her head on one side and watched Peter waiting for his response.

"They always like this?" Ryan asked with an eyebrow raised as Peter pressed his lips against Carla's making her giggle.

"Yeah pretty much." Simon nodded, "You won't believe how many times I've walked in on situations like this."

"Awkward." Ryan said feeling embarrassed for Simon at first but then he saw the content look on his face as he said,

"Well yeah... but I don't mind too much. I'm glad they are happy..." Simon and Ryan had a little chat for a while, whilst Carla and Peter continued to act like a pair of teenagers. It wasn't so much the kissing that they were doing, it was the whispering and touching that made them seem like loves young dream. "Guys…" Simon said after watching his Dad and Carla smooch for a moment longer and realising the time.

"Yeah…" Peter said, moving away from Carla and looking at his son.

"I think I'm gonna… stay with me Mum tonight." Simon said anxiously, hoping his Dad wouldn't be too upset.

"Yeah…" Carla said, knowing that Peter was disappointed about Simon choosing to stay at Leanne's and not his.

"Yeah… I mean I really wanted to stay at yours Dad... honest but I think me Mum will need me more… after all you two can wake up together and ave a really fun morning." Simon said, Carla nodded at first, secretly thinking all sorts but then she frowned because when she thought about it properly she would have loved to have woken up with Simon in the next room.

"Wait… what about Kal?" She asked, "Isn't he going to be spending the night?"

"Yeah… but he doesn't really celebrate Christmas." Simon said, he looked at his Dad who nodded dejectedly and said, "I'm sorry Dad… I hope you don't mind too much."

"Hey… don't say sorry." Peter said softly, "It's nice that you want to be with your Mum, besides... we'll see you at dinner tomorrow." Peter reached out and patted Simon on the shoulder lovingly.

"I better go…" Simon then said, "I'm supposed to be meeting Santana at half six."

"Errr and who's Santana?" Ryan asked intrigued.

"My girlfriend." Simon said proudly, the look on his face made Carla and Peter both crack up.

"Girlfriend? Nice one." Ryan said nodding.

"Yeah… we're swapping our gifts at Pizza Express because we won't see each other tomorrow." Simon explained.

"Ahh that's dead sweet." Carla said as Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out some cash.

"Ere…" Peter said, handing him twenty-pound note.

"Dad it's fine… I've got a bit of money." Simon said as he put his coat on.

"Yeah I know but I know you wanted to pay for your meal and I don't want you left broke." Peter said.

"Awwww… you're paying?" Carla cooed at Simon, before giving Peter a slight nudge. "Where's my romantic Christmas Eve dinner eh?"

"Well I could ave took you out but you've only gone and promised your employees that you'd buy em a round of drinks in ere…" Peter said shaking his head and then poking Simon. "Showing me up again Si."

"What can I say Dad? You obviously need to up your game." Simon grinned, standing up.

"I'll walk with ya, I wanna go n see some of the old gang anyway." Ryan said, getting up too.

"Bye Ryan it was so good to see ya." Carla waved. "N Si ave a good time babe." Carla said, reaching over the table and hugging Simon. "See ya at your Granddad's tomorrow." She added with a kiss on the cheek.

"You too." Simon smiled, hugging Carla tightly, he then turned to his Dad. "Dad… are you sure you don't mind me staying at me Mum's?" He asked again.

"Of course not." Peter insisted, giving Simon a hug too. "Have a good night n we'll see ya tomorrow." Simon got up and waved goodbye to Carla and Peter before he and Ryan left them both sat in the corner pub. Carla watched Peter as he sat back down and looked down at his hands for a moment.

"Awww… don't be too sad darlin." She said, leaning against him and entwining her fingers with his. "As nice as it would ave been to ave Simon round I reckon him not being there tonight is a blessing in disguise…"

"Oh yeah…" Peter said, recognising Carla's slightly suggestive tone of voice instantly and turning his body so that he was now facing her.

"Yeah…" She whispered before kissing him harshly on the lips.

"Why… what ave you got in mind?" Peter asked, as Roy, Fizz, Tyrone and Chesney all walked into the pub, followed by Ken, Tracy and Audrey who, waved at Carla and Peter but still walked over to the bar. They didn't join them at the table because they looked rather cosy and like they didn't want to be disturbed as Carla nuzzled her nose against Peter's cheek.

"Well… let's just say I'm wearing some very… festive… underwear right now and I think that once you see it… well you wont be able resist ripping it off me." She whispered into his ear before kissing it.

"Ohh…." Peter sighed frustratedly, "Why would you say that to me eh? Now I've got to sit ere in a pub full of people with that on me mind." Carla chuckled into his neck as Beth and Kirk entered the pub. They were two people who didn't take the hint that Carla and Peter probably didn't want to be disturbed and walked right up to them.

"Hey… we're all ere." Beth said excitedly, "Bring on the Christmas drinks." Carla rolled her eyes at Beth and then got up, reluctantly as Peter still had hold of her around the waist.

"Right Chelle…" She called as she walked over to the bar, "My factory lot are ere for some free booze so... let em get what they want for the next hour n I'll pay for it before I leave."

"You sure about that?" Michelle asked with her eyebrows raised, looking at all of Carla's eager employees. "They'll probably bankrupt ya."

"Yeah… I know but we've had a bit of a mad year n as much as I hate to admit it… they're a good bunch of staff when it comes down to it." Carla smiled, as Sean who was behind the bar leant over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Ahhh thanks Mrs Barlow." He said, "You're a diamond."

"Yeah… cheers Mrs B." Kirk said, also going as far as giving Carla a quick kiss.

"Oi… watch it you lot, she's mine." Peter called from over in his seat, Carla chuckled as Michelle started pouring drinks for all of the Underworld employees.

"Well… I guess I'll have a large glass of red then." Tracy suddenly said, standing next to Carla with a grin.

"Errr I don't think so…" Sean began, "You aven't worked at Underworld in years."

"Yeah well, I was at the party last night wasn't I?" She said, Carla rolled her eyes at Tracy and said,

"Oh… let her ave a drink Sean… tis Christmas after all eh."

"Ahhh thanks Carla." Tracy said appreciatively, she then said quietly, "And I'm sorry for the way I acted last night… y'know with Rich."

"Woah… is this Tracy Barlow apologising? Must be a Christmas miracle." Carla said but she was smiling at Tracy all the same, knowing that she was just drunk last night and that she hadn't meant to cause any harm.

"Yeah well don't get used to it…" Tracy smirked as Michelle handed her a glass of wine.

"Oh I won't…" Carla said, "Chelle when ya ready can I get an orange juice for Mr Barlow and a lemonade for me self please?"

"Lemonade?" Michelle exclaimed watching Carla closely.

"Yeah…" Carla said as Beth ordered two drinks, making the most of Carla's good will whilst she could. "So?"

"So I can't remember the last time you refused a drink…" Michelle said and then Tracy's eyes widened.

"You're not pregnant are ya?" she asked, remembering the last time she had offered Carla some alcohol and she had refused it because she was pregnant.

"No… I am not pregnant." Carla cried, a little too loudly because Peter had heard it. He stared over at Carla who sighed as Michelle handed her the drinks. "I'm just trying to be supportive that's all."

"If you say so…" Michelle smirked, as Carla took the drinks back over to where Peter was sat.

"So… what was that about?" Peter asked awkwardly as Carla sat down next to him and handed him his orange juice.

"Well I was just thinking of how hard it must be for you at this time of year and I thought I wouldn't make it worse by sitting right next to you and drinking." Carla explained, shaking her head at Tracy's suggestion. "Of course with my track record, me saying no to a glass of red means I'm up the duff… which I'm not… just so you know."

"Okay…" Peter said vaguely, not knowing what else to say, he watched her for a moment as she took a quick sip of her Lemonade, "Carla?"

"I'm fine…" She said, "It's just… Tracy mentioning me being pregnant… it was just a shock to the system that's all. It's a scary thought If I'm honest... I mean as much as I wanted… her..." Carla paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "...And as much as me and you are on such a good path… I don't think I'm anywhere near ready..." There was an air of real sadness to Carla's voice when she spoke, one that led Peter to move up closer to her and put an arm around her.

"Well…" he said, clearing his throat and biting his lip anxiously. "Just so _you_ know… I'm ready whenever you are…" Carla gave him a sad smile before kissing him softly on the cheek.

"You… are amazing… you know that right?" she said affectionately.

"It's been said." Peter grinned as he picked up his orange juice.

After Carla had paid for the hefty bar tab that her employees had racked up, she and Peter went back to his place. They had planned to spent the night over there but Carla had forgotten to bring her gifts for Peter over and said that there was something else she desperately wanted to get, which led to her and Peter packing up all the of the gifts he'd had prepared and them walking the short walk to Victoria Court.

"How come I'm carrying most of the stuff?" Peter asked, as he and Carla turned the corner. He was carrying two huge gift bags full of presents whilst Carla was carrying a bag full of his overnight stuff.

"Well… I could carry the presents but then I might be tempted to have a slight peak inside." Carla grinned with her eyes gleaming.

"Yeah… never mind." Peter chuckled as a bus drove past them.

"Hey… Peter! Carla!" Leanne called, she was carrying loads of shopping bags and had just gotten off the bus, obviously getting some last minute Christmas bits in herself.

"Hiya." Carla called cheerily.

"Hi Lea." Peter said.

"I just wanted to say thanks for letting Simon stay at mine tonight." Leanne said with such a huge smile on her face that made Carla smile too.

"Ahhhh don't say thanks, It's nothing." Peter said struggling with the bags. "Besides it's only fair he stays with you anyway, I can't just come back ere after being away and start hogging him for all the special occasions, can I?"

"I know... but still I wanted to say thanks anyway." Leanne said, "N I just wanted to tell ya that I haven't seen Simon so happy in a very long time. Thanks for coming back Peter." She added before walking away. Peter looked content as Leanne walked towards her flat and as he started walking along with Carla and she said,

"Y'know Zeedan was saying the same thing to me at the gym earlier?"

"Really?" Peter asked, surprised to hear that even Zeedan had noticed Simon's happiness.

"Yep… he said he's not seen Simon this happy since he's met him and that he thinks that it's all down to us." Carla said, proudly as Peter and her stopped outside her building.

"Well after everything I've done to him, it's about time that kid had some happiness." Peter said juggling with the bags as Carla got out her keys.

"Hey..." Carla said, opening the door to her building. "Don't be like that, yes you've made some mistakes... but you're ere now aren't ya?"

Her and Peter were only in her flat for a matter of seconds before they dashed the stuff they had been carrying on to her sofa and headed to the bedroom. Peter practically tore off her clothes and was _very_ pleased to find that she was indeed wearing a matching set of red lacy underwear.

"Told ya." Carla smirked as she stood before him.

"Oh... I am so... so glad Simon isn't here right now." Peter growled before grabbing Carla and pinning her down onto her bed.

* * *

"Peter…" Carla whispered, into the darkness as they lay in bed together. She was next to him and they were both flat on their backs with just a blanket over them.

"Yeah…" he replied lazily, rolling over so that he was on his front instead and so that he could see Carla properly.

"I was just thinking about what you said earlier…" Carla began, "You know about being ready for a baby…"

"Carla I wasn't trying to pressure you or anything I was just letting you know that if the time comes… I'll be ready."

"I know… I know." Carla nodded she was about to continue but she was interrupted.

"I'm serious Carla..." Peter said firmly, "I was a mess before n I did nothing but let the pair of you down but I promise you the next time... the next time I will make you proud to say that you're carrying my baby." Carla rolled over too so that she was now on her front, she moved up as close as she could to Peter and rested her forehead against his.

"If you had of let me finish... What I was going to say was that maybe we'll get Christmas n New Year out of the way n... maybe we should talk about things… Like that... yeah?"

"Yeah…" Peter smiled sincerely, "I'd like that."

"Me too..." Carla breathed, not able to think about the possibility of her and Peter having a baby without it leaving her short of breath.

"Actually..." Peter said, reminded of something. "We might ave to leave it until after Valentines Day."

"Why?" Carla asked, grinning and intrigued.

"Well that is for me to now and for you to find out..." Peter said mysteriously.

"I hate surprises Peter... y'know that." She groaned, "Valentines Day is bloody two months away."

"Yeah... well trust me... this surprise will be worth it." Peter insisted.

"Promise?" Carla whispered as leant forward and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I promise." Peter whispered back. Carla pulled away from him slowly and then got reminded of something her self.

"Wait ere…" She said before quickly getting up out of bed and running out of the room. It wasn't long before she returned with a gift bag. She thrust it at Peter before bouncing back onto the bed.

"N what's this?" He asked sitting upright.

"Well I know it's not Christmas for another few hours but I want you to ave this now…" Carla said, "Go on… Open it." Peter smiled and opened the gift bag to find a navy blue wooly onesie with white snowflakes on it.

"A onesie…" Peter said with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah… Put it on…now." Carla ordered before kissing Peter on the cheek and then getting up. She disappeared again and when she came back she was in a matching ensemble, Peter was stood up, putting his bare legs into his one when Carla walked into the bedroom.

"You've got one too?" Peter grinned as he pulled the onesie up his body and put his arms into the sleeves.

"I sure do…" Carla said sitting back down on her bed and watching Peter as he did up the zip on his onesie. "I've always had this silly idea of starting this tradition with me n my family all wearing matching pyjamas when we wake up on Christmas morning... I wanted to start it this year n actually got one for Simon but since he's not ere he'll ave to wear his tomorrow... What d'ya think?" Carla asked wondering if she sounded silly.

"I love it…" Peter nodded, loving how much thought Carla put into things sometimes. "The Onesie and our brand new tradition." he said as Carla got up and put her arms around him.

"I thought we could wear em whilst we watch It's A Wonderful Life." Carla suggested, remembering one of Peter's favourite Christmas traditions and how he always watched it on Christmas Eve.

"Come on then..." Peter nodded, taking Carla into her living room after kissing her on the head. They both cuddled up on the sofa and watched the classic Christmas movie and that was where they both ended up falling asleep.

* * *

**_If I get enough reviews..._**

**_I just might post Christmas Day, tomorrow ;)_**


	39. A Perfect Christmas

**_I am sooooooo sorry for not updating this on Sunday like I said I would, especially as I got a lot of lovely reviews! _**

**_I promise I will make it up to you all and I hope you enjoy this next chapter..._**

* * *

Christmas Morning in Weatherfield and all over street there were people who had been up since the crack of dawn with their kids.

However, Carla and Peter were not some of those people, in fact it was almost eleven am by the time Carla had been brave enough to open her eyes first and peer at Peter who was laying underneath her. There were still on the sofa where they had fallen asleep the night before. Carla saw her phone light up on the table, she ignored assuming it was messages from various people wishing her a merry Christmas and gave Peter a little nudge instead.

"Peter... are you awake?" she asked, not being able to wait a minute longer to open her presents, especially as she could see them glistening under her tree. "Peter…" She hissed.

"You know I'm awake…" Peter grinned, opening his eyes and kissing Carla softly.

"Mmmmm Merry Christmas baby." Carla said, kissing him back and running a hand through his hair.

"Merry Christmas." Peter replied. He was smirking because he could tell how eager Carla was to rush over to her elegant tree and open the presents that were beneath it. "Go on…" He chuckled. Carla squealed excitedly and jumped off Peter. She ran over to her tree and pulled out some of the presents, which she knew that he had wrapped. "Hey… wait for me." Peter cried as Carla was about to rip open the box she had hold of.

"Well get a wiggle on then." She moaned as he got up off the sofa and stretched.

"It don't half get hot in these onesies eh?" He said as he walked over to Carla who was itching to open her gifts. Peter went and sat down on the floor next to her and bent down. "Wait… don't open that one first… open this." He said, pulling out a gift bag from underneath the tree. Carla put down the present she had picked up first and took the bag off Peter. "Go on…" He nodded, excited to see what she would make of it. She opened it to find that he had filled it up with all of her favourite sweets and chocolates.

"Awwww Peter…" She said, delving into it and pulling out one of her favourite American chocolates. "You remembered?"

"Course I did, how could I not, you had about forty bars of that whilst we were in L.A" He said smiling as she ripped it open. She bit into it before smiling at Peter and saying,

"Thank you... so… what do I open next?" Peter handed her a tiny box next, which she opened to find a heart shaped charm for her charm bracelet. When she took a closer look she saw that it had "_I love you." _engraved on it. "Aghh I love it." She said, staring down at it and holding it preciously between her fingers. "Peter..." She got up and kissed him so passionately that they almost forgot about the gifts…well almost.

She also opened a few more little gifts which included a set of her favourite bath bombs from Lush and Peter couldn't help but get her some more naughty Christmas underwear which she smiled suggestively at but her very last gift and her main one was the best one. Carla could barley contain her excitement when Peter handed her the rectangular box.

"Ohhhh this one looks suspiciously like a shoe box." She squealed giving it a squeeze. "Ohhhh it feels like one too…is it shoes Peter?"

"Open it n see." Peter chuckled knowing that Carla was of course right about her present. She tore of the silver paper, which he had chosen specially to match her tree and gasped loudly when she saw the box.

"You didn't… Louboutins?" She said, quietly because she was in shock, She had wanted a pair of them for ages and hadn't got round to picking a pair out yet because she wanted them all. They were also very expensive and she wanted to make sure that the money she spent was made worth it, so to see that Peter had bought her a pair had definitely stunned her into silence.

"Open em then… I wanna see if I chose right…" Peter said anxiously, because he had spent almost two hours on the website with Tracy by his side trying to pick out the best pair of shoes for Carla, he had also called Michelle to ask her advice but then thought against it incase she accidentally blabbed. Carla smiled as she opened the box carefully, as if being too rough would damage it somehow. The shoes had been placed in a duster bag to keep them pristine and when Carla pulled them out she gasped again.

"Oh..." She began,

"Well?" Peter asked, edging forward and looking down at the shoes himself.

"You… chose… perfectly." She said, staring down at the patent black sky-high heels Peter had chosen her. The soles were a bright red and Carla turned them both around so that she could run a finger against them.

"Did I? Really?" He asked, although he could tell that Carla had just fallen in love with the shoes that she had in hand.

"Yes!" She cried, taking out all of the packaging before getting up off the floor and sitting on her sofa so she could try them on.

"Here… I'll do it." Peter said, taking the shoes off Carla and bending down on his knees in front of her. She bit her lip excitedly as Peter took hold of her foot and gently slipped one of the high heels on.

"Thank you Prince Charming." She gushed as Peter placed the other shoe on. She stood up quickly and closed her eyes at how perfect her new shoes had fit.

"How do they feel?" Peter asked, getting up off the floor and looking at Carla in awe, even in a onesie she still took his breath away.

"They are perfect." Carla said, putting her arms around a now very short Peter.

"Good… just make sure you don't wear em around me eh." He chuckled, as Carla was ridiculously taller than him now.

"Ohhh but I wanted to wear em to your Dad's n show everyone." Carla frowned, gazing down at her feet in awe, then she remembered that Peter hadn't opened any of his presents yet. "Peter!" She cried, walking over to her tree and bending down which was a hard job to do, even for someone used to wearing such high heels.

"What?" he laughed, following her over to the tree.

"Your turn." She said, picking up some boxes, which she had wrapped up in gold wrapping paper. Peter sat down and as Carla took off her brand new shoes he opened her first gift, which was a pair of smart black swimming goggles and a matching pair of trunks. He smiled at them but Carla felt like she had to explain all the same.

"I thought seeing as you forgot that you couldn't go swimming for another two weeks until your tattoo has healed that when you did go back and start training again for this Swimathon, you'd want something nice n new to wear."

"Thanks" Peter chuckled as Carla sat down properly next to him.

"D'ya like em… Cause I ave the receipt if you wanted to exchange them?" Carla said, watching Peter as he put his new swimming gear down.

"Course I like em…" Peter insisted with a nod.

"Good… Okay here's your next one." Carla said, smiling at Peter as she handed him the next present that she had wrapped up. It was a tiny rectangle shaped box this time and when Peter opened it he found that Carla had given him a specially made keyring with a picture of her and Simon in it. "I know it's cheesy but me n Simon were out the other week and we saw this keyring making photo booth... we couldn't resist."

"It's not cheesy..." Peter smiled, staring down at the image of his son and Carla who were both smiling happily.

"Turn it over..." Carla said and as Peter turned the keyring over he saw the other side had a different photo and this one had Simon and Carla both pulling face, Simon had his top lip curled upwards and Carla was pouting with one eye open. "D'ya like it?"

"I love it..." Peter nodded, thinking about how he could put it on his car keys and see Simon and Carla every time he went to his car. He then opened a few other bits and bobs that Carla had bought him which included a beard trimming set and an Only Fools and Horses boxset, all which he also adored.

"Okay… This is the last one are you ready?" Carla asked, looking extremely pleased that Peter had liked all the other presents that she had bought him.

"Lay it on me." Peter nodded as Carla handed him a cube shaped box. He opened it carefully and found that Carla had bought him a very expensive designer watch. "Wow…" He said, speechless as he stared down at the watch Carla had bought him.

"Now you ave absolutely no excuse to be late." Carla said as Peter took the watch out of the box.

"Carla…" Peter swallowed staring down at it as she took it off him so she could put it on his wrist. She didn't have to ask him if he liked it because he was staring at it amazement. "This is… too much."

"Don't be silly Peter." Carla said, doing up the strap on Peter's new watch and then smiling at him. He looked down at his wrist and then met Carla's gaze, she frowned slightly when she saw that he looked like he might cry at any moment. "What is it? Peter what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong… everything is absolutely perfect." Peter sniffed, "I love you."

"I love you too." Carla said, leaning forward and kissing him on the lips. They smiled at each other lovingly as Carla's house phone began ringing, she rolled her eyes and went to answer it as she knew it would probably be someone who had been ringing her phone earlier.

It was Michelle, she told Carla she had been calling her mobile phone to wish her a merry Christmas and because she didn't answer that's why she had called her house phone.

They spoke for a while whilst Peter got up and put the kettle on. He made two coffees and some toast as Carla told Michelle all about her new shoes. After hanging up on Michelle, Carla joined Peter at her dinning room table to drink the coffee he had made.

"What?" Peter asked, watching Carla's ecstatic grin.

"I'm just happy that's all…" Carla said, picking up a piece of toast and taking a bite.

"Me too… extremely happy…" Peter smiled back.

A year ago today they had never imagined that they would be spending Christmas together and they had never imagined that they would be so happy. The phone rang again but this time it was Simon. He spoke to Peter and Carla on speaker phone and sounded very pleased with himself as he told them about all the presents he had gotten so far. After breakfast they went and sat on the sofa and delved into Carla's bag of treats.

"Right… What are we watching?" Peter said as Carla chomped her way through an American candy bar. "And no we are not going on Netflix… We ave to watch something Christmassy." Peter added, knowing Carla's love for a bit of Netflix.

"Erm…" Carla began, picking up the remote control and flicking through the channels.

"Stop!" Peter cried when Carla went past a channel which was showing Wallace and Gromit.

"Seriously?" She said, as Peter nodded and took the remote of her. He went back to Wallace and Gromit and grinned.

"It's a classic… I bet me Dad is watching it as we speak."

"And Roy…" Carla said as the Wallace and Gromit theme tune started,"Yeah... he is probably definitely watching this." Peter went into her sweet bag and pulled out some chocolate. "Which reminds me… I need to pop into his before going to your Dads, I've gotta give him his present."

Peter nodded at Carla and pulled her towards him so that he could cuddle her close as they watched TV. They were halfway through The Wrong Trousers when Peter said,

"Y'know… Si used to love this… Used to be scared of that manic penguin mind… but yeah… I wonder if he's watching it too?"

"I think everyone got a little bit scared of that penguin to be honest…" Carla began with a chuckle. "It's the way that he stares… I'm not gonna lie it still sends a chill up me spine even now." Peter ran a couple of fingers up Carla's back as she giggled and started eating some more chocolate.

"You're not gonna ave anything left in that bag soon."

"Well it is Christmas... I mean if you can't eat ridiculous amounts of sweets today when can ya?" Carla said. They watched the entire episode of Wallace and Gromit and as it finished Carla smiled and said, "Is it bad that I really enjoyed watching that?"

"Course not, tis a Christmas classic... hey I wonder if The Snowman is on…" Peter said, picking up the remote and checking to see if it was on. "We've probably missed it…" He sighed as he looked through all the channels. Carla was quiet as Peter sighed and squinted at the television as he tried to see if The Snowman was on at all.

"It was on this morning…" he began, not looking at Carla and seeing how upset she was getting. "But it's on again at four pm, we should watch it if me Dad doesn't mind… Carla?" Peter turned to look at her and finally realised that she had tears in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" She sniffed.

"Oh come on… Carla you know me better than that… what is it?" Peter asked, taking a hand and stroking Carla's cheek lovingly.

"The Snowman… it's just…" Carla began, "Me n Rob... we watched it when it came out… he were about five I think… anyways we were sat in me living room whilst Mum was… entertaining what ever man she was dating at the time and everything was fine… until the end…" a tear ran down Carla's cheek as she spoke and Peter quickly wiped it away before it could fall off her face. "When Rob realised that the Snowman had melted he cried… he cried a lot… he were inconsolable and I couldn't calm him down… I went to get me Mum… she was in the kitchen and she was not impressed to see me appear in the doorway and to hear Rob wailing from the from room…" Carla paused and swallowed before continuing, she waited a while but Peter didn't say anything. He just gave her time and eventually she continued and said, "She told me that if I didn't shut Rob up and quick that I would end up regretting it… I said to her that he didn't want me and that he wanted her… his Mum not his sister and then she smacked me… hard around the face and told me to do as I was told…"

"Oh… Carla." Peter said sympathetically, shaking his head and putting his arm around her.

"Don't…" She said, although she leant against him and put an arm around his middle. She soon started sobbing into his chest and said a quiet, "I'm sorry…"

"Don't you dare apologise." Peter said softly, hating that after all these years she still felt like she had to apologise for being sad.

"But it's Christmas…"

"So?" Peter shrugged, "Carla it doesn't matter that it's Christmas… if you want to cry you cry."

"I don't want to cry though…" Carla said, sitting up slightly and wiping her nose. "I want to be happy… I am happy… Peter I'm the happiest I've ever been."

"Me too…" Peter nodded as Carla took hold of one of his hands. He waited for a moment and then asked, "So… what did ya do with Rob in the end?" He could tell that Carla would be okay for him to ask some more about the situation.

"Well I did what I was told… I went in there and I took him up to bed… I sat with him and I practically cradled him until he fell asleep..." Carla said sadly.

"How old were you?" Peter asked, knowing she was only a few years older than her little brother, if that.

"Seven…"

"Seven?" Peter said, shaking his head and squeezing Carla's hand. He looked utterly heartbroken for Carla and she hated it.

"Hey… don't look like that… I was pretty much used to looking after Rob at that point." She said with a sad smile.

"Yeah well you shouldn't ave been." Peter sighed, "Carla whenever I think about everything that you went through as a kid, it actually makes my heartache."

"Oh Peter… you can't change my past and neither can I baby… All we can do is make sure that when we ave kids… that we don't make em go through the same things that we did." Carla said with a very firm nod because no matter what happened there was no way her kids would suffer like she had done.

"When eh?" Peter smiled, "Not if?"

"When." Carla nodded again and before Peter could answer she had leant forwards and placed a passionate kiss on his lips. "Come on…" She grinned pulling him up off the sofa and clawing at his onesie as she dragged him towards her bathroom, on her way she picked up one of the bath bombs she had gotten. "I think me n you need a Christmas soak…"

* * *

It was about two pm when Carla and Peter had finished their bath and had gotten dressed. They gathered up all the presents they had bought and set off on their way to Number One. Peter ended up being the one who carried all the gifts because Carla was walking extremely slowly in her brand new high heels.

"Christmas Dinner at me Dad's is slightly casual for them skyscrapers don't ya think?" Peter asked as Carla gazed down at her feet.

"I don't care… I want everyone to see how amazing they are." She gushed, she had teamed her newest heels with a pair of black jeans and a grey jumper with some very small yet distinct sliver detailing on it and Peter had gone for a grey jumper too, so that they looked rather co-ordinated in their outfits. He had of course put on his new watch to show off, so Carla felt like she needed to show off her present too.

"I know you love em but I'm starting to think they are maybe just a bit too high." Peter said, staring down at Carla's feet.

"Nonsense…" She scoffed as they went to cross the road, "You're just upset because I'm taller than you now… although getting across these cobbles might be a problem."

"Yep… just what I thought." Peter smirked, running across the street and putting down the many gifts that he had in hand. He then ran back towards Carla and picked her up over his shoulder suddenly. She giggled as he carried her over to the pavement so she didn't have to struggle across the cobbles. Passers by chuckled as Peter put Carla down and said, "There ya go."

"Thanks baby." She said Roy walking towards Fizz and Tyrone's, which was were he was having dinner. "Merry Christmas Roy!" Carla called as he approached them.

"Ahhh Merry Christmas." Roy nodded at Carla and Peter. He had noticed that Carla was visibly taller than Peter and looked down at her shoes. "Nice...shoes." He commented.

"Arent they?" Carla grinned as Peter delved into the present pile. "We were just on our way to find ya actually." She said as Peter pulled out the gift that was intended for Roy.

"There." Peter said, handing Roy a rather large box that Carla had wrapped.

"Why thank you..." Roy said surprised, Carla could tell he was feeling slightly uncomfortable and said,

"You gonna be in The Rover's later?"

"Yes… I shall." Roy said as he stopped outside number 9.

"Good we'll se ya later then and you can let us know what you thought of your gift then yeah?" Carla said.

"Yes, yes okay." Roy nodded.

"Bye Roy… Tell everyone in there we said Merry Christmas won't ya…" Peter said. Roy nodded at Peter and said goodbye as a very excited Hope opened the door to number nine. She was dressed in a disney princess dress and shouted Merry Christmas at the top of her lungs as Ruby came running out onto the street as well.

"Ruby!" Fiz cried, coming out of number nine and chasing her. She chatted to Carla and Peter for a bit before dragging her bare footed children back into her house.

"Awww it must be dead nice to have loads of kids about on Christmas." Carla smiled as Roy walked into the hustle and bustle that seemed to be at number nine.

"Yeah well kids are for life not just for Christmas…" Peter grinned as he struggled to hold all of the presents that they had brought along for everyone. Carla gave him a poke as they reached the door to Number one. Peter knocked on it with his elbow and Amy opened it. She was dressed in a red sparkly dress and looked excitedly at the presents Peter had in his arms.

"Wow!" She cried,

"Merry Christmas Amy…" Peter chuckled as she tried her very best to hug him and not knock the presents out of his arms.

"Merry Christmas…" She giggled before then putting her arms around Carla too.

"Happy Christmas Amy." Carla said as Peter stepped into his Dad's house.

"Ello…" Peter called as he walked down the hallway. He walked into the living room to find Tracy and his Dad sat at the table.

"Ahhh Merry Christmas!" Ken cried, getting up and throwing his arms around his son. Glad to see him after a morning of being with Tracy and Amy.

"Merry Christmas Dad." Peter said as Carla walked into the living room also. She grinned as she took the presents off him and placed them on the table so that he was free.

"Merry Christmas Ken." She smiled as Ken went to hug her too. Peter went and gave Tracy a kiss on the cheek whilst Amy came bounding up to the table and asked,

"Which one is mine?"

"Oi you…" Tracy said giving a nudge, then she grinned. "It better not be that big one because I want that to be mine."

"Wait a minute, where's Si?" Peter asked, gazing around the room and feeling slightly disappointed that his son wasn't there yet. Ken glanced at the clock and said,

"Well it's only half two… I'm sure he'll be along in a bit." Peter nodded and watched as Carla and Tracy gave each other a friendly hug, he grinned at them as they pulled away from each other and when Carla said,

"So can I help with anything in the kitchen Ken?" he grinned even more.

"You wanna help?" He asked, "Really?"

"Ken?" Carla grinned, ignoring Peter's mocking.

"Everything is almost done." Ken nodded as Tracy got up and began to pour her and Carla some wine. "So did you two have a nice morning?"

"Yeah… it were lovely weren't it Peter." Carla said as Peter pulled her coat over her shoulders and took it off for her.

"It sure was…" He winked as he then took off his coat. Tracy raised an eyebrow at her brother as she handed Carla the wine and said,

"Yeah… we really don't need to hear anymore than that…" She then gasped at Carla after glancing down at her shoes, "Oh my god… your shoes."

"Like em?" Carla grinned, pointing her toes in a fancy fashion. "Your brother got em for me." Carla said, not knowing that Tracy had helped Peter with them.

"They are amazing… Uh I am so jealous." Tracy said bending down and getting a closer look. Amy who was listening also bent down alongside her mother.

"Nice one Uncle Peter… they look like they were dead expensive." She said looking very impressed

"They were…." Peter nodded kissing Carla on the cheek.

"Ere Amy… your Uncle Peter practically had to get up on his tip toes to just do that." Tracy said, amused at how much taller than Peter, Carla was in her new shoes.

"I did not." Peter chuckled as the doorbell went. Ken went to answer it as Tracy and Amy stood up right and as Carla sat down on the sofa. "Are you regretting wearing those yet?" Peter asked as she rubbed her ankle.

"Never." She said although the shoes were higher than she had anticipated and just the walk alone was something that she needed to get used to. Peter sat down next to her and kissed her again as Simon suddenly appeared in the living room.

"Merry Christmas!" He cried, sliding effortlessly past his Dad and Carla on his present, which was a Segway board.

"Uh oh…"Carla said, shaking her head and getting up to hug Simon, who was clearly chuffed with his grand entrance.

"Wow!" Amy cried, looking down at Simon's present. "You got one!" Ken walked past Simon with an eyebrow raised to check on things in the kitchen as Amy high fived Simon.

"Yep." Simon nodded at his cousin, moving backwards and then forwards on the Segway in the small space of the Barlow's living room. "Me Mum and Kal got it for me." Peter also got up and gave Simon a hug before looking down at what he was stood on.

"That looks seriously cool Si…" Peter said, as Simon then spun around. "Can I ave a go?"

"Sure…" Simon grinned jumping off the Segway so that his Dad could have a go.

"Be careful Peter…" Carla warned as he placed a foot the Segway.

"I will…" Peter nodded, "So what do ya do then Si, just get on it."

"Yeah, just get on it and if you put pressure on your toes it'll move forward." Simon explained. Peter nodded again as he got onto the Segway properly. Carla raised an eyebrow as Peter slowly edged forward,

"Seriously baby… I don't want to be spending the night down A&amp;E." she said as Peter put a little more weight onto his toes, so that he could move faster. It wasn't as easy as he thought and he almost went flying forward but Simon stopped him from falling right over and onto the floor.

"Woah!" he cried, half laughing as Simon grabbed on to him.

"Peter!" Carla said, giving him a slap on the arm. "Get off… you're way too old to be faffing about on that thing."

"I'm fine…" Peter insisted, having way too much fun to stop what he was doing. "How do you turn Si?"

"I dunno... you just move your feet slightly..." Simon laughed, as his Dad got ready to have another go.

"What was your Mum thinking getting you one of those?" Carla grinned as Peter got back onto the Segway.

"Zeedan's got one…" Simon began.

"Everyone's got one!" Amy chimed in as Peter braced himself before another turn.

"Uh they are so annoying, I were in town the other day right and I saw at least ten different kids on em… One of em crashed right into me as well… no sorry or nothing." Carla said irritatedly.

"I've been wanting one of me own for ages…" Simon said as his Dad moved forwards again. He fell off shortly afterwards but he tried again and again until he got the hang of it, Simon and Amy both videoed him on their phones as Tracy rolled her eyes and sat next to Carla. They watched amused until Peter crashed right into the dining room table. Amy and Simon both erupted with laughter as Carla shook her head.

"That's it…" she said, standing up bare foot as Tracy was trying on her new shoes. "Off now!" Peter chuckled and jumped off the Segway as Simon said,

"Don't worry Dad... it's only because Carla wants a turn."

"As if!" Carla scoffed but Peter grinned at her and picked her up again. "Peter!" She cried as he placed her feet onto the Segway.

"Go on… give it a try." He said, holding on to Carla's hands to steady her, as the Segway suddenly started moving beneath her.

"No Peter…" She screamed, as she started moving forward. She shifted the weight on her feet slightly and then found herself stopping. "I don't like it…" She screeched and before she knew it she was moving backwards. "Peter… help me!" Peter laughed hysterically as he pulled Carla towards him.

"You're okay?" He asked as he lifted Carla off the Segway with a chuckle as Simon picked it up and checked it's battery level.

"I am now… That thing is lethal." Carla said as Simon put it down in the corner, so it was out of the way. Carla smiled at him and said, "So now you've put that away d'ya wanna open our gift?"

"Of course!" Simon cried, sitting down at the table and looking at all the presents on it. Ken also came over and said,

"Dinner will be ready soon so maybe we should move all these presents eh?"

"Oh we're working on it Dad." Peter said as Carla leant forward and started sorting out the presents.

The Barlow's all sat together as Carla and Peter handed out their presents. Simon was thrilled to receive a pair of Beats headphones from them, which he had really wanted. Tracy and Amy both got some bath bombs from LUSH and some other bits and bobs whilst Ken received a kindle.

"I know you like the real thing but this way you can read what ever you want when your on the go." Peter said to his Dad. Ken nodded and said a very grateful thank you.

It was then Carla and Peter's turn to open some presents. Tracy and Amy handed Carla a present which she opened to find a picture of her and Peter on it.

"We hope you like it." Amy said proudly because she had actually chosen the picture, It was one of Carla and Peter at the karaoke night, they were staring at each other unaware that the picture was even being taken.

"It's gorgeous." Carla smiled, "But who's it for?" She asked because neither Amy nor Tracy had made it clear whether their gift was for Carla or Peter.

"Well… both of you." Tracy said.

"Both of us?" Peter laughed, "Okay, We'll cut it down the middle and take half each… which half do you want Carla?" She shook her head and nudged Peter the side as Tracy sighed.

"If we are honest... we thought you'd be living together by the time it actually came… only you're not... living together." she explained as Peter grinned back down at the canvas.

"Awkward…" Amy said, looking at Simon who was also amused.

"Ahhh right…" Peter nodded as Carla put the canvas down on the table.

"Well thanks anyway." She said not letting the awkwardness of the situation get to her just like Peter. Even though they spent almost every night together it was still okay for them to have their own flats and besides Peter had signed a six-month contract with his landlord so he couldn't move out anyway.

After more presents were exchanged Ken stated that dinner was ready. Carla and Tracy helped clear the table whilst Amy and Simon were in charge of getting rid of all the wrapping paper. Peter set the plates out along with the cutlery and it wasn't long before they were all sat down waiting for Ken to bring in the food.

Carla ended up going into the kitchen with Tracy and helped him bring in everything whilst Peter finished setting the table.

"Wow… this all looks amazing Ken." Carla said, as she picked up a dish with roast potatoes in.

"Thank you Carla… it's certainly been a bit of a hard task getting it all done but I'm pretty proud that I managed it." Ken said, already a little teary eyed and they hadn't even started eating yet. The day had been full of fun a festivities but there was something that hadn't been mentioned yet, something that no one had mentioned because they weren't too sure of how to go about it.

"You should be proud Dad." Tracy nodded as Carla took the potatoes into the living room and placed them on the dining room table. Peter had finished setting it as Ken brought in the Turkey and Tracy brought in the steaming vegetables.

"Woah…" Simon said, getting distracted from his new headphones and getting up off the armchair.

"Dinner is served." Ken said as Amy came over to the table also, with her brand new iPad in hand.

"It looks delicious." She said, staring at the table and licking her lips. To go with the Turkey and Potatoes there were some Yorkshire Puddings and some gravy as well.

"Well let's sit down then." Peter said, gesturing at the table that he had just finished setting. It was only when they were all gathered around the food and sat down on their seats, that they noticed that Peter had set out an extra place. There was an extra plate, knife, fork, cup and spoon and on the empty plate he had put a little card on it saying, _Reserved._

"Who's that for?" Amy asked, staring at the empty seat next to Ken. She was set in-between her Mum and Simon was sat next to Peter.

"Dad?" Simon said, staring at the empty seat also and then back at his Dad.

Ken knew who the empty seat was for instantly and so did Tracy. They had guessed and both had tears in their eyes as Carla swallowed hard, she had guessed too and was touched at how thoughtful Peter's gesture was.

"It's for Grandma Deirdre… I'd like to think she's ere with us... somehow." Peter said to the two almost teenagers who were sat at the table with him.

"Oh…" Amy said quietly as Simon smiled sadly.

"That's…" he began, "That's really nice Dad."

"It really… really is." Ken said tearfully, reaching over and taking hold of his son's hand. "Thank you Peter." Tracy nodded at Peter through her own tears and reached over too. Carla simply leant over and left a soft kiss on Peter's cheek without saying anything.

Soon, everyone at the Barlow's dining room table was sat in silence. They all took a moment to think about Deirdre and how they wished that she was with them this Christmas. Simon took hold of Amy's hand and they both smiled at each other lovingly before Ken sniffed and said,

"Right… that's enough tears… let's dig in."

* * *

"Awww Peter… that was such a beautiful idea!" Michelle said after hearing about what Peter had done.

"It was wasn't it." Carla said, kissing him on the cheek and cuddling up to him because she still wasn't over it. It was eight pm and everyone was having a Christmas Drink in The Rover's on Steve, Michelle and Liz. After dinner and pudding they Barlow's played a very competitive game of Monopoly which Carla won and then Peter and the kids had another turn on Simon's Segway. When it was time to go to the pub, Ken said that he was tired and that he wasn't going to go. Tracy said they'd stay but Ken insisted that they go anyway so along with Carla, Peter and the kids, Tracy went next door.

The jukebox in The Rover's was of course playing all the Christmas classics and there was a small yet very satisfying buffet on one side of the bar that many punters were helping themselves to, even though they were most probably stuffed with their own Christmas dinners. Michelle, Steve, Carla and Peter were all sat in one of the booths and were catching up on each other's Christmas days.

"And as for those shoes…" Michelle then said as Carla wiggled her feet practically on cue. "They are the most fabulous things I've ever seen! they must ave cost a fortune."

"Yeah… way to show me up Peter." Steve sighed.

"Hey… I love my necklace!" Michelle cried, holding onto the silver necklace Steve had bought for her.

"Yeah… yeah." Steve joked as Michelle kissed him.

"Awww it really is stunning Steve." Carla nodded admiringly, as Michelle let go of her husband and picked up her wine glass. Peter was drinking orange juice and Carla had said that she would drink it too to be supportive but Peter shook his head and insisted that Carla had a wine with Michelle as it was Christmas after all.

"Besides if anyone if showing anyone up it's Carla n that watch she bought for Peter… it's almost blinding me." Michelle said pointing at it.

"Oi!" Carla cried, "Christmas isn't about all that, it's not about expensive gifts and all of that malarkey... it's about family and friendship… and love."

"Here here!" Peter said, holding up his glass of Orange juice in the air.

"Oh hark at you getting all philosophical…" Michelle laughed as Carla raised her glass up to Peter's for a toast.

"I'm being serious Chelle… I wouldn't ave cared if I got nothing today… just so long as I got to spend it with all of this lot today." Carla replied as Amy and Simon squeezed into the booth with them.

"So does that mean I can have your shoes then?" Michelle asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Not a chance in hell…" Carla grinned.

"Dad, Guess what Simon got... a Segway board!" Amy said, Steve's eyes widened as Simon nodded and as Peter said,

"It's so much fun! I had a few go's earlier…"

"And by a few go's, Peter means he's almost put his back out about seven flamin times." Carla quipped as Amy and Simon both giggled.

"Hey I wasn't that bad… I'm actually thinking of getting me self one." He said knowing what Carla would say to that idea.

"Errr no way Peter… I'm serious ere, I don't want you flying down the street on one those things, you'll seriously end up hurting yourself and aving you out of action is something that was definitely not on my Christmas list." Carla said but she knew that Peter was joking. He put his arm around her shoulder as he shook his head. They kissed during the usual silence at the table before Steve looked at Simon and said,

"So where is this thing?"

"Next door…" Simon grinned, "Should I go n get it? Do ya want a turn?"

"Of course!" Steve cried.

"Oh _this_ I ave to see." Amy said, getting up along with her Dad and Simon.

"Me too!" Peter said, finishing his orange juice and getting up also.

"Don't hurt yourself Steve!" Michelle called after her husband, as the idea of him trying out this new toy of Simon's sounded a little dangerous.

"You either Barlow!" Carla warned as Peter grabbed his coat.

"I won't…" He promised, leaning forward and kissing Carla on the nose. "Besides, I'm practically an expert by now anyways."

"Ha I wouldn't go that far." Carla laughed as Peter, Steve, Amy and Simon all headed towards the doors of the pub.

Michelle moved around the sofa so that she was sat next to Carla properly and put an arm around her lovingly. Carla kissed her on the cheek happily as she asked,

"So you've had a good day then?"

"Yeah… the best." Carla nodded then she watched Michelle for a moment. "Why?"

"Well it's just been a mad couple of days for ya… y'know with Rich and stuff… and after last year's Christmas I just wanted to make sure you had a better one this time around." Michelle said, reaching over to get her wine glass.

"Well I ave…" Carla said truthfully, "I really ave… all that stuff with Rich has only made me and Peter stronger… we're closer than ever and I honestly believe that me n him… we're gonna be okay Chelle… more than okay."

"Good." Michelle smiled, giving Carla another hug. It wasn't long before Michelle and Carla's curiosity had gotten the better of them and they went outside to see how Steve was getting on. He wasn't as good at the Segway as Peter had been and kept falling down. Simon generously let everyone who wanted a turn have one until his battery was pretty much dead but he and Amy also made sure they videoed the entire thing and had caught some hilarious videos of people falling off and onto the cold Christmas ground.

* * *

"So…" Peter said, as Carla lay with her head rested on his chest back at his flat. They had gone back into the pub for a while for some more Christmas drinks and nibbles but by ten pm, they were in their onesies once again and on his sofa. He had only his Christmas tree for light and they were sat waiting for a film to start on television. She was clutching the bag of treats he had bought for her earlier and was making her way through some more of the sweets as he spoke. "Ave you had a good Christmas then?"

"I've had…" Carla began, as she unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into Peter's mouth, surprising him and making him laugh. "The best Christmas." She said because it truly had been a perfect Christmas. She hadn't had many good ones in the past but this one had definitely been the best.

"Really?" Peter said, chewing his chocolate and watching Carla closely.

"Yes really… it's been a perfect day… and I'm still not over what you did at your Dad's for Deirdre… it was so sweet Peter... you're so sweet." She said smiling up at him affectionately. "What about you? How's your day been?"

"Flawless…" Peter nodded, "Well other than that tumble I took earlier…" he grinned, remembering how he had fallen off Simon's Segway outside the pub earlier whilst trying to show off to Steve, that he could spin around in circles.

"Yeah well I did warn ya." Carla giggled, sitting up right. "Where does it hurt? I'll rub it better…" she said rubbing Peter on the leg where she had assumed it hurt the most.

"Well in that case…" Peter smirked suggestively, pulling Carla back towards him and kissing her. He ran one hand down her back and used the other to tug at the zip on her onesie.

"Peter…" Carla breathed as he started pulling it down. "Stop." She batted him away even though she really didn't want to. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Oh yeah…" Peter grinned, he then turned his head towards Simon's bedroom door and shouted, "Come on Si… it can't be taking you that long!"

"Yeah come on Si! It'll be next Christmas by the time you get out ere." Carla called, getting off Peter who had pulled her almost on his lap and grinning excitedly.

"Good!" Simon's voice came from his closed bedroom. "Maybe then I will ave outgrown this…" He soon appeared from out of his bedroom in his very own onesie, one that was exactly the same as Carla and Peters. Peter wolf whistled at a sheepish yet enthusiastic Simon who came properly into his living room and sat down on the sofa with them. He was embarrassed but he felt so happy to be sat with his Dad and Carla. He'd had a fun time at Leanne's last night and this morning but nothing compared to time with his Dad.

"Well… what do ya think?" Carla asked with her eyes wide, full of hope.

"I'll deny I ever said this but… I love it." Simon grinned, shaking his head at the idea of the three of them all in their matching Pyjamas.

"There… told ya he would." Peter nodded, kissing Carla on the cheek.

"Thanks Dad… Thanks Carla… for my presents and everything... I really appreciate everything you have both done for me." Simon said smiling at them both sincerely.

"You're welcome kiddo." Peter nodded proudly.

"Did you ave a good day?" Carla asked Simon, with her head one one side.

"Yes... todays been well fun... best Christmas ever..." Simon grinned, delving into Carla's bag of sweets and pulling out a chocolate.

"And you're happy right?" Peter asked, he had heard that Simon was happy from a lot of people but always had to make sure he heard it from him as well.

"Yeah... definitely." Simon nodded as he ate the chocolate he had just taken.

"Good." Carla smiled as she put her arm around him. "So are we... aren't we Peter?" He nodded with a wink as he took the remote and turned up the TV because the film they had wanted to watch was just starting. "Oi Si… don't take all the good ones." Carla moaned, snatching the bag of Simon who was now on his second chocolate.

"Sharing is caring Carla!" Simon said pulling the bag back in a jokey fashion. As they started a mini tug of war over the gift bag full of sweets, Peter smiled at the sight next to him and truly felt as if he was the luckiest guy on earth, he had the love of his life and his son on his sofa on Christmas day, he was loving every single minute of it and he hoped that maybe next year, there would be another little person on that sofa with them.


	40. A Bright Future

**_Apologies for the ridiculously late update._**

* * *

"Uh I hate Boxing Day." Carla said, chomping her way through a bacon sandwich in Peter's kitchen. It was three pm in the afternoon and she had only just got up and out of bed. She, Simon and Peter had stayed up late last night, eating chocolates and watching movie after movie. They had eventually got up and gone to bed at around four am and now they were paying for it.

"Why?" Simon asked, chuckling at Carla's words and wondering just why she hated Boxing Day so much.

"Because… it means Christmas is over and January is coming… n I really really hate January." Carla said as Simon leant over and took some ketchup to put inside his sandwich. They were both still in their Onesies and were happily chatting away as Simon had cooked some breakfast for them both.

"And why do ya hate January?" Simon asked.

"Because it's cold and no one has any money." Carla said as she picked up her cup of coffee.

"Wait… it's your birthday in January isn't it?" Simon asked with a frown.

"Yeah… Still hate it though… it sucks having a birthday so close to Christmas." Carla said as Simon bit into his bacon sandwich.

"Yeah… you ave to wait almost a whole year for more presents." Simon nodded.

"Exactly... you're lucky yours in in the summer." Carla said as her phone started ringing, she glanced at the screen and saw an unknown number phoning her. She didn't answer unknown numbers at the best of times especially not on Boxing Day so she ignored it. "So… what are you doing today?"

"I dunno… I was going to go and see Santana you?" Simon said, Carla shrugged and sipped her coffee.

"I dunno either… might just stick around ere today with your Dad… if he ever gets out of bed." She grinned. Peter was still fast asleep in his bed as her and Simon had breakfast in his kitchen. He eventually surfaced from his bedroom an hour later and met Carla with a kiss on the forehead.

"Morning…" He smiled as she leant against him, she was now sat on his sofa but had gotten changed out of her onesie and was wearing a pair of black jeans and top.

"Morning sexy." She said wrapping her arms around him and pulling him towards her. He glanced over at the sink, which had her and Simon's dirty plates in and said,

"Ave you two already had breakfast?"

"Yeah… Si cooked some bacon but we didn't want to wake ya." Carla said, pointing over to a plate where Simon had left some bacon for his Dad.

"Where is he now?" Peter asked as he walked over the plate and took some bacon off it. It was cold but he didn't mind.

"Gone to meet his girl… where else?" Carla asked, smirking at Peter as he ate. "They were texting each other all morning."

"Those two… honestly… they act like they are thirty three not almost thirteen." Peter said as he chewed his food.

"Awww I think it's cute… I'm glad that Simon has someone… especially someone like Santana, who understands the things that he has been through." Carla said, getting up and joining Peter in the kitchen.

"It is cute… eh you should ere what Si has planned for her birthday…" Peter began but then he trailed off because he remembered that Santana's birthday was also a part of his plans for Valentines Day, which included Carla.

"What?" Carla asked, intrigued.

"Oh… nothing…" Peter said, making Carla even more intrigued now.

"Nothing…" She said with her eyes slightly squinted in suspicion, "Why don't I believe ya eh?" She nudged him as her phone started ringing again.

"Ohhh saved by the bell eh?" Peter grinned but Carla shook her head at him and said,

"Ahhhh not quite Mister, I've been ignoring it all morning."

"Why?" Peter asked, "It might be something important."

"It aint... It's a number that I don't recognise which means its either one of those annoying PPI calls or something work related." Carla said.

"On boxing day?" Peter asked, leaning over and picking up Carla's phone. "Do ya want me to answer it?"

"Go ahead." Carla said taking a piece of Peter's cold bacon and eating it. He pressed answer on her phone whilst giving her a jokey look of warning for eating his food.

"Ello… Carla's phone… Peter speaking, can I help?" He said, making Carla chuckle silently. "Oh… right…" Peter then said, his serious tone making Carla's face drop. "Yes… yes... I'll tell her… okay bye." Peter said, before hanging up the phone.

"What is it?" Carla asked, knowing that what ever it was wasn't going to be good.

"It were the police officer… the one in charge of Rich's case. He just wanted let you know that he has been released on bail."

"Right…" Carla said, she was biting down on her bottom lip as Peter then continued.

"He's been told not to come anywhere near you, they've put a tag on him and he's said he is going to be staying with his Mum for the time being so you don't have to worry… they also wanted you to know that you will be probably be contacted to be a witness…in his upcoming trial."

"Oh…" Carla said, "Okay…" She nodded slowly as Peter put down her phone.

"You alright?" Peter asked as she took a deep breath. He could tell that another courtroom drama was something that Carla didn't need right now but he knew that she would pretend otherwise and she did.

"Yep…" Carla nodded again.

"Well… when ever you want to talk about it… I'm ere." Peter said putting his arm around her and kissing on the side of her head.

"I know… I know." Carla said, closing her eyes and Peter held her close. After a while she pulled away from him and smiled, "So… what are we doing today?"

"Mmmmmmm I have a few ideas." Peter grinned, moving closer to Carla.

"Me too…" She smirked looking down at Peter's onesie, "Get dressed baby."

"Dressed?" Peter frowned, "Now what I had in mind didn't require me getting dressed, actually it was quite the opposite." He went to kiss Carla again and she let him for a moment before giggling and moving away from him as much as he could.

"Just get dressed." She smiled, walking away from Peter and sitting back down on the sofa. Peter thought for a moment and then frowned at Carla when he saw that she was browsing Zara's website on her phone.

"Ohhhh you're not going to drag me down the sales are ya?" He groaned thinking about all the busy shops.

"No…I've already done all that online" She laughed making Peter breath a huge sigh of relief. "Just get a move on will ya!"

* * *

"I thought you hated walks?" Peter said, as he and Carla walked hand in hand through the Red Rec. He had done what he was told and had gotten dressed in a pair of jeans and a jumper and an hour later they were both out strolling in their winter coats.

"Yeah… I do." Carla said, leaning against Peter slightly and smiling.

"So… what are we doing ere?" Peter asked, looking at Carla suspiciously, she grinned at him and sighed before saying,

"Well I just thought that this could be another one of our Christmas traditions, going for a nice boxing day walk..."

"You n all these traditions eh?" Peter smiled.

"Remember the year before last, we went on one with Simon and he had that little remote control car that he kept trying to run me over with it."

"Oh yeah…" Peter said, smiling at the memory. "He practically chased you down there with it at one point." He then spotted someone in the distance, moving from side to side on a Segway. "Talk of the devil." He nodded towards Simon who was with Santana and she was sat on a bench watching him mess about on his newest toy.

"Aww I didn't know they'd be ere… bless em… should we leave em be?" Carla asked, although she knew there was no chance of Peter missing out on the opportunity to embarrass his son.

"Arlight Si!" Peter cried, waving dramatically over at his son. Simon looked up at the sound of his Dad's voice and smiled at him and Carla.

"Hey!" He said, waving them over. Santana smiled too and waved as Carla and Peter walked towards them.

"Hey you two." Carla smiled, sitting down on the bench next to Santana. "Did ya ave a nice Christmas?"

"Yes… it was actually great." Santana nodded as Simon spun around on his Segway. Peter laughed at him admiringly and Carla gave him a look of warning,

"Eh, don't even think about it you." She grinned at him, she then turned back to Santana who was still smiling. "I'm glad to hear you had a good one, did Carmen enjoy it too?"

"Yes she did, she really did. I though she would be really sad without Dad but… she wasn't, she barley had time to think about him she had so many toys to open. How was your Christmas?" Santana asked as Simon and Peter continued to lark about in front of them.

"Good… really good." Carla said, smiling broadly as Simon sped off into the distance on his Segway with Peter running after him. Santana giggled at them both and shook her head at Carla who called, "Peter Barlow if you hurt your self on that thing again I swear… I won't be rubbing it better this time!" Santana giggled again as Carla realised what she had just shouted out loud. "Oh… Sorry." She said sheepishly as Simon pushed his Dad out of the way and raced off again.

"It's okay…" Santana said,

"No… Simon hates all that kinda talk." Carla said, watching him and Peter.

"Yeah… that's what he says to you two but deep down he really likes it that you're so loved up..." Santana said also watching her boyfriend and his Dad.

"Really?" Carla asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course… He told me, he'd much rather it be that way than have you two arguing all the time." Santana explained as Simon approached her and Carla on his Segway.

"Hey Santana do ya wanna go n grab a milkshake in town?" Simon said when he stopped in front of her.

"Yeah okay." Santana said as Peter also stopped in front of them. Simon looked at his Dad and was about to ask them if they wanted to come when Peter said,

"Yeah yeah, we get it… we're cramping your style."

"No you're not…. Well Carla isn't." Simon joked, "I was actually going to ask you two if you wanted to come actually."

"Yeah yeah…" Carla said nodding at Simon and getting up off the bench.

"I'm serious." Simon said but Carla and Peter were the ones who were messing with him this time. They said goodbye to him and Santana, saying that they wanted to continue on with their walk. They found them selves walking on and on until they had walked all the way around it twice and then made their way back to Coronation Street. Before going home they popped into The Rover's. Michelle was sat at the bar with a clipboard in hand and smiled when she saw Carla and Peter,

"Hey you two, alright?"

"Yeah we're good thanks." Carla said, leaning over and kissing Michelle on the cheek as Peter went and said hello to Steve. "I spose you've heard about Rich." Carla said, assuming Michelle knew but he blank expression soon told her other wise.

"No… what?" Michelle asked,

"He's been released on bail." Carla said as Peter and Steve chatted to each other, she could tell by the look on Peter's face that he was telling Steve the same thing she was telling Michelle.

"Oh…" Michelle said, "I'm surprised me Mum hasn't phoned to tell me…"

"It also seems as if I'll be called to be a witness in the trail." Carla said, leaning against the bar casually.

"And you're okay with that?" She asked.

"Well… I'll ave to be won't I?" Carla shrugged, "I'm just glad they've arrested him… and besides… I've got Peter… I'll be fine." She smiled, staring over at him. "What you up to ere anyway?" Carla asked, looking down at Michelle's piles of paper work.

"Well me n Steve are going have a proper New years Eve party in ere, so I'm just going over everything that we're going to need." Michelle said as Leanne had also just walked into the pub.

"You're having a New Years Eve party?" Leanne said, looking slightly annoyed. "Me and Nick ave just decided we're gonna have one down the bistro."

"But I've already put up posters now." Michelle sighed,

"Uh oh…" Carla said as Peter re-joined her by the bar.

"What?" He asked.

"Look like there's going to be New Years Party wars…" Carla said looking in between Michelle and Leanne.

"It'll be fine, there's loads of people around ere…" Leanne said, "I mean the people who wanted to come to the Bistro can still come and everyone who would have come ere anyway will still be in ere."

"Yeah… Leanne's right." Carla nodded, trying to assure Michelle that they could probably both have a party and it not affect the other.

"And what about you lot?" Michelle asked, looking directly at Carla and Peter now. "I mean you're gonna be ere right?" Carla looked at Peter and then back at Michelle.

"Well it's just…" Carla began,

"Oh come on Carla… your me Bessie mate… I want ya here." Michelle moaned as Steve came over.

"I know Chelle but Simon wanted us all to be together for New Years… Us two and His Mum… so we'll most likely ave to be at the Bistro…" Carla said awkwardly, she trailed off when she saw Michelle's disappointed face and then looked at Peter. "I mean… I guess I could come here and you could go to the Bistro with Simon."

"No… you can't, I want to ring in the New Year with ya love… besides Simon wanted you there as well." Peter said, making Michelle sigh.

"Oh…" Carla sighed, rolling her eyes and then turning to Leanne, hoping she had an idea.

"And there's no way I can leave the Bistro when it were my idea to ave the party in the first place." Leanne said. There was a silence between the people in the bar as they all tried to decide what to do for the best.

"I know!" Peter cried, "How about you have one of those progressive parties?"

"A what?" Michelle asked, as Leanne looked intrigued too.

"Well the party can start in one place and end in another, Say it starts in the bistro and then after midnight we all come over to the pub?" Peter suggests, "That way we can all come to both?"

"I don't reckon you're going to get a better idea than that?" Carla said, smiling at Peter for thinking of something to try and solve their predicament.

"I dunno…" Leanne said sceptically but she couldn't think of another idea either.

"Yeah I mean how would that even work?" Michelle said.

"Well that's up for you two to decide." Peter said, taking Carla's hand and dragging her over to a table. She giggled as he pulled her onto a chair and said, "Let's hope that has sorted it…"

* * *

Five days later and Leanne and Michelle had indeed sorted it. The New Years Eve celebrations were going to kick off in The Bistro so that Simon could be with his Mum and then after midnight the party would move on to The Rover's.

Entry to the pub was free of course but the Bistro was charging a cover so that they didn't lose out on too many takings due to the fact that people weren't actually going to be eating proper meals in there.

It had been organised meticulously by Michelle and Leanne and the whole street were prepared for their first progressive party. Of course there were a few who didn't want to go to both. There were a few who said they were only going to The Pub or Bistro and not both but for the most part everyone seemed pretty excited. Simon especially. He had invited Santana and her entire family to both parties and at they had said yes.

The Bistro party was due to start at seven pm and sure enough by seven thirty it was packed. Nick and Leanne had laid out a table full of posh little party foods so that people could snack whilst they drank and they had even made a list of non-alcoholic cocktails for the kids that were coming to the party also. There were silver and black balloons scattered around the room and there was the typical party tunes playing through the speakers. Simon arrived at the Bistro with Santana, Her Mum and Sister at seven forty and was proud to introduce them all to anyone who asked.

Santana's little sister Carmen was with their Mum at the buffet table whilst Simon and Santana were sipping on the non-alcoholic cocktails that Steph had prepared. They were watching Leanne and Nick who was larking about at the bar with some straws and who looked as if they were having a whale of a time.

"Si…" Santana began as Nick practically chased Leanne around the bar and caught her within seconds. "You know how you said your Mum and Nick do nothing but argue… well I'm not seeing much evidence of that if I'm honest."

"Yeah… me neither… I mean they used to but… not anymore." Simon said, watching Leanne and Nick even more closely.

"Maybe they still like each other?" Santana suggested but Simon shook his head.

"Me Mum's happy with Kal… I'm sure they're just a bit overfriendly that's all." He then said as Nick and Leanne both went back behind the bar in fits of giggles.

"If you say so…" Santana grinned, sipping on her drink as Simon looked down at his watch. "What time is your Dad supposed to be coming with Carla?"

"About half an hour ago…" Simon said with a raised eyebrow. "Three guesses as to why they are late." He said shaking his head and hoping that Carla and Peter would hurry up.

* * *

Simon was right with his guess and sure enough Carla and Peter were lying in her bed fast asleep. Carla had one arm hanging off the bed and Peter was next to her with one arm draped across her naked body. They were both in a deep sleep and were only woken by the buzzing sound of Carla's phone, which ended up buzzing right off her bedside table. It crashed to the ground and woke Carla and Peter suddenly. Carla groaned as she opened her eyes and bent down to pick up her phone. She checked it wasn't broken before actually looking at her messages and missed calls. Peter moved closer to her and kissed her on the cheek as she sighed and said,

"I guess we better get up."

"Uh… do we ave to." Peter said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He and Carla had spent most of their New Years Eve in bed as they had been out with some of Peter's new work friends the night before. They had only gone into town to a local restaurant but they hadn't actually gotten home until three am because they had gone back to Peter's friend's house and made a night of it. Carla had then been up at eight am to sort out some factory business and Peter had some work he had to do so after getting home at around four pm, the pair indulged in some "quality" alone time together, alone time which ended up with them both naked and in bed.

"Yes we ave to… it's New Years Eve… we were meant to meet Si like an hour ago now." Carla said, sitting upright and stretching. "That were him who just called, he's probably wondering where we are." Peter rubbed his eyes as Carla got up and got out of bed. She went into the bathroom to get into the shower ,which Peter couldn't resist joining her in and by the time they had actually turned up at The Bistro it was half past nine.

"Oh about flamin time." Leanne sighed when the pair of them walked hand in hand to the bar. Carla in her new designer shoes, a tight black dress with a high neck and Peter in a contrasting white shirt with a black jacket. They went towards the bar where Nick and Leanne were waiting for them.

"Sorry… We fell asleep." Carla began but Nick and Leanne weren't convinced and neither was Simon who approached them.

"Hey… You're only two hours late." He said putting his arms around Carla and then his Dad.

"They fell asleep… Apparently." Nick said with a raised eyebrow. Simon rolled his eyes and chuckled even though Peter and Carla were telling the truth. Well they almost were.

"It's true." Carla said looking at the cocktail menu and deciding which one she wanted. Tracy and Amy were in one corner of the bistro and when they saw that Carla and Peter had finally arrived at the party they walked over to them.

"Oh well it's about time you two showed up." Tracy said as Peter put an arm around her and Amy and gave them a quick kiss.

"We fell asleep." Peter said although he was sure it would fall on deaf ears and it did.

"Yeah… Sure you did." Amy said with a giggle.

"Honestly… Why do we bother eh?" Peter sighed, nudging Carla in the side gently as she said,

"Right I know what I'm getting… What you having Peter?"

"A lemonade will do me."

"Awwww really? Don't you want one of these cocktails… It says ere they can make em non alcoholic too?" Leanne suggested but Peter shook his head.

"A lemonade will be fine." He said as Tracy ,who was also holding a cocktail said,

"So go on then… what are you lots New Years resolutions this year then? Mine is to be a little bit nicer to people." Nick, Leanne, Simon, Carla and Peter both stared at Tracy whilst Amy was more frank about things.

"Really Mum? _You're_ going to be nicer to people?"

"Yes… I've been thinking about it a lot this year… Especially after your Gran… I keep thinking about the stuff I've done and how she wouldn't approve." Tracy began, Peter watched her sniff sadly and put a sympathetic arm around her.

"Ahhh come ere." He said hugging her tight.

"I know it doesn't sound too realistic…" She said sniffing, watching as Sally and Tim were drunkenly dancing in the distance. "Okay it sounds impossible…" She smirked, holding Peter tight.

"Awwww, I love it when you n Peter get all brother n sistery." Carla cooed, Peter poked his tongue out at her as Tracy hugged him again and said,

"I'm serious... it's the thought that counts eh?"

"Too right." Carla nodded also looking at Sally and Tim amused. "D'ya wanna hear me and Peter's resolution?" Tracy nodded as Leanne handed Peter his drink. "We're going to make sure that we go to the gym together at least twice a week."

"Really?" Tracy scoffed.

"Eh what's that reaction for?" Peter said, sipping his lemonade.

"Yeah… the couple that works out together stays together… well that's what Zeedan is always telling me anyway." Carla said,

"Oh that is so cringy." Amy said rolling her eyes, looking just like her mother as she did so and making everyone chuckle.

"How old d'ya ave to be to join the gym?" Simon asked, "Maybe I should join?" he joked.

"I think it's sixteen mate." Leanne said shaking her head at him. "What d'ya wanna go to the gym for?"

"Exercise init." Simon grinned.

"He's trying to beef up before Santana leaves him for a bigger man." Amy sniggered.

"Ohhh talk of the devil." Tracy said as Santana her Mum and little sister had soon joined them at the bar. Carla reached over and hugged, Juliana and said Hi to them.

They all stood together and had a chat for a while as the Bistro began to really fill up with people. Carmen was very pleased to see Peter and Carla and vice versa. She was dressed in a very cute red sparkly dress and black shoes and as she excitedly went off to dance with Simon, Amy and Santana, Carla leant into Peter as they watched her and said,

"Uh she is so cute… do ya reckon we could steal her and get away with it?"

"Well… No but hey it's worth a try right?" Peter grinned, kissing Carla on the cheek and putting an arm around her.

"Mmmmmm." Carla said, leaning closer to him and letting him cuddle her close. "So… ave you got any more New Years resolutions then?" she said quietly into his ear.

"Well... I won't lie I've been thinking of a few." Peter replied, as some people squeezed past him and Carla, forcing them to get closer in their embrace.

"Yeah go on." Carla said intrigued.

"Well my first one is to quit smoking…" Peter grinned making Carla roll her eyes.

"Oh give over Peter, you say that every year." She said shaking her head.

"Yeah well as Tracy said, it's the thought that counts init." He said, kissing Carla on the neck softly and making her eyes roll for a completely different reason.

"Y'know maybe you two should make a resolution to stop with all the P.D.A's." Tracy sneered, shaking her head at Peter who now had his arms around Carla from behind.

"And maybe you should make another one that says you should stop being so jealous." Peter replied back with a smug smile.

"Oh I am so not jealous." Tracy scoffed, "I just don't want to see any more of you two's tongues thanks very much."

"Yeah n I second that." Leanne said from behind the bar as she handed Tracy another drink.

"N I third it… If that's a thing." Simon said, he had been at the bar for a while now too, getting some drinks for Amy, Carmen and Santana.

"Well what's your New Years resolution then smarty pants.?" Carla asked Simon.

"Hmmm maybe it should be to be less sarcastic." Leanne grinned.

"Ahh there's no way that's going to happen, not if he's spending so much time with these two." Tracy said nodding toward Peter and Carla who were still stood very much pressed up against each other.

"Oh ha ha…" Peter chuckled looking at Simon who was deep in thought. He looked around at all the people who were in the almost full Bistro and then said,

"Mine is… to spend more time with Grandad."

"Awwww." Carla said, her heart melting because Simon looked truly sincere about what he was saying.

"I don't see him as much any more… I miss him." Simon added.

"That's a point... where is he?" Peter suddenly said, looking around him and then at Tracy.

"What? ave you only just realised he's not ere?" She asked, Peter nodded guilty as Tracy then laughed. "Oh he's gone for a quiet drink with Audrey." She said with a slight hint of anger in her voice.

"Has he?" Carla said, Peter raised an eyebrow and decided that right now probably wasn't the time to ask about his Dad and Audrey, especially as Amy, Santana and Carmen had come over to them.

"Honestly Simon. How long does it take to get a few drinks in?" Amy asked irritably, shaking her head as Santana went and held his hand.

"Like mother like daughter eh?" Peter said, raising an eyebrow at Amy, who really was turning into a mini Tracy.

"Amy, what's your resolution then?" Tracy asked, Amy just shrugged and said,

"I'm not making a resolution… They're pointless... besides I'm pretty much perfect the way I am."

"Too right." Tracy nodded, proudly down at her daughter.

"What's a reasonlution?" Carmen asked, holding onto her big sister's hand and making everyone realise that she was listening to the conversation.

"It's something you decide to do after the new year babe… Something new that you haven't done before or something you want to change." Santana said,

"Like learning how to do stuff?" Carmen asked, her head on one side.

"Yeah... maybe." Santana nodded as their Mum chatted away to Nick across the bar. They had been talking most of the evening and Peter had clocked just how well Juliana and Nick had been getting on.

"Your Mum looks like she's having fun." He said to Santana after a while longer, whilst Carmen and Carla were in a deep conversation about Carmen's red dress.

"She does doesn't she? I'm so glad that she came here tonight, she really needed a night out." Santana smiled, as Nick and Juliana then began cracking up about something together. Peter and Santana weren't the only ones watching Nick and Juliana, So was Leanne. She was watching them both _very_ closely so closely in fact that she hadn't realised how much Carla was watching her. A little later on in the night, when Leanne was on a break and had large drink in her hands, Carla went up to her and said,

"Alright Lea…" They still weren't on amazing terms with each other but they were on better terms then they had been in years and this is what made Carla feel brave enough to approach her like this.

"Yeah… Spose." Leanne mumbled.

"I saw ya y'know... Watching Nick." Carla said, sitting down next to Leanne with her own glass of wine in hand.

"Errrrrr what do ya mean?" Leanne said defensively.

"You know what I mean." Carla sighed, "Ain't no point acting sheepish about it."

"I wasn't watching him I was just… looking… y'know like normal." Leanne said but Carla knew that she was lying.

"Oh please Leanne… I saw ya… I know that look… I had the same dopey one on me face when I used to watch Peter." Carla grinned.

"Yeah you did…" Leanne said grinning back at Carla and not realising what she was admitting to at first. "Wait… It's not the same though… I'm just…"

"Oh save it will ya Leanne… This is me you're talking too. I know what it's like to admire someone from a far... I won't say out to anyone... I'm just wondering that's all… If maybe you ave ever thought about… you n Nick aving another go of things thats all." Carla asked.

"Don't be ridiculous…" Leanne scoffed but Carla still had a judging eyebrow raised.

"Why not?" Carla asked as Leanne took a large sip of her drink.

"Well... too much has happened between us for that." Leanne began.

"I'm not gonna lie... I was expecting you to say no because of Kal but okay… That tells me a lot about the situation." Carla said wondering why Kal wasn't the first reason why Leanne had denied the whole Nick situation.

"Obviously… Kal and I are happy too… Me n Nick just ave a lot of history." Leanne said shaking her head, "We're just getting along better that's all."

"Okay… if ya say so." Carla said with a shrug, not wanting to push it with Leanne. "Where is Kal tonight anyway?"

"With his Mum and Dad… he said he's coming later but we'll see..." Leanne said, as Carla nodded. She smiled at her and then said, "I know this sounds a little crazy... but should me n you make a resolution together?"

"Us?" Carla almost exclaimed, watching Leanne sideways.

"Yeah... us... I mean we've both been through a lot together and whilst it's been awkward..." Leanne said with a laugh.

"Awkward?" Carla cried, "Leanne it's been a downright disaster... I mean the amount of men we've shared has been a joke."

"I know..." Leanne chuckled again, making Carla laugh too. "But we've both come such a long way... I think if we work at it... we could be mates again... proper ones... what d'ya say eh?" Carla gave a slightly tipsy Leanne a nod and then a smile and said,

"Why not... I'd love to." They both hugged each other tight for the first time in years, they were still clinging onto each other when they heard Peter say,

"N just what is going on over ere eh?" Carla pulled away from Leanne and grinned as he sat down next to her but they didn't get a chance to answer him because Carmen had rushed over to them and said,

"Mister Peter come and dance with me... please!" Peter couldn't resist Carmen and followed her over to the dance floor that people had created. Carla watched them as Carmen went and stood on Peter's feet so that they could dance together. She was smiling up at him with a look of pure glee on her face and Carla couldn't help but smile foolishly too.

"I was gonna ask you how things were going with Peter but I think it's clear by the look on ya face right now that things are going pretty well." Leanne said, watching Carla stare at her husband.

"Oh he just makes my heart ache… especially with that little Carmen." Carla said, shaking her head but not taking her eyes off Peter. After a while she the said, "Uh I can't wait until we ave kids of our own... He's such a good Dad."

"Is that something you've talked about?" Leanne asked,

"A little… it's on the table for the future…" Carla said a little stiffly. She hadn't meant to talk about kids with Leanne, not because it was hard for them both but just because it wasn't something that she had even spoken to Michelle about yet. "He says we should wait until Valentines Day is over before we talk about it properly."

"Why?" Leanne asked, Carla shrugged her shoulders and said,

"Oh I dunno... This is Peter who knows what he's got up his sleeve... has Si said anything?... Leanne?" Carla turned to her to see that she now had her eyes on Nick again. "Talk to me self I spose." Carla grinned.

"Eh?" Leanne asked, distracted now.

"Look... I don't mean to push this whole Nick thing but… seeing as we're mates now..." She grinned. Leanne rolled her eyes at Carla and shook her head but it was clear that she was listening to her all the same. "If you feel something for Nick… anything… tell Kal… tell Nick… do something about it… please don't ignore it, all ignoring it does is make it worse… honesty is the best policy… trust me… I know about this stuff..."

"Yeah okay..." Leanne said with a grin. Carla smiled at her before leaving it at that. She hugged Leanne once more before getting up and walking back over to the make shift dance floor.

"You okay?" Peter asked, as Carla approached him and Carmen. She grinned at them both and said,

"No… I'm jealous of a four year old… what's me life coming to eh?" Peter chuckled at her and she walked past them and tapped Simon on the shoulder. He was stood at the bar with Santana. "Come on you." She said to him, taking him by the shoulders and forcing him to dance with her. He resisted as much as he could but he couldn't help but enjoy dancing with Carla and his Dad. They messed about during the fast songs and the slow songs danced hand in hand until Simon saw his Mum from a far who was sat on her own and then frowned,

"What's wrong with me Mum?" he asked, Carla sighed a little and said,

"Why don't you go and ask her eh?" Simon let go of Carla and walked over to Leanne, who was making her way through another glass of wine.

"Mum?" He asked, sitting gingerly next to her.

"Yeah?" She asked, trying to look as bright as she could.

"What's up?" Simon asked her, staring intently at her as Peter joined Carla's side and Carmen went over to her Mum.

"Nothing… I'm just thinking of my new year's resolution that's all." Leanne said with a soft smile.

"And?" Simon asked, not sure if he believed his Mum or not.

"Well my first one… is going to make sure that I spend more time with you… we've kinda drifted apart a little since your Dad's been back and it's not his fault it's mine… I've known he's been around to keep ya busy so I avent really been there as much but all that's gonna stop… I promise." Leanne said, Simon smiled at her and nodded before putting his arms around her. Peter watched from across the room with his arms around Carla and said,

"What were you n Lea chatting about earlier?"

"Hmmm wouldn't you like to know." Carla said, turning to face him before kissing him on the lips. He grinned as she kissed him and didn't hesitate to kiss her back.

"Oi you two!" Simon called, "It's not midnight yet!" Carla sighed as she pulled away from Peter as he said,

"Honestly… can't even kiss me own wife in peace."

"Oh don't worry... I meant to say the other day, Si loves how loved up we are... even if he pretends otherwise." Carla said,

"Shhhhh!" Santana hissed as she walked past them both. "You're not supposed to know that are ya." She grinned, Carla and Peter both tapped their noses to show it was their secret as Santana walked over to Simon and Leanne. Soon enough it came towards midnight and everyone gathered up with his or her loved ones for the big moment. Carmen was stood clutching a party popper between her fingers, she looked ridiculously tired but she was trying her hardest to fight it, obviously wanting to stay up for midnight. Amy was stood excitedly next to her almost armed with party poppers whilst all the couples were of course stood together, waiting for their big moment. Carla had her arms wrapped around Peter's neck as he stood in front of her and as he put his around her waist he said,

"So... Are ya ready for 2016?"

"Absolutely… are you?" she asked with an assured smile.

"Yep… 2016 is going to be our year… I can feel it." Peter replied, in awe that he was about to ring in the new year with Carla by his side.

"Me too." Carla nodded, "N I tell ya what... I see a bright future for you n me Mr Barlow… Simon too of course… and anyone else who comes along as well."

"Okay this is it!" Nick called looking down at his watch and standing next to Juliana. Leanne was behind the bar at the time and Kal still hadn't arrived. Everyone in the Bistro began the countdown from ten to zero and of course kissed their loved ones when Midnight came. Carla and Peter kissed passionately as the people around them cheered loudly and let off their party poppers and when they pulled away from each other they both giggled like a pair of kids at the sight of Simon and Santana kissing.

"Yep… Still can't get used it." Peter said looking at them.

"Yeah… me neither." Carla said, she gazed around at the people who were all hugging and wishing each other a Happy New Year. Then she looked at Nick who was kissing someone too.

It was Santana and Carmen's Mum. Carla quickly looked to find Leanne and see her reaction but it was too late because Leanne had already gone.


	41. Forty One

**_Got me Macbook back and YAY everything is still here!_**

**_Enjoy and review!_**

* * *

"Has anyone seen me Mum?" Simon asked, as most of the people who were at the Bistro were now getting reading to leave and go to The Rover's for the second part of the New Years Party. They were putting on their coats and drunkenly singing along to the music in the background as Simon craned his neck to see if his Mum was about.

"She was ere wasn't she?" Peter said, scanning the room as Leanne had been behind the bar just before midnight.

"Yeah she was…" Carla said, watching Nick and Juliana who were chatting up close after their midnight kiss. "Maybe's she gone out back…" Carla added wondering if she should go and find Leanne. She couldn't help but think that this kiss Nick had shared with Santana's Mum had affected Leanne more than even Leanne had realised. She was about to go and find her when Peter took her by the hand.

"You ready to go?" He asked, none the wiser to Leanne's disappearance.

"Errr yeah." Carla said, sighing and putting on her leather jacket. Simon on the other hand wasn't ready and insisted on finding his Mum.

"But Dad I need to say bye…" He said shaking his head.

"Alright… we'll wait ere." Peter said after Simon headed towards the kitchen.

"Fancy my Mum and Nick kissing though…" Santana said with a raised eyebrow as a very tired Carmen clung on to her. She looked as if she would fall asleep at any moment and her eyelids were beginning to droop as Santana picked her up. "Mum!" Santana cried.

Juliana, who was in the middle of a sentence, stopped taking to Nick and then glanced over to her two kids. She quickly turned back to Nick and said something, then she came over to her two children after swapping numbers with Nick and saying a rather long-winded goodbye to him.

"So…" Juliana said, looking rather flushed. "Happy New Year…"

"Happy New Year Mum." Santana grinned, pleased for her Mum and glad that she had a good time.

"Happy New Year." Peter smirked, putting an arm around Carla who leaned against him, she smiled at Juliana but was slightly concerned about Leanne and bit her lip as Juliana beamed back her, clearly pleased about her evening with Nick.

"I suppose I'd better get your sister home really." she sighed, taking a sleeping Carmen away from Santana who then frowned.

"Oh… okay." She said with a nod, guessing that she'd have to go home as well.

"Tan I'd let you stay but how on earth will ya get home?" Juliana asked,

"I'll drop her home..." Peter suggested, Carla nodded at Juliana as Santana looked hopeful.

"Okay… sounds like a plan." Juliana said with a grateful smile towards Peter.

"Yay!" Santana cried, excited to tell Simon that she could stay a little longer.

"Thanks Peter… and thanks for inviting me here… I've had such a great time." Juliana said,

"Yeah… we know." Carla smirked as Simon came out of the kitchen. "Si… did ya find her?"

"Yeah…" Simon nodded slowly.

"And…" Carla began as Peter pulled her towards him affectionately. "Was she okay?"

"Yeah she was fine." Simon nodded as Santana took his hand and begun telling him that she could come along to The Rover's too.

"Is everything alright?" Peter asked Carla as Juliana waved goodbye to them all. Carla and Peter both waved back before Carla smiled and gave Peter a quick kiss. "Of course it is."

"Good." Peter nodded, although Carla's new found interest in Leanne had definitely sparked his interest. "Come on then, I'm sure Michelle is dying to see ya." He eventually said, deciding he'd tackle the topic of Leanne another time.

"Happy New Year!" Michelle cried, as Carla, Peter, Simon and Santana all entered the pub together. Carla let go of Peter and ran over to Michelle with her arms open wide.

"Happy New Year Babe!" Carla said back. As Peter and Steve also gave each other a new year hug.

"So… how was the bistro?" Michelle asked, wondering if how she had decorated the pub matched up. She also had balloons and a banner and had laid out some more basic party foods like Sausage rolls and mini pizzas.

"Ahhh it was nice but nothing beats being ere with you my love." Carla grinned, knowing that was the only answer that would satisfy Michelle. She held onto her best friend and Simon and Santana started eating again.

"So… as it's January 1st… you know what that means?" Michelle began, Carla rolled her eyes at her best friend and knew what was coming. "The countdown to your birthday has begun my friend… any last minute gift requests?"

"Errr as always No. We've only just had Christmas Chelle." Carla said, as Peter joined her and Michelle. He kissed Carla lovingly on the cheek even though she was still in the arms of Michelle.

"Oh leave off Peter… I bet you've been doing that all night… let me have a hug eh?" Michelle cried, a little tipsily at that, making it clear that she had been drinking for hours now.

"Now now don't get jealous, there's plenty of me to go around." Carla joked.

"Yeah not if I can help it." Peter grinned, "So…did I over hear the B word before?" Peter then asked, still grinning at Michelle and Carla as he leant on the bar.

"You sure did." Michelle nodded.

"Ahhhhh…" Peter nodded back, knowing how Carla felt about her birthday.

"Forty one eh… would ave thought it?" Michelle smirked,

"Eh…" Carla said giving her a playful shove. "I don't want any of that sort of talk… If anyone asks I'm turning forty…for the second time."

"Oh don't be like that Carla… It could be worse… you could be Peter's age." Michelle cackled.

"Oh ha ha." Peter said as Carla giggled with her arm still around Michelle.

"You've got a point there." She said, "But seriously… I don't want any fuss."

"Okay." Peter nodded but Carla didn't take this nod to mean anything but the opposite and it was clear that Peter was definitely going to make a fuss.

"I mean it Barlow… I don't want a party or any of that kind of stuff." Carla warned.

"Does that mean you don't want any presents either then?" Peter asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Wait… I never said out about presents." Carla replied as Michelle let go of her to get them all some drinks. "I can deal with presents… especially if they're anything like the ones I got for Christmas." Peter smiled at Carla unable to refrain from putting his arms around her waist as Michelle returned with a wine for her and Carla and a orange juice for Peter. She rolled her eyes as Peter smiled smugly.

"Honestly you two… can't keep you're hands off each other for one moment can ya?" Michelle cried with a slightly annoyed tone to her voice.

"Nope." Peter shook his head as Carla picked up the glass of wine Michelle had placed on the bar for her.

"Loving the dress Carla." Michelle said nodding at Carla's black dress which had long sleeves and a high neck but a lot of leg on show.

"Yeah me too." Peter smirked, Michelle didn't look too impressed at Peter's comment but Carla had started speaking before she had time to say anything.

"Thanks… I bought it about a month ago and I was planning on saving it for the day that must not be spoken about but then I remembered me birthday was on a Sunday and that there's no point." Carla said, sipping wine as Peter picked up his orange juice.

"Eh what d'ya mean there's no point?" Michelle exclaimed, shaking her head. "Just because you're birthday is on a Sunday it doesn't mean there's no reason to celebrate…" She then glanced at the bell that they ring to announce last orders and smirked, Carla watched her best friend smirk and then realised what she was about to do.

"Chelle Don't you dare!" She cried but Michelle had already rang it and said,

"Everyone I know it's New Years Day… or New Years Eve if ya will but it's also my best girl, Carla's birthday on Sunday so who's up for celebrating it tonight?" Many of the pubs costumers all cheered, including most of Carla's factory lot and Peter too. "Alright then!" Michelle looked smug as Carla looked embarrassed and said,

"Yeah thanks for that Michelle."

"No problem." Michelle said as Steve had changed the music and started playing Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday. Carla rolled her eyes again but couldn't help but smile happily as Michelle dragged her over to dance.

Peter loved seeing Carla so content and as more and more people started drinking and dancing, The Rover's Party was already better than the one at the bistro. As the night began to get underway, it was soon clear that Santana was starting to get tired. She and Simon were sat in the corner and she had her head rested on his shoulder as Simon yawned. Peter watched from a far and said to Carla,

"I reckon it's time for Santana to go home…"

"Okay…" Carla said, smiling and getting up of the chair she had been sat on with Michelle. She was about to say goodbye to her when Peter shook his head and said,

"No… you stay ere… this is your birthday party after all." He grinned.

"You sure?" Carla asked, Peter nodded and kissed her before walking over to Santana and Simon. Michelle watched as Carla watched Peter help Simon and a very tired Santana up. She smiled as Peter put his arm around his son and as they waved goodbye to everyone, Carla waved too and said,

"Bye Si… Bye Santana… Be back soon baby." Peter winked at her as he left the pub. Carla sighed as Michelle watched her and rolled her eyes again.

"Oh god… where does Santana live? Liverpool?" She joked nudging Carla who sat back down next to her.

"No she lives about ten minutes away smart arse." Carla said, picking up yet another glass of wine. She glanced around her to make sure that no one was listening and said, "You know her Mum… well at midnight I saw her necking Nick."

"Nick Tilsley?" Michelle exclaimed, holding her own glass of wine also.

"Obviously Nick Tilsley, I mean how many other Nick's do ya know?" Carla said,

"Alright…" Michelle giggled, "So they were kissing at Midnight… Wow."

"Wow? Wow what?" Carla said,

"I'm just surprised that's all." Michelle replied.

"Why?" Carla asked, wondering if she had noticed something with Nick and Leanne as well.

"I'm just surprised that you and Peter had your tongues out of each other's mouths for long enough to see Santana's Mum and Nick kiss." Michelle remarked, Carla put down her wine glass and frowned at her best friend for a moment. "What?"

"Are you jealous Chelle?"

"Jealous? Of what?" Michelle said, shaking her head and finishing off her own wine.

"Well I'm not being funny but you've been making snide comments like that all night n I dunno why?" Carla said, leaning forward slightly and watching her best friend.

"I'm not jealous… well not really it's just…" Michelle paused, sighing and looking over at Steve who was laughing at something with Lloyd. "I just wish Steve paid me half the attention that Peter paid you."

"What you on about Chelle?" Carla scoffed, "Steve loves you like mad."

"Yeah I know that… It's just… Peter is all over you, like all the time… I would love just a bit of that." Michelle said sadly.

"Well it goes both ways Chelle." Carla began, "I mean I don't see you cosying up to Steve like I do to Peter."

"That's true." Michelle said, watching him in the distance.

"Well go on then… there's no time like the present is there?" Carla said, nudging Michelle and pointing at Steve.

"What now?" Michelle cried, Carla nodded at Michelle and got up off the chair.

"Yes now." She said, bending down and picking up her empty glass as Michelle got up too. "Eh can I get a refill?" Carla asked, holding up her empty glass.

"Help your self." Michelle said, pointing at the bar and going over to Steve.

"Okay…" Carla said to herself, as she walked behind the bar and started to fill up her glass of wine. She heard a wolf whistle and turned around to find Zeedan stood with a cheeky smirk on his face.

"I didn't realise they had a new barmaid in ere." He said as Carla walked over to him.

"Ha hardly, I'm just getting myself a refill whilst Michelle gets a refill of her husband." She said, nodding over to Michelle who was now in an embrace with Steve.

"Oh… right." Zeedan said, "Well whilst you're behind there d'ya fancy getting me a lemonade?"

"Cheek." Carla said, but she found her self pumping Lemonade to Zeedan and handing it over to him anyway. "Errrr… how much is a lemonade?" She asked, the puzzled look on her face making Zeedan laugh out loud.

"Erm… I think it's a quid." Zeedan said, handing Carla a one-pound coin.

"You sure… You're not trying to rip me off are ya?" Carla said, taking the coin and then staring at the till. "Erm… I think I'll leave it ere." She said, placing it next to the till as Kirk came over to the bar.

"Hey Mrs B…" he said, looking slightly confused to see Carla behind the bar but not questioning it much.

"Oh don't get any ideas Kirky…" Carla said, shaking her head at him. "I'm not working behind ere… just helping meself to some wine."

"Oh… right." Kirk said disappointedly, "I was gonna ask for a pint."

"A pint? As if?" Carla said, staring down at the beer tap and shaking her head. "Yeah I'm not even gonna try."

"Oh go on…" Zeedan chucked, "Do it!" Carla shook her head but couldn't help but laugh along with Zeedan. She was used to this kind of banter with him at the gym and secretly enjoyed being in his company, especially since he was such a good friend of Simon's.

"Well… I ave always wanted to ave a go…" She said, putting a hand on the beer tap.

"Do it, do it, do it!" Kirk and Zeedan cheered as Carla attempted to begin to pull a pint. It didn't go well and as the glass Carla had in hand started over flowing with foam.

"Oh god!" Carla cried stepping back and spilling beer everywhere.

"What are you doing?" Zeedan cried, shaking his head as Carla put the glass down and onto the bar. Kirk looked at it and even though it was a glass mostly full of foam he took it so that he was still being polite.

"Errrr maybe I should let you ave that for free eh?" Carla said, watching Kirk as Zeedan bit his lip.

"Thanks Mrs B." Kirk said, sipping the foam as he walked away from the bar.

"So… where's Mr B then?" Zeedan said, turning back to look at Carla who was wiping her beer soaked hands.

"He's taking loves young dream home." Carla said, leaning forward onto the bar. She and Zeedan talked some more about Simon when Zeedan suddenly smiled and then burst into laughter again. "What?" Carla cried, poking him as he cackled in front of her.

"I'm still not over that pint you pulled." He said, shaking his head at Carla.

"Hey… it's not as easy as it looks y'know." She said glancing over at Michelle, who was still in Steve's arms. She then looked back at Zeedan who grinned.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked, as Carla smirked.

"I should ave another go right?" She said picking up another glass and checking that Michelle wasn't watching. She slowly pulled on the beer tap but the same thing happened again, leading Zeedan into fits of laughter.

"Shut it Zeedan!" Carla cried, half laughing as she stopped pulling the pint and putting the foam filled glass down onto the bar.

"Y'know I reckon you're supposed to tilt the glass." Zeedan said, watching Carla who had decided not to go for another one.

"Oh is that right? Well since were you such an alcohol expert, I mean you don't even drink." Carla said,

"Yeah well I ave eyes… I mean every time I see someone behind there pulling a pint they tilt the glass… and it doesn't look that hard to me." Zeedan teased, finishing his lemonade.

"Oh yeah…?" Carla said, with her hands on her hips. "Well… if you think you can do better… by all means…" She gestured towards the beer tap and Zeedan couldn't help but sneak behind the bar. "Go on then." Zeedan picked up a pint glass complacently and started to pull a pint as if he expected it to be easy.

"Woah… this is well hard." He said, staring at his glass which was also filling up with foam, just like Carla's had done.

"See." She said smugly, Zeedan laughed at her not noticing that his glass was now over flowling. "Zeedan stop!"

"Oh crap!" he cried as Liz McDonald came from out back. She took one look at her beer soaked floor and said,

"What on earth is going on back ere?"

"Errrrr…" Carla began as Zeedan slammed the pint glass down on the bar and said,

"Carla said I could come back ere." He began,

"Er No I didn't! Chelle said I could get some wine and he just followed me." She cried, giving him a nudge as Liz tutted.

"Just go will ya." She said, shaking her head at Zeedan and Carla who both stumbled quickly out of the bar area.

"Sorry Liz." Carla said, although not at all apologetically. Liz just shook her head at them again but she was smiling now and said very sternly,

"I'm going to get a mop… I trust you two won't be messing about behind my bar when I get back."

"She is quite scary y'know." Zeedan said as Liz disappeared out back.

"Who Liz? Nah… she's a pussycat really." Carla said, taking her wine and leaning on the bar on the customer's side once again. "So… where's ya Dad tonight?"

"Me Dad?" Zeedan asked, "He were at home… why?"

"Well it's just… He weren't at the Bistro with Leanne and she was expecting him that's all." Carla said, sipping her wine.

"Oh really? He never said anything about the bistro to me." Zeedan said shrugging, Carla watched his casual reaction and said,

"I know you're not Leanne's biggest fan."

"You got that right…" He began but then his face softened, "Well… to be honest… I do like her actually."

"Really?" Carla gasped although it was a slight sarcastic one at that.

"Yeah…" Zeedan nodded, "I mean I just don't say anything because…"

"Because you think you're going to look weak if ya do?" Carla said, putting her wine glass down and looking at Zeedan.

"Yeah… I guess." He said nodding.

"Well let me tell you something Zeedan, If you think admitting that you actually like Leanne then you're wrong… stepping up to your feelings and being honest about things… that makes you strong." Carla said with a nod. "I think you should tell her that you like her."

"I dunno… that would make things well awkward." Zeedan said, "I mean with the way I've treated her she probably wont want me around."

"Now I don't think that's true…" Carla began, she had just finished another glass of wine at this point and was starting to feel a little drunk. Zeedan laughed silently at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Carla said, still talking sense even though she was a little intoxicated now. "I mean take Simon for example… he hated me at first… Like really detested me and now… well now I can tell that he loves me, that kid really loves me and d'ya know what I love him too… I really do." Zeedan though about things for a moment and then smiled softly at Carla.

"Y'know what… I will talk to Leanne… you're right."

"Course I am." Carla said proudly, smiling back at Zeedan as Liz returned with a mop in hand.

"Thanks Carla." Zeedan said, he was still smiling at her as Peter walked back into the pub and put his hands over Carla's eyes. She grinned widely when she felt them and said,

"You're back." She didn't need to know that it was Peter and could tell just by his touch that it was him. "That didn't take long at all."

"Well the roads were pretty much empty." Peter said as Carla turned around and put her arms around him lovingly.

"Where's Si?" Carla asked,

"We ran into Leanne and he went home with her." Peter said as Carla leant against him. She then raised her head and kissed him softly on the lips. Zeedan stood by and watched, it didn't take him long to realise he was sort of imposing so he turned around and went back over to his friends who had been sitting in the corner waiting for him to return.

* * *

Carla and Peter didn't stay at The Rover's for much longer after that and they went back to his place. They awoke the next morning at around ten thirty am and after much deliberation they went to Roy's Rolls for some breakfast.

"Morning Roy, Happy New Year." Carla said as they sat down and he came to their table.

"Happy New Year to you both." Roy said, nodding at Peter as well who took of his coat. "Now what can I get you?"

"Can we ave two bacon rolls and two coffees." Peter said as Carla pulled off her scarf.

"Ordering for me are we?" she grinned, Peter nodded at her and said a very self assured,

"Well we always get the same thing in ere don't we? Although judging by how much this one drank last night, I'd make her coffee a strong one." Peter smirked pointing at Carla, who had woken up with a prominent hangover and had made sure that he had heard about it all morning.

"Alright alright Mr know it all…" Carla said as Roy walked back over to the kitchen, "Oh Roy…" she began but Peter interrupted and said,

"Don't forget the brown sauce." Carla rolled her eyes at him and leant forward so that she could take his hand over the table.

"Wow…" She said, "You really know me don't ya?"

"I sure do… better than I know me self sometimes…" Peter grinned but Carla was also grinning as she replied with,

"Well in that case you should know that if you leave a gift bag lurking in your bedroom, I am going to look inside it."

"What gift bag?" Peter asked casually although he knew exactly which one she was talking about.

"Oh come on Peter… there's no point in acting all coy about it. I saw it in your wardrobe." Carla sighed,

"And what were you doing in me wardrobe eh?" Peter chuckled, squeezing Carla's hand out of love as she sat before him.

"It was poking out and I just couldn't help me self." Carla smiled, as Peter shook his head.

"Well… Little miss nosy it might interest you know that it's also Tracy's birthday this month and that present in there is for her." Peter said truthfully as well but Carla looked unconvinced.

"Is that so?" She asked as Simon walked into the café with a woolly hat on his head, carrying his hover-board Segway in his arms.

"Simon… just so you know." Roy began but Simon nodded at Roy and said,

"I know Roy… you've banned these from your café… I wont ride it… I promise." Peter turned around at the sound of Simon's voice and grinned at his son as he walked over to them.

"Hey Si." Carla said, smiling at him as he sat down.

"Hi." He said, "Roy can I have a hot chocolate please?"

"Sure." Roy said, mentally added it to Carla and Peter's order.

"Thanks." Simon said before turning back to his Dad and Carla's table. "So did you two ave fun last night then?"

"We sure did… how about you? Peter said, "That's probably the latest you've ever been out eh?"

"Yeah that's what you think." Carla winked at Simon who laughed, Peter however didn't find this funny and said,

"You better be kidding."

"Course she is." Simon said smiling, "Yeah I had a dead good time, so did Santana."

"You sure? She was a bit quiet on the way home." Peter said, Simon nodded at his Dad and said,

"Yeah… I think she was just a bit tired that's all."

"You seeing her today?" Carla asked as Roy brought over their drinks, she thanked him as Simon nodded and said,

"Yes later on, I'm just going over to her place I think." Simon said, wrapping his hands around his hot chocolate mug and smiling. He spent the rest of his New Years Day around Carla's with her and his Dad and got to Santana's house at six pm. He knocked on her front door and Carmen opened it, dressed in a Minnie Mouse onesie with her brown her tied up into two buns on her head, presumably to look like ears to go with her onesie.

"Hello Simon!" She cried, wrapping her little arms around the tops of his thighs.

"Hi Carmen." Simon smiled, walking into the house and closing the door behind him.

"Tana it's Simon!" Carmen cried up the stairs as she ran back into her living room. Simon walked behind her to say hello to her Mum but he was very surprised to see Nick sat at the wooden dining table engrossed in a game of Frustration with Carmen and Juliana.

"Oh… Hi Nick." Simon blurted out, Nick nodded sheepishly at Simon and said,

"Hi Si… you okay?"

"Yeah… fine." Simon said, still stunned to see Nick sat in his girlfriend's house. "Hello Mrs La Rosa."

"Hi Simon… Santana's upstairs in her room, she's sulking about something." Juliana said just as Santana had appeared in the hallway.

"I am not." Santana sighed, "Come on Simon… let me get you a drink." She said, pulling him into the kitchen. Once in there she closed the door as Simon took off his coat.

"What's wrong then?" Simon asked, watching Santana with a raised eyebrow as she pulled out a can of coke from her fridge.

"Why does something ave to be wrong?" She asked, handing Simon the coke and leaning against her fridge.

"Because you look mad… really mad, so what is it? It's not something I've done is it?" Simon asked, Santana shook her head at him and said,

"No Si… of course not."

"Come on then… what is it?" Simon asked, Santana exhaled and blew the hair out of her face before saying,

"It's me Mum… and Nick…"

"Nick?" Simon asked,

"Yeah… I mean I know that they kissed last night but I wasn't expecting this… One minute they were texting next thing, he's round ere and they're playing board games, do you not think it's a little fast?" Santana asked Simon as he opened his can of coke.

"Well… they're only playing Frustration." He said unhelpfully. Santana just rolled her eyes at him and shook her head before looking down at her feet. "Tan… aren't you happy for your Mum… you said you were last night."

"I am… it's just… I thought it was just a cute kiss and now… now he's here… in my house." Santana said quietly. Simon nodded at her and finally got where she was coming from.

"Is… this about your Dad?" he asked, Santana nodded slowly and looked up at her boyfriend.

"Yeah…" she began, "I mean he's only got two months left inside and I thought… well I just thought maybe after he got out… he and Mum could maybe work things out… but how are they supposed to do that with Nick about?" Simon put the can of coke on the kitchen counter and put an arm around Santana before asking,

"Does your Mum want to get back with your Dad though?"

"I dunno…" Santana began, "I know he's a drinker and he's done some bad stuff but I also know that deep down they really love each other."

"Sometimes love isn't enough." Simon said, stroking Santana's arm supportively. "Me Dad says that sometimes if you love someone… you ave to let em go."

"Yeah and look at your Dad now? He's back with Carla and he's happier than ever. I saw em Si… last night they looked so perfect, especially when they were hanging out with you and stuff, you three are like a proper family… that's what I want… I want my family back Si." Santana sniffed.

"Tan you ave a family." Simon said, "Even if your Mum and Dad don't get back together you still ave them and as you said, your Dad's only go two months left… I'm guessing that your Mum is lonely now and if having Nick around makes her happy… you just ave to deal with it I'm afraid." Santana let out a deep sigh knowing that Simon was right and held him close as she said,

"You're right… I hate that."

"I know you do." Simon chuckled, kissing Santana on the forehead in a way he had seen his Dad do to Carla many times before. "Nick's a really good guy though and speaking of family, it's Carla's birthday on Sunday and me Dad's got this special thing planned for it and he wants you to be there."

"Oh yeah?" Santana said, "What is it?"

* * *

Carla normally hated her birthday and Peter knew it, but that didn't stop him doing everything in his power to make it a good one. He wanted make sure that he made up for the fact that he had missed last years and had the day all planned out. He had asked Michelle to take her out all day on Saturday so that he could get things ready so they went for a day shopping whilst Peter cracked on with the things that he had to do.

His plans were so top secret that Michelle didn't even know what they were and as she dropped Carla off at Peter's flat on Saturday night, she hoped that these plans wouldn't interfere with hers.

Carla stayed the night at Peter's and was awoken by him singing Happy Birthday softly. She smiled affectionately as he walked towards her. He had a cupcake in his hands, which was covered in a large amount of white buttercream icing which he had stuck a candle in.

"Awww Peter." Carla said as he came and sat on the bed in front of her.

"Go on then… make a wish." He said, smiling at Carla excitedly even though on the inside he was praying that today would go off without a hitch.

"I don't need any wishes Peter… I'm ridiculously happy as I am thanks." Carla insisted, but Peter still held out the cupcake in front of her and said,

"Go on… make one."

Carla closed her eyes tightly and thought long and hard about what to wish. She struggled to find something to wish for at first because she truly was content with her life right now.

"In your own time gorgeous." Peter chuckled as Carla was taking a while.

"Hey… you're the one who insisted I made a wish." She said opening one eye. "Okay… I've got one." She said before closing her eyes and blowing out the candle. "There… happy now?"

"Extremely." Peter nodded before leaning in and kissing Carla. She kissed him back as he took the candle out of her cupcake. "There ya go… dig in." he said, handing the cake to her. Carla's eyes went wide as she bit into the cake and said,

"Oh… Peter this is… amazing… where's it from?"

"What d'ya mean where's it from? I made it." Peter exclaimed, Carla raised an eyebrow at him and licked some icing off her lips.

"Really?"

"Well… no but I chose em all specially." Peter said,

"There's more?" Carla asked as she quickly wolfed down the rest of her cupcake.

"Yes…I bought a box of six… which is a good thing I reckon." Peter chuckled as Carla put the cupcake paper down on the side and was done with her cake in under a minute.

"Thanks baby." She said, kissing Peter passionately again and pulling him towards her by the arms that she had around his neck.

"Oi…" he giggled as she kicked the duvet covers away from the both of them.

"What?" she said, nuzzling her nose against his.

"We ave to get up… I ave plans." Peter said, although Carla had already flipped him over and was sat on his lap.

"Plans?" She scoffed, "Peter it's only eleven thirty am."

"Yeah well I ave people meeting us somewhere in Piccadilly in the next few hours." He said as Carla wrapped a hand around the back of his neck.

"Oh really? What for?" she asked excitedly,

"Well that would be telling Mrs Barlow… all you need to know it that we are expected to be somewhere at one and given how long you take to get ready, we definitely don't have time for… this."

"Oh you are so not sitting ere and turning me down… especially on me birthday." Carla grinned, licking her lips seductively and running a hand down Peter's chest. "Besides… I'll be quick."

"Yeah…" Peter breathed as Carla pulled his T-Shirt over his head. "Well _I_ won't be quick that's for sure… but as it's you're birthday… I guess we can be a little bit late eh?"

It was around One forty five when Peter and Carla arrived in Manchester Piccadilly and to Carluccio's which was a place Carla loved to eat in.

"Well well, looks who's finally decided to show their faces." Tracy grinned as Carla and Peter walked into the Italian restaurant. Peter had invited a few people to have a special birthday lunch for Carla and they had all been sitting and waiting for forty-five minutes now. There was Simon, Santana, Amy, Ken, Tracy, Michelle, Steve and Roy were all sat around a large table which had two spaces left for Carla and Peter.

"Surprise!" They all shouted as Carla stared at them and realised that they were all there.

"Oh Peter!" She cried with a huge smile on her face as they got closer to the table. "I knew you were up to something." She said as she hugged Ken who was the closet and then made her way down the whole table and saying hello to everyone.

"So what time d'ya call this eh?" Tracy said shaking her head at Peter who was also greeting everyone.

"Yeah you're forty five minutes late." Michelle said as Carla and Peter both sat down.

"Yeah and you can blame Carla for that." Peter smirked.

"Errrr no you can't actually because this man is insatiable." Carla said, nudging him in the side. He leant in and kissed her on the cheek as a waiter came over and said,

"Right, now that the birthday girl is here… shall we make some orders?"

After the meal, which had been extremely pleasant, everyone started handing out presents to a very humbled Carla. Roy had obviously tried very hard and done some research because he presented Carla with a Zara gift-card and the thought of him walking around Manchester trying to buy Carla this gift, had her full of so much love for him that she got up and gave him a huge hug and kiss.

Tracy and Amy had given Carla a bottle of expensive perfume and Michelle and Steve had given Carla vouchers for a weekend spa treatment that Michelle wanted to go to on the weekend. Simon and Santana handed Carla a present also, which she unwrapped and found that they had brought an expensive lipstick which was the perfect colour in Carla's eyes, it was pink but not too bright or too pale and it looked as if it would only enhance the natural beauty of her own lips. Santana then also handed over a card which her little sister Carmen had made specially.

"Ahhhhahaha it's adorable." Carla said, smiling lovingly down at the picture Carmen had drawn of Carla. She had a huge head but was wearing a black dress and a pair of really high heels as well. She had drawn Carla's hair down to the bottom of the page and had written _Happy Birthday _in her best writing. "Tell her I said I love it."

"I will." Santana nodded, "So, what did you get from Peter for your birthday?" She asked, Carla turned to Peter and shrugged, having forgotten all about a present from him until just now.

"I dunno actually…" She said, "He hasn't given me anything… yet?" Peter smirked at her and was about to say something when he saw the waiters walk towards the table with a large cream cake in hand, one that Peter had his Dad bring along before hand. "Oh… no." She smiled as the waiters and the people at her table all started singing Happy Birthday. Mid song Peter leant in to Carla and whispered,

"I wanted them to put forty one candles on there but they said they were scared it would set off the smoke alarms."

"Oi." She poked him in the stomach and giggled before kissing him tenderly on the lips as the song finished.

"Come on Carla… blow out the candles." Simon shouted across the table. She smiled blushingly and blew out the candles in her cake. As everybody cheered Carla couldn't help but turn to Peter again and kiss him.

"Thank you." She said then she turned to everyone else. "And thank you all for coming ere… I've loved every minute of it." Peter smiled at her as Michelle handed Carla a knife and said,

"Go on then… cut the cake." Carla stood up excitedly and began cutting the cake. Once everyone was well into a slice of cake each, she turned to Peter and said,

"You really spoil me y'know."

"You really deserve it." Peter said, as Carla moved up so she was sat right up against him.

"I do ave one question though…" Carla said, putting her plate down on the table in front of her.

"Go on then…" Peter said, wondering if she'd be asking where her present was.

"Why did we meet ere so early? I mean it's almost four… we could ave done this later on couldn't we?"

"No actually." Peter said, putting down his own plate and grinning.

"Why? What ave you got planned?" Carla asked eagerly as Peter got up and said,

"Are you ready for your presents?"

"Course I am." Carla cried as Peter got up. "Peter…" she said, as he disappeared out of the restaurant. Everyone watched in anticipation as Peter returned carrying a rather large present. He placed it in front of Carla whose eyes were wide.

"Open it then." Amy said impatiently.

Carla chuckled then leant forward and ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal a stylish black suitcase with gold wheels. It was brand new but what Carla didn't know was that it was also full of her stuff, stuff that Peter had packed yesterday and stuff he prayed that she wouldn't miss this morning.

"A suitcase…" Carla said, not sure what else to say.

"Yes." Peter nodded as everyone at the table continued to watch them both.

"It's… lovely." Carla nodded as Peter pushed it towards her. He smirked as he handed her an envelope and said,

"Open that too." Carla smiled and tore the envelope open to find her passport. "Where we going?" She asked.

"Well…" Peter began, "I remembered a few weeks ago you said you were missing Susie so..."

"L.A!" Carla cried, throwing her arms around Peter and practically ending up on his lap.

"Wow!" Amy said, "Uncle Peter sure knows how to buy a present."

"Yeah mines in a few weeks Peter… don't forget." Tracy said as Carla hugged him tight.

"I can't believe it… I mean I knew you had something up your sleeve but I was not expecting L.A." She said, tapping Peter on the shoulder.

"You're pleased I take it." Peter chuckled as Carla then kissed him on the lips.

"Baby I'm ecstatic." Carla said, still sat on his lap with her arms around him. "When are we going?"

"Tonight." Peter said casually.

"Tonight!" Michelle cried, thinking about the spa weekend she'd had planned and how it would now go to waste.

"Really?" Carla exclaimed,

"Yes really, why do ya think I've packed your new suitcase?" Peter said as a waiter came over and cleared the table.

"Wait… you packed for me?" Carla said, shaking her head. "Peter what are ya like."

"Don't worry… I've packed all the essentials, you know, things that you need… I mean I didn't pack a lot of clothes but that's not an issue because you won't be needed em." Peter grinned, Carla giggled and shook her head again as Peter laughed too. "I'm kidding... but we better get a move on. Our flight is at eight pm."

"Peter!" Carla said, giving him a playful slap. "What about the factory n stuff? I can't just up n leave like that."

"Don't worry about that… I've already been in there and spoke to them all about it. Alya and Sally have promised not to argue for the next two weeks and look after the place for ya." Peter said.

"Seriously?" Carla breathed, "I can't believe you did this… any of it… come ere." She said, taking his face in her hands and kissing him again.

"Oh would ya both just go and get a flaming room." Steve cried and with that Carla and Peter got up and said their goodbyes.

"Bye Chelle! Ahhh I can't believe it." Carla said, wrapping her arms around her best friend.

"Yeah me neither." Michelle said sadly, not wanting to say goodbye to Carla for a few weeks.

"Oh don't be sad babe, I'll be back before you know it and we can go on this spa weekend together I promise." Carla said, kissing her on the cheek.

After all the goodbyes were done, Peter paid the bill and took Carla's suitcase. She put an arm around his waist and snuggled against him as they walked towards the exit and said,

"Thank you Peter… for an amazing birthday."

"You're welcome… and it's not over yet." Peter said as he and Carla left the restaurant.

"Honestly Peter… you packed for me, sorted the factory, you've thought of everything." Carla gushed.

"Well not everything…" Peter smirked, "I mean we ave a thirteen hour flight ahead of us and I haven't planned what we're gonna do to keep entertained."

"Oh…" Carla grinned as they walked to his car. "I'm sure we'll think of something eh."


	42. Red Red Wine

_**Forever apologising for the late updates on this fic... **_

_**I am so grateful to everyone who still reads n leaves reviews.**_

* * *

Peter and Carla spent a two weeks in L.A. They had stayed with Carla's friend Susie and spent their days, shopping, on the beach and relaxing. Peter swam a lot whilst Carla watched by proudly and their nights were spent out at restaurants or at the cinema and even though they thoroughly enjoyed their time in California... Carla and Peter couldn't wait to get home.

They had both missed Simon like crazy and had returned to Weatherfield on Sunday the seventeenth of January. They had spent thirteen hours on a flight home and even though it was a fairly empty flight, there was a screaming baby aboard, one that prevented Carla and Peter from getting any sleep. Then whilst waiting for their suitcases it looked as if Carla's one was missing. The luggage from the L.A flight went round and round but her's just wasn't there.

Carla waited for five minutes and then almost threw a hissy fit to see that hers wasn't among the suitcases which were going round the baggage carousel. She was in full on panic mode that some of her best clothes were lost by the time Peter had spoken to the airport staff and found that they hadn't actually finished putting all the luggage out yet, sure enough within ten minutes, Carla's suitcase came out too. She breathed a huge sigh of relief as Peter lifted it off the carousel and said,

"Come on Drama Queen… let's find a cab."

It was ten am on a Sunday by the time they had returned home and they were expecting to see Simon as they walked into Peter's flat. They had spoken to him before boarding their flight last night and he'd said he'd be waiting for them when they got home but he was nowhere to be seen when they let themselves in.

"Si…" Carla called out, as Peter wheeled their suitcases into his flat. "Are you ere mate?" Peter shut the door behind him as Carla called out again. "Simon!"

"I don't think he's ere love." Peter said, yawning and taking off his jacket. Carla caught Peter's yawn as she took off her own coat and then smirked as he moved towards her.

"I guess not…" she said, as she chucked her coat over the side of Peter's sofa.

"I'm sure he'll pop over soon but… in the meantime." Peter began with a mischievous look in his eyes, one that Carla had seen plenty of times before.

"I'm exhausted baby…" she said, as Peter put his arms around her and kissed her lazily on the neck.

"Yeah… me too… Let's go to bed." Peter grinned, leaving their suitcases by his front door as he pulled Carla towards his bedroom. They were both in the middle of lazily undressing each other, when they heard the door slam and Simon shout out,

"Dad… Carla!"

"We're in ere Si…" Peter said as he quickly pulled his jeans back up and as Carla pulled her black T-Shirt back on. They both smiled at each other infectiously as they left the bedroom to see Simon with his own suitcase and a large backpack on his back. "Simon… what's going on?" Peter said upon seeing the agitated look on Simon's face and then the suitcase he had placed on the floor next to him.

"I'm moving in… properly." Simon said firmly, shaking off his bag and giving his suitcase a shove so he could get past and hug Carla tight. He had missed her just as much as he had missed his Dad and as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, he couldn't help but smile fondly at her, almost forgetting how angry he had been this morning. Peter lovingly watched for a moment as his son and Carla embraced before looking at the suitcase again.

"What d'ya mean moving in properly?" Peter asked.

"I mean… this is where I live now. I'm not staying at Mum's anymore… I've had enough." Simon said, still holding onto Carla who now looked concerned.

"Why? What happened?" She asked, wondering how things could have gotten so bad between Simon and his Mum for him to have moved completely out.

"She's never there… ever. She's normally in bed when I get up and go to school, I get in from school and she's either not there or she's literally only there for an hour before she goes to work." Simon groaned.

"So she works a lot Si… is that really a reason to move out?" Peter asked, as Carla let go of Simon and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on.

"You work a lot and I still see you." Simon said, "I asked her about it last night Dad… I tried to be grown up about it… I tried to do it nicely Dad I swear… I said we never see each other anymore and she said that she is working for my sake and that there is nothing she can do about it... it just turned into this horrible argument." Simon explained, going over and hugging his father as he remembered he actually hadn't said a proper Hello yet. "I've really missed ya Dad."

"I've missed you too son." Peter sighed, shaking his head a little at his twelve year old.

"Yeah me n all." Carla called cheerily from the kitchen. Simon smiled at her and then looked back at his Dad hopefully.

"So… can I move in? Properly? Please Dad…" he asked, chewing his bottom lip anxiously as if he actually thought his Dad would say no.

"Course ya can." Peter nodded, "Si… this is your home… you know that."

"Thanks." Simon nodded back, looking a little cheerier now because his Dad had said yes. Carla watched from the kitchen as Simon wheeled his suitcase towards his bedroom and went inside. Peter shook his head again as he yawned and joined Carla in the kitchen.

"What?" he said, looking at Carla's expression as she made a cup of coffee for them both. She was staring down at the coffee mugs that were on the kitchen work surface.

"Nothing…" She began but Peter lifted her chin up with a finger and looked at Carla disbelievingly. "It's just… well the nights that Simon stays at Leanne's… there're the nights that you stay around my place… I'm just gonna miss ya that's all." Carla said, "Before you say it I am aware how selfish that sounds, I just don't care..."

"Aww it's not so selfish… it's cute." Peter smiled, leaning in and kissing a tired Carla on the cheek. "Besides I'm sure Si's just angry, once he's really thought about things… he'll calm down n get bored of us." Carla yawned as Simon came out of his bedroom, looking excited with a huge grin on his face as he asked,

"So… what did ya bring me back from L.A then?"

Carla and Peter both grinned at each other before bringing their coffees into the living room and opening their suitcases so they could give Simon his presents. They had brought him back a pair of very expensive trainers that were only available in the U.S and lots and lots of American sweets. Simon was thrilled and said a very grateful thank you to Carla and Peter, who were extremely jet lagged at this point. They still enjoyed catching up with Simon and kept busy by showing him their photos and telling him about everything that they did.

"You ave take me there one day." Simon begged, staring at a photo of Carla and Peter stood nearby a skate park. "Please!"

"Maybe we will…" Peter nodded, getting excited and thinking about how fun a holiday with Carla and Simon would be, he then remembered about Simon's Valentines plans for Paris and new that they had to start sorting it out soon.

"You'd so love it out there Si…" Carla yawned, resting against Peter who was sat next to her on the sofa. By the time that Simon had finished looking through the photos on Peter's camera and he looked up, he saw that Carla was practically lying on top of his Dad, he head was rested on his chest and they both had their eyes closed. He realised they must be very jet lagged and happily took his new trainers and sweets into his bedroom so that they could sleep in peace.

It wasn't too long before the buzzer went off and made Carla and Peter jump suddenly. Carla sighed as Peter sat upright.

"I bet I know who this is." He said as he got up off the sofa. He had a feeling it would be Leanne and sure enough it was. She looked angry and also rather surprised due to the fact that Simon had actually moved out, she shook her head as she walked into Peter's flat and said,

"Is he ere?"

"Yes." Peter sighed, rolling his eyes as Leanne called out,

"Simon!"

"Yeah don't mind us Lea… me n Carla have only just got off a thirteen hour flight." Peter mumbled, Leanne didn't pay him the slightest bit of attention as she screeched again,

"Simon!" Peter watched as Carla sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. Simon appeared from his bedroom with a sigh and said,

"Hi… Mum."

_"Hi Mum?"_ She exclaimed, "I can't believe you actually went… Simon I told ya… I will try and spend a bit more time with you." Carla sat up on the sofa and bit her lip.

"Yeah yeah that's what you always say." Simon said, shaking his head in disbelief and walking over to the living room area. He put his hands in his pockets uncomfortably and stood next to the sofa, as if having Carla by his side made him a little more confident.

"I mean it Si I really do… just give me a chance okay. I told you on New Years that I'll speak to Nick and work something out with my shifts." Leanne said desperately.

"It's two weeks later Mum n you still aven't though... I wake up and you're in bed, I come home you're either not there or only there for a little while… I want to come home and spend time with you… like a proper family. When I get in and you're not there I get lonely… that doesn't happen here… when I get here, Dad's home… Or Carla's home and we watch TV together… we do stuff together… I'm sorry Mum… it's just not working for us at the moment." Simon said sadly. He saw the look on Leanne's face and whilst she looked genuinely distraught he knew he had to be honest with her. "I really don't mean to make you feel bad… I just… know I can be happy here that's all."

Peter couldn't help but feel guilty as he watched Leanne wipe a tear from her eye. He could see that she really didn't want Simon to move out but he could also see where Simon was coming from too. He knew it must be hard for Simon to spend so much time alone when he was staying at his Mum's and Peter knew for the most part that he had a lot of free time after work, free time that could be spent with his son.

"Peter…" Leanne cleared her throat, turning to him as Simon sat down next to Carla on the sofa, she put an arm round him supportively not knowing that it would affect Leanne even more.

"Do we ave to do this now Leanne? Me n Carla ave had a nightmare trip home… we're tired." Peter sighed, rubbing his own eyes and hoping Leanne would save this confrontation for another time, he knew he should have known better.

"Yeah I get that Peter but It would be really good if you could say something constructive ere." Leanne said as Peter joined Carla and Simon on the sofa.

"Look Lea… why don't you just let Simon stay for a week or so… and then once you've figured out what you're doing then maybe he can come back… if he wants."

"Are you for real?" Leanne cried, clearly not too impressed with Peter's response. "Is that all you ave to say?"

"What d'ya want me to say… if the kid wants to stay ere then I'm not going to stop him." Peter sighed, sitting down on the sofa and taking a deep breath because this was the last thing that he had wanted to happen after getting back from L.A. He and Carla were desperate to climb into bed and get some sleep not sit and argue about Simon.

"Nah course not…" Leanne nodded, "This is what you've been waiting for init Peter… Well I'm sorry but you cannot just come back ere and take Simon away from me like this."

"Take Simon away from you?" Peter scoffed, "Oh come on Lea get real... none of this is my fault."

"Yes it is… you ave been in and out of that kids life for years and now just because you've decided to be a father again he's decided he's moving in?" Leanne cried

"Leanne that is so unfair." Carla began, hoping to stick up for Peter but annoying Leanne even more.

"Carla I'm not being funny but this really has nothing to do with you." Leanne said with a scowl, she wasn't actually intending to be mean to Carla she was more looking at the fact that Simon was sat in between Carla and his Dad and they looked like a proper family. It hurt Leanne to see them looking like that and she had to try her very best not to start crying in front of them all.

"Trust me… When _it_ comes storming in ere n affects my sleep… _it_ totally has everything to do with me." Carla said, getting up and walking into the kitchen. She didn't want to get anymore involved in this argument, as it was only two weeks ago that she and Leanne were promising to be friends again.

"Tell him he can't stay ere Peter. Tell him he has to keep staying at mine a few nights a week." Leanne said, her voice trembled as she spoke and it was clear to everyone in the room that she was having a hard time with this all.

"I'm not going to do that… Sorry Leanne but Simon's happiness is important to me and if staying ere is going to make him happy then.." Peter sighed, shaking his head and feeling really bad for Leanne.

"I still love you Mum." Simon said, "And I'll still come and stay sometimes… it's just I like it ere… I like being with people… I like not being lonely."

"Fine." Leanne sighed, raising her hand to her forehead and rubbing it. "I understand…" She shook her head and then walked right out off Peter's flat, she slammed the door hard behind her as she went.

"Great." Simon said, feeling terrible for his Mum now and wishing he hadn't left their home.

"You alright son?" Peter asked, putting his arm around him. Carla came back from the kitchen slowly and sat down beside the both of them.

"Yeah… I think so." Simon said, looking down at his hands and biting his lip again. "She's so angry… isn't she?"

"Not angry Si… upset." Carla said, "She'll come around… wait till you see her next… things will be fine."

* * *

It was the next day when Carla saw Leanne, in the café as she was grabbing her morning coffee, Leanne was sat dejectedly in the corner at a table when Carla awkwardly sat down with her.

"Hey… how you doing?" She asked, Leanne shrugged and sipped her coffee. At first Carla thought she was being ignored but Leanne eventually said,

"I'm…okay."

"Look… Leanne… I'm sorry I didn't say anything that helped last night… I mean the whole thing was kind awkward… I get where Simon is coming from and you too, I think Peter was just trying to keep Simon happy y'know and I just thought it were unfair for you to blame Peter for…"

"Carla…" Leanne interrupted, shaking her head and smiling as best she could. "You don't ave to… it's fine. I didn't really expect you to stick up for me… It's me own fault really, Si's right I've been telling him that I'm gonna spend more time with him for ages now but I still haven't done it… maybe this is what I need." She sighed. "How was he this morning?" Leanne then asked,

"Quiet… didn't really say much if I'm honest with ya." Carla said, "Ave… you spoken to Nick?"

"No…" Leanne replied, sipping her coffee and assuming Carla was talking about her shifts. "I mean… he's pretty busy right now… we're fully booked every single night y'know."

"Yeah I do know, me n Peter tried to get a table for tonight actually…" Carla smiled, "But I actually wasn't talking about the bistro side of things, I was talking about the whole… New Year's Eve… thing."

"What… do ya mean?" Leanne asked slowly.

"Well y'know I saw Nick kissing Santana's Mum… and then I saw the fact that you sort of disappeared."

"Oh that were just coincidence that's all…" Leanne insisted, "Honestly… I'm with Kal and I'm happy… Nick is welcome to whoever he wants."

"Okay… if you say so." Carla said with an eyebrow raised as Zeedan walked into the café. As Kal was his Dad, Carla and Leanne knew they should stop talking about the current topic as he headed towards them. He was wearing his gym clothes and headphones, clearly ready for a day at work when he smiled at them both before ordering his breakfast.

"Morning." He said afterwards, especially smiling at Carla.

"Morning Zee." Leanne smiled, she then looked back at Carla who had guessed since she had been away that Leanne and Zeedan had had words.

"Morning." Carla grinned, smugly because it had been her idea for Zeedan to honest with Leanne about how he liked her. He nodded at Carla as Roy handed him a cup of tea and then looked down at Leanne.

"I heard about Si moving out…" he began, watching her in pity. "I'm sorry about that but… I'm sure he'll come around."

"Oh don't worry about it." Leanne smiled again, "He's probably just throwing a strop that's all." She spoke casually and as if it didn't bother her but Carla and Zeedan could both tell that she was just being brave about things even so, Zeedan just nodded and said,

"Yeah… Anyways I'm sure that he'll come back whenever he argues with his Dad or Carla and gets fed up of them."

"Eh me n Simon never argue thank you very much." Carla said, picking up her own coffee and taking a large sip.

"Which is crazy when ya think about it because that was all you did when he were a kid." Leanne said almost reminiscently, Zeedan looked rather surprised to hear this and looked at Carla for some sort of response.

"Oh it's true, the kid well n truly hated me." She nodded.

"No way... how could any one hate some one as wonderful as you?" He smirked as she got up off her chair because she was now late for work, She laughed silently at Zeedan before saying,

"Right… I've got a factory that I aven't seen in two weeks so I better be off n check the place is still standing..."

"Are you coming to the gym later?" Zeedan asked as Carla picked up her cup of takeaway coffee.

"You know it, I've got Peter meeting me there at five." She grinned before waving at Leanne and making her way out of the café. As she got to Underworld she saw an excited Eva Price stood outside in a furry black jacket. She waved wildly as Carla approached the building.

"Eva… when did you get back?" Carla asked, as the last she had heard Eva was in France.

"Last week…" Eve smiled, looking anxious about something, Carla walked up to the factory steps and watched Eva closely before saying,

"Well welcome back…" Eva followed her inside agitatedly and it wasn't long before she said,

"I heard you n Peter are back together… Congrats… I've always thought you were both meant to be… even with the whole… well Y'know."

"Errr thanks." Carla said when Eva trailed off, obviously not wanting to mention all the bad stuff that had happened between Carla and Peter.

"I heard you were both in L.A… it's alright for some eh?" Eve joked, nudging Carla in the side, who knew that Eva was definitely up to something.

"Yeah we were…" Carla said as she walked into the building. Many of the machinists all looked up and said various "Welcome backs." as Carla and Eva walked into the building properly.

"So…" Eva began after Carla had said all her hellos to everyone, "I were wondering… since I'm back n all…"

"You want your old job back?" Carla asked smirking and shaking her head.

"Yes please…" Eva said nodding excitedly.

"Well I can't exactly fire Sally... who I gave your old position to when you quit on me." Said Carla, "And I also have Alya..."

"I realise that… you must have a machinist job or something…anything please?" Eva begged, Carla pretended to think about it for a minute and then said,

"Well an extra pair of hands wouldn't go a miss... Oh go on then."

"Yes!" Eva squealed, throwing her arms around Carla and almost knocking her over in the process.

"Alright alright calm down Eva." Carla laughed,

"So when do I start?" Eva giggled, waving across the room to Beth and Sinead who were watching happily.

"Well there's no time like the present right? Y'know the ropes… go n ask Sean about our latest order and I'll get all the paperwork sorted okay."

"Okay, thanks so much Carla!" Eva said excitedly. She ran over to Sean who was excited to see her back and hugged him as Carla began walking towards the office.

"Do… we really need Eva back?" Sally Webster asked, appearing out of nowhere like she always does.

"No not really but she's a good machinist and we could always do with an extra pair of hands." Carla sighed, rolling her eyes as she continued towards her office. "And anyways Sally… last time I checked I was the boss ere which means I can hire anyone I want."

Carla closed the door to her office behind her, before Sally could say anymore and sat down at her desk. She had picked up her post from her building on the way to Underworld and had a pile of letters that she had received whilst in L.A. Most of them looked like bills or junk mail but one of them looked very important. One of them looked as if it had come from the local court.

Carla knew what it was before she had opened it. It was a letter about Rich Connor's trail. Carla was being called as a witness on January 22th. Even though a part of her was pleased that she had got Rich arrested and stopped him from harming any other girls, she felt slightly agitated about having to go through it all again in court.

Last time Carla was in a court room, she watched Peter get sent down for murder and the times before that weren't much better, her private life had been ripped apart far too many times inside a courtroom for her to want to go back anytime soon and she was beginning to wonder if it was actually worth it... especially if Rich managed to get away with it.

Carla put the letter aside and tried to ignore as she went over the books to make sure everything had been in order whilst being gone but it wasn't long before she picked up the letter to read it again, just as her office phone began ringing, she sighed before picking it up and saying a heavily depressed,

"Hello Underworld, Carla Barlow speaking."

"Hey… Mrs Barlow it's me…" Came Peter's voice down the phone, it was a welcoming sound to Carla, one which she smiled at and replied to with,

"Well Ello Mr Barlow... what can I do for ya?"

"Not much... I'm just calling to see how your first morning back at work is…" Peter said.

"Peter it's only half nine…" Carla laughed, staring down at the court letter.

"So… they say the first half n hour back after a holiday is always the worst." Peter said,

"Well it's not been so bad… Eva's is back in town so I rehired her." Carla said distantly as she read over the letter as she spoke.

"You okay? You sound a little sad." Peter said, instantly being able to tell, even over the phone that Carla was clearly troubled by something.

"Yeah… I'm okay." Carla said,

"But…" Peter replied,

"I got a letter from the magistrates court… Rich's trail… it's next Friday… and they definitely want me to be a witness."

"Oh…" Peter said, "Well at least you have a date now right…?"

"I know… I know… I guess I just didn't think it would come so soon." Carla sighed.

"And… It means you can finally stop worrying about when it was going to be." Peter added.

"And who said I was worrying eh?" Carla asked, leaning her neck to the side so that the phone was balanced between it and her ear as she folded up her letters and put them in her bag, so they were all out of the way.

"Carla… I can always tell when you're worried." Peter said softly,

"I'll be fine Peter." She insisted.

"I know... I just wish I was there to give you a hug." He said sweetly, making Carla smile again as she took hold of her phone properly again.

"Me too." She said, "You'll just ave to give it to me later on won't you."

"Definitely." Peter said, "Right I better get going but I'll see you at the gym later yeah?"

"Yeah." Carla smiled, looking forward to seeing Peter for a workout later.

The rest of Carla's day didn't perk up in fact it just got worse and worse. Things seemed to be going wrong all over the place. A sewing machine had stopped working, Beth was suddenly very sick all over the factory floor, Eva wasn't quite able to get to grips with the new orders and messed up a few times, then they ran out of boxes so Kirk couldn't get a delivery sorted. Carla had to call the clients and explain to them why they wouldn't be getting their order when promised and they were far from impressed, some even read Carla the riot act which she just had to put up with, not to mention that in the afternoon Sinead said that she was feeling ill and had been sick only moments later.

By the time five o clock came, Carla couldn't wait to get out of the factory. What with everything going wrong and the Rich stuff, She was hoping she could work out her frustrations and worries in the gym with Peter by her side but it was only when she arrived at the gym at around five fifteen, that she found Peter was held up at work.

"What do you mean you ain't coming?" Carla sighed as she walked out of the changing rooms on the phone to Peter.

"There's some big crisis with the website Carla… I can't just leave… we can go to the gym tomorrow I promise." he said.

"Peter I'm already here though…" Carla said, dressed in a pair of leggings and a matching black hoodie. She heard Peter sigh guiltily on the other end of the phone and shook her head before saying, "Y'know what babe… it's fine… I'll maybe see you later yeah." She hung up after Peter said goodbye and as she plugged her headphones into her phone for some music Zeedan joined her.

"Hey… where's Peter?" he asked, in his own workout gear as he got onto the treadmill next to her.

"At work." Carla said, tying up her hair and sighing again. Zeedan had been watching Carla at the gym for ages now, mainly because he still had a crush on her but also because she fascinated him. He had also wound her up and known her for long enough to know when something was wrong.

"I thought he was meant to meet you ere?" Zeedan said awkwardly, wondering if he should maybe shut his mouth and get on with his workout without bothering Carla.

"So did I?" Carla said, feeling guilty because it sounded like she was complaining. "I don't blame him y'know… he has work… I get it… I just wish that he was ere y'know… I could ave done with talking to him."

"Well you can talk to me if you want." Zeedan smirked, Carla knew he was joking but she as she pressed the button to start up her treadmill she said,

"Did you hear about what happened at the Underworld Christmas party?" She had already guessed that his sister would have told him because it was a pretty good story after all. Zeedan nodded at Carla as he began walking next to her and said,

"Yeah… I did… why?"

"Well the guy who got arrested… it's his trail next week and I'm being called as a witness." Carla said,

"Oh…" Zeedan said, not knowing what else to say to Carla now.

"Yeah..." Carla sighed,

"Do you… wanna talk about it?" Zeedan asked after a small silence, watching Carla as she walked slowly so she could warm up her body."

"Nah I'll be okay." Carla said, shaking her head and trying to look normal. "I know I look rather down in the dumps but it's only cause I'm always a little depressed after coming back from L.A that's all." She then upped the speed on her treadmill so Zeedan didn't have time to ask anymore questions but he hadn't forgotten the look on her face because later on, on her way out of the gym, Zeedan caught up with her and said,

"Hey Carla…"

"Yeah?" She said, turning around wondering if she had forgotten something. She had done an extra vigorous work out today, one where she had tried her best to let go of some of the stress she had been feeling about Rich's trail but it hadn't seemed to work, she still felt a little on edge and was hoping that a glass of wine with Michelle would maybe get rid of that edge.

"I'll walk with ya." He said, Carla nodded slowly as Zeedan began leaving the gym beside her.

"So what ave you got planned for this evening?" Carla asked.

"Nothing much… a bit of Xbox maybe… you?" Zeedan answered with a casual shrug.

"Oh I'm meeting Michelle in a bit for a drink." Carla said, revealing the plans she had made with Michelle earlier. Sure enough her phone started ringing and when Carla looked down at the screen and saw Michelle's name, she looked at Zeedan and said, "Hold that thought…. Chelle?" Zeedan watched and could tell that Michelle was giving Carla some bad news. "Oh no… well I hope you feel better Chelle." Carla said, taking a hefty sigh whilst walking next to Zeedan. When she hung up the phone Zeedan said,

"So let me guess… this drink is off then."

"Michelle's ill…" Carla said, putting her phone into her pocket. "I reckon there's a bug going round or something cause I had two of the factory lot ill today as well... Spose I'm going home then… maybe I'll just wait for Peter or something… although I could probably actually do with a bit of sleep as I'm sure I'm still jet lagged."

"You still worried about this court thing?" Zeedan asked quietly.

"Yeah… lets just say me n courtrooms don't exactly ave the best history." Carla sighed, forgetting she was talking to a young and rather new to the street Zeedan, who pretty much new nothing about Carla's past as far as she knew anyway. He looked blanked as she spoke because he didn't really know what Carla was getting at.

"Erm… okay." He said, as it came time for them to part ways.

"Enjoy the Xbox." Carla sighed again not wanting to bother him with her issues any longer. She'd see Peter soon and he'd made it all better. Zeedan saw the sad look on her face when she spoke and couldn't help but say,

"Just so ya know... I wasn't actually joking earlier… if you do wanna talk to someone… I don't mind... Y'know I owe you... after the Leanne thing."

"Awww thanks Zeedan… I'm glad you're mates with Simon… you're a good kid." Carla smiled, not meaning it to have come across as patronising as it did. He didn't look best pleased with her "kid" comment but smiled through it and waved goodbye eagerly as Carla walked towards her building.

She walked up the stairs to her flat and as she let herself in she wondered what time Peter would be home from work. She texted him and he told her that he'd be home soon but that wasn't enough for Carla, the past day had taken it's toll on her so much that if she couldn't have Peter, she would have to try and forget about it all in another way.

So after sitting down on her sofa for a while and trying to get her mind off the trail by watching TV… Carla ended up going to her kitchen and sighing as she went into her fridge, she saw the bottle of red wine in there and didn't hesitate to open it. She only intended to have a glass or two but within the hour, it was all gone and she was fast asleep on the sofa.


	43. I Promise

**_This Chapter is a little shorter than the ones before but I thought it made sense to end it where it ends… enjoy._**

* * *

Carla awoke the next morning to a pounding headache, a bunch of missed calls and text messages from Peter. She hadn't meant to fall asleep on the sofa or drink all of the wine she had done either and as she sat up to start reading the messages Peter had left, the sound of her buzzer echoed through her flat.

She didn't have to think too much about who it could be as she walked straight over to her door.

"Come in Peter." She opened her front door so he could come straight in when he got upstairs and when he did he breathed a hefty sigh of relief.

"Hey… stranger... I got so worried about you last night." He said, putting his arms around Carla and squeezing her tight.

"Why?" Carla asked with a frown, breathing in Peter's warm scent as he said,

"Well because you didn't answer any of my calls… It's only because I saw Nick and he said that he saw you yawning and coming in ere that I let you be… I assumed you must ave been asleep due to jetlag." Peter explained, stroking Carla's head gently and then looking at the empty bottle of wine that was on the coffee table in silence.

"Yeah… I was." Carla said, biting down on her bottom lip. Peter let go of her and then kissed her on the lips, he went into her kitchen and put her kettle on, to make her a strong cup of coffee. Carla wondered if he was going to say anything about the obvious amount of wine that she had put away last night but he didn't, instead he just brought the coffee over and placed it down in front of her. "Thanks baby." She knew he knew that she was majorly hung over and he still didn't say anything.

"You're welcome." He smiled, picking up the empty bottle of wine and taking it over to the bin in her kitchen, even after that, he still kept quiet on the matter, which surprised Carla and she was sure that during the time he was at her flat he would eventually mention it but he didn't. Not when he washed up the empty glass, not when he put the shower on for her and not whilst he walked her to work.

"So how's Si doing?" Carla asked, her arm linked into his.

"Yeah he's alright, he's meeting Leanne for dinner tonight in central." Peter replied, cuddling up to Carla in the cold January weather.

"Awww that'll be nice." Carla said, her head was practically pounding as she walked next to Peter, she couldn't help but smile through it as he proudly held onto her and as they approached underworld, she still loved being seen with him and being on his arm, even though they had been back together for two months now, the giddy feeling she felt at the beginning still lingered.

"He's really excited about it… maybe they'll get to talk about him moving out." Peter said, Carla nodded at him before he looked down at his watch and said, "Right I better get going to work." He said goodbye to her with a kiss on the head and as he said, "See you soon." Carla really felt as if he meant it. There was something in his tone that told Carla he had something up his sleeve and as she walked into the factory she wondered what he had planned.

"Carla, can I talk to you for a sec?" Eva said, as Carla went past Eva's sewing machine and towards her office, Beth and Sinead had both returned to work and it had also seemed like they'd had a miraculous recovery from their sickness.

"Errr... yeah." Carla answered, realising that something in the way she had been called Carla instead of Mrs Barlow meant that this wasn't going to be about work.

"How's Simon?" Eva asked.

"Simon?" Carla asked,

"Yeah y'know… Moving out of Leanne's n stuff n playing happy families with you n Peter." Eva said as Sinead walked past them both. Carla sighed heavily and shrugged because she genuinely didn't have the patience to entertain Eva's nosiness, especially with the hangover she was dealing with.

"He's fine…" Carla said.

"Well he must be a little bit sad." Eva replied, following Carla as she started walking again. "Leanne's devastated about this… it's really hard for her… can't you say something?"

"Like what? It's not my flat? If Peter want his kid to live there it's nothing to do with me is it?" said Carla as she rolled her eyes.

"I get that, I really do…" Eva began only to be interrupted.

"Look Eva… I ave a right headache and I really don't really want to talk about this now okay." Carla said, shaking her head and hoping her newest employee would take the hint, only she didn't, she still followed Carla and said,

"But Carla…"

"Look! Let me rephrase meself ere because clearly you aint getting it." Carla snapped, "I pay you to stitch knickers not ask me endless questions about me stepson and after yesterday's disaster I'm already wondering if I made the right choice in hiring you again, so unless you want a verbal warning on your second day back, I suggest you go back to your station and get some work done." The entire factory had become quiet due to Carla's raised voice and even Eva knew it was time for her to be quiet. Beth was staring, whilst Sinead and Sean had also been listening as well. Eva quickly nodded at her irritated boss and reluctantly went back to her sewing machine before she could get told off anymore but she didn't let up about Simon, after all Leanne was her sister and she couldn't stand to see her upset.

She was on her way back from her lunch break when Peter had arrived. He had taken the afternoon off work and was planning on spending part of it, talking to Carla and seeing if she is okay. He hadn't done it in the morning because he felt like she needed time to wake up properly first and he didn't want to come across as too smothering because he knew that she didn't like that type of approach.

"Hiya Peter." Eva smiled, waving at him fondly and deciding to go about things differently after the way Carla had reacted. Peter nodded at her and smiled as she, Beth and Sinead were making their way up the factory steps.

"Hi Ladies… nice to see ya back Eva." Peter said, "How's Carla been this morning?" he asked, Beth and Sinead shot each other a quick look as Carla had continued in a very bad mood over the course of the morning. Eva was more vocal on the subject though.

"Terrible, she had a right go at me earlier." She said frowning.

"Really?" Peter asked.

"Yeah and I barley did anything." Eva said rather put out.

"Well you were kinda having a go at her about Simon." Sinead said awkwardly.

"Simon?" Peter asked,

"I might ave mentioned that Leanne was finding it hard without him that's all." Eva said as Peter watched her. "I kinda... ask Carla to do something about it."

"Well with all due respect Eva that's not really your place, Carla has nothing to do with what goes on in my flat and if I want Si there, I ave every right." Peter said,

"Yeah… that's what she said." Eva said quietly.

"Y'know Carla really does need any of this… she's got a lot on her plate right now." Peter said as he walked past a guilty looking Eva, Beth and Sinead. He walked inside the building with the factory employees to find Alya sorting through an order that was being prepared in the corner. "Hi Alya… I'm ere to see the boss."

"Oh… hey Peter... She's in the office." Alya said, nodding towards it. Peter looked through the blinds and saw Carla with her arms and head rested on the desk. He smiled to himself as he walked towards her office. He gently knocked on the door so he didn't startle her but he also let himself in anyway.

"Not now…" Carla groaned, with her face hidden by her hair. "I ave a banging headache."

"Well… let me help you with that." Peter said softly, immediately making Carla's head rise. She smiled weakly when she saw Peter and as he walked towards her she said,

"Hey… what are you doing ere?" Peter took hold of the chair, which was on the opposite side of the desk to Carla and pulled it around so that he was sat in front of her.

"I've got the afternoon off seeing as I stayed late last night." Peter explained.

"Well it's alright for some eh." Carla said, lifting up her legs and resting her chin on her knees.

"You okay?" Peter asked, watching her for a moment. He smiled when Carla shook her head and said,

"Yeah I'm just… very…"

"Hung over?" He interrupted with a raised eyebrow, Carla looked embarrassed and nodded at Peter.

"Yeah… which is very odd cause I only had the one bottle."

"Only?" Peter teased, raising both eyebrows this time, he kept his tone as serious as he could but made sure Carla knew he wasn't trying to boss her about at the same time.

"Yeah…" Carla sighed, "I mean… you n I both know that I could do much worse."

"Mmhhmm that's what worries me." Peter said delicately, not wanting to start some sort of disagreement with Carla here but trying to make her understand why he was worried.

"So… why didn't you mention it this morning then?" Carla asked, fiddling about with a pen as she sat before Peter.

"Because you'd just woken up, because I really ave no business in telling you what to do and because the last time we had a conversation like this it ended in us arguing." Peter explained, watching Carla affectionately as she nodded. "I also felt bad because maybe if I had been there with you last night… maybe you wouldn't ave felt the need to drink your worries away."

"Don't Peter…" Carla said, shaking her head at him sadly. "You were at work… your job is important to you n I really really love that… anyways I promise… last night was just a one off… I hadn't planned on drinking that much, it was just a terrible day, I had loads going on ere, Beth n Sinead were throwing up all over the place n then I was going to go n meet Chelle but it turns out she was sick as well."

There was another knock on the door interrupting Carla and Peter, they both looked at the door as Eva appeared, Peter even turned his chair around so he could look at her properly.

"Hey…" Eva said taking a deep breath.

"Yes Eva." Carla said through gritted teeth. Eva looked guilty as she moved further into the office and said,

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry… for earlier… I shouldn't ave been asking you about Si… Y'know me I can't keep me mouth shut…" Eva laughed nervously before continuing, "I… just want you to know that I'm really grateful for me job back and It won't happen again." Peter smiled at Eva as Carla eventually nodded.

"Okay Eva… Thank you." Eva took a breath of relief before leaving the office and leaving Carla and Peter alone again. As the door closed, Peter turned his chair back around and looked at Carla admiringly.

"I was... a bit on edge this morning…" she began,

"Yeah so I heard." Peter grinned, Carla rolled her eyes and then rubbed them as Peter shook his head and said, "I'm guessing last night was a lot more to do with a certain member of the Connor family then whatever happened ere yesterday." He moved his chair closer to Carla's as she put her legs down and leant forward.

"D'ya know what we were doing this time four years ago Peter?" she asked, Peter vaguely shook his head at her, so she continued. "We were getting ready for Franks trail…" Peter nodded slowly and realised that Carla was right. That Frank Foster consumed January 2012 and when they should have been in the early stages of their relationship, they were worrying about Frank. "I dunno…" Carla said, "I guess I just thought that I had more time y'know… to prepare." Peter reached out and took hold of her hand as she sighed. "I kept thinking about it last night and although I hate the idea of it, I'm not too worried about the giving evidence part… not anymore at least."

"I don't blame you Carla, I mean it must be so hard getting up in the stand and aving the worst moments of your life dragged up like that." Said Peter.

"It is hard… really hard but I ave to do it Peter… it's important that I do it… n besides… giving evidence is something that I should be used to it by now eh?"

"No… you really shouldn't Carla." Peter said firmly, shaking his head slowly and feeling terrible for not being with Carla last night to talk about any of this. He lovingly traced over the tattoo, which was on her wrist and which matched his. He smiled at it and then looked back up at Carla.

"Well anyway, as I said… I'm not worried about the evidence part." she said.

"So… what part are you worried about then?" Peter said softly, Carla was quiet for a moment, staring down at his hand devotedly before speaking again.

"Peter the last few times I've been in front of a jury, they've got it all wrong… They sent you down for murder… they let Frank go free…"

"The verdict." Peter nodded understanding everything now. Carla bit her lip and nodded slowly, remembering some of the truly terrible things Rich had said to her, in the very same room she and Peter were sat in right now.

"It's not just me Peter… I mean who knows how many other women there were, I hate to think about what's gonna happen if the jury get it wrong again and let him go… he's dangerous Peter..."

"Well…" Peter began, kissing Carla's hand softly and making her giggle. "First of all I really don't think you need to worry about the jury… I'm very sure there is enough stuff on Rich to send his nasty backside down for a very long long time and as for you… I'm not gonna let anything happen to you baby…"

"I know…" Carla nodded but Peter wasn't finished talking yet, he used his other hand to gently brush some of the hair out of Carla's eyes and left his hand tucked behind her ear.

"I'm serious." He said intently, "I barley let you out of my sight as it is and if by some ridiculous miracle Rich gets out, you can best believe that he won't get anywhere near you… I… promise."

"I believe you." Carla smiled, already feeling at ease just from a few little words from Peter. "I really really do."

"Good." Peter kissed Carla's hand again triumphantly as she leant further forward and said,

"I love you so so much."

"I love you more." Peter replied as Carla kissed him full on the lips.

"Can we go somewhere?" she said, with her lips still pressed against his. He nodded at Carla, still holding onto her hand affectionately and as she pulled away from him slightly he said,

"Sure… where? Do you want to go n get some lunch?" Carla shook her head and had a distinct look of mischief on her face as she stood up and said,

"Take me to your place." Peter wasn't about to argue with Carla and followed her up and out of her office. She grabbed her bag and coat on the way out. She almost forget she had a building full of employees, She stopped so suddenly in front of them that Peter comically crashed into the back of her. She giggled as Beth leant over to Sinead and said,

"Well it looks as if she's cheered up."

"She always does where Peter's concerned." Sinead said as Carla cleared her throat, gaining the attention of her employees in the process.

"You lot will be alright ere for the rest of the afternoon won't ya?" She said, Sean held in a laugh as Beth and Sinead also looked amused as they nodded.

"Sure." Alya said as Peter took hold of Carla's hand and pulled her towards the exit.

"Bye bye ladies." Peter called loudly, over a squealing Carla who was showing no resistance in being dragged out of her building.

"Bye." Eva said, waving after them. "Blimey..." She said turning to Sean who just laughed as he started up her sewing machine and said,

"Don't worry... you'll get used to them two again."


	44. The Trial

Rich Connor's trial seemed to have come quicker than anyone had expected. It had begun on Wednesday the 20th of January and was supposed to be lasting three days if everything went to plan. Carla was due to give evidence at the court on the third day and she woke up early at around six am.

She had stayed over at Peter's place the night before, along with Simon of course and they had spent the night together, playing games and just having a proper family night in. Being with Peter and Simon always made Carla feel so happy and when she and Peter had gotten into bed thoughts of the trial weren't even on her radar... until she had woken up of course.

Carla crept out of Peter's bedroom wearing one of his shirts and as it was clear that Simon was still fast asleep too Carla decided to do what she always did when she wanted to let off steam.

She went to the gym. She arrived there at just before seven and it was fairly empty, there were just a few other people in there who were obviously getting in their morning work out in as well. As she started jogging, Carla thought about what today might have in store. Michelle had been to the court on the Wednesday and Thursday so she could see how things were going and so that she could tell Carla because she said she just couldn't face seeing Rich's face more than she had to. Michelle had come home on both days saying that there was a hell of a lot evidence against Rich already and that it definitely seemed as if he would be getting sent down for his crime.

With this information, Carla felt very confident about things, it was only when she woke up on the Friday that she started feeling slightly nervous again. She was finishing up a particularly hefty workout when Zeedan entered the gym, he smiled when he saw Carla and of course, walked straight over to her.

"Well look who's being the early bird this morning." He said cheerily, Carla smiled at him and nodded as she swallowed down some water from her bottle. "You okay?" Zeedan asked, watching her and knowing that something was up, then he remembered his sister telling him that Carla was due to be away from the factory today because she was going to court. "It's... that court case thing today isn't it." Said Zeedan when Carla didn't speak again. She nodded at him as she drunk some more water and eventually she cleared her throat and said,

"It is but I'm fine Zeedan… honestly."

"If you say so." Zeedan replied, he was about to walk away from Carla when she reached forward and took hold of his arm.

"Zee…" She said softly, he turned around looking surprised at how soft and gentle Carla suddenly looked. "I just wanted to say thank you that's all… I mean you always show a real interest in me and ask me if I'm okay… I really appreciate it... you're a really sweet a kid." Zeedan hated being called a kid, especially by Carla but he knew that she wasn't trying to be patronising and before he knew it, she had leant forward and gave him a little peck on the cheek. "See ya." She said before walking away, suddenly Zeedan was smiling and had forgotten how it felt to be called a little kid. Carla waved goodbye to him before leaving the building and he couldn't help but idiotically wave back.

* * *

On her way back from the gym, Carla had kindly picked up some breakfast from Roy's for her Peter and Simon. She was in the middle of putting their bacon sandwiches on plates when Peter emerged from his bedroom. His hair was ruffled and he was dressed in an old T-shirt and boxers as he approached Carla.

"Mornin…" Carla smiled, still in her gym outfit and handing Peter his plate.

"Mornin…" He replied, looking suspiciously at the bacon sandwich and then back at Carla. "Did you… make these?"

"Maybe…" Carla grinned, turning around and then handing Peter a cup of coffee. He took it off Carla with a smirk on his face as Simon came out from his bedroom, already dressed in his school uniform and with his backpack in hand.

"Goodmorning Si…" Carla said, holding up another plate with a bacon sandwich on, "I… ave some breakfast for ya if you're interested."

"Course I'm interested." Simon exclaimed looking pleased as he approached the breakfast bar, he then sat down on a stool and tucked into the bacon roll. Peter was still smiling and when he put down his cup of coffee, he walked around to the kitchen and gave Carla a soft kiss. She put her arms around him and couldn't help but giggle when Peter said,

"Y'know these bacon rolls look suspiciously like the ones from Roy's…"

"Do they?" Carla asked, leaning against Peter and breathing in, Simon swallowed some of his roll down and then joined in with his Dad, saying,

"They taste like the ones from Roy's too." He smiled, Carla just shrugged nonchalantly and said nothing as Simon bit into his roll again. Peter looked at Carla and kissed her again on the head as she said,

"Alright… I'll be honest… I'm guilty as charged, those rolls are from Roy's."

"I knew it." Peter chuckled not actually caring in the slightest that Carla hadn't made the breakfast, it was the thought that counts and after the day they had ahead, he knew she was probably feeling a little nervous.

"Well I wanted to treat ya both… n me serving up a few very burnt bits of bacon is not a treat." Carla said, pointing towards Peter's plate and wanting him to get started with eating it. He went and sat next to Simon as Carla started to pour herself a very strong black coffee.

"Thanks love." Peter said, as Simon had pretty much finished his roll and was quickly swallowing down the glass of juice Carla had poured for him.

Over the past week, the three of them had gotten into a little routine. Carla had stayed over almost every day and was normally always up first, she was always found in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand and her ipad or laptop in the other. She was always replying to emails or working when Peter awoke, he'd always go and kiss her before heading to the balcony for a cigarette and Simon was always last up.

He'd always get dressed straight after his shower and appear in the kitchen looking for something, anything to eat shortly afterwards. He had started off eating chocolate or even a packet of crisps for breakfast but he soon found that Carla was having none of it, she insisted he had a proper breakfast like cereal or toast even though she rarely had a proper breakfast herself unless it was from Roy's.

Simon looked down at the bacon roll that Carla had set out for herself and said,

"You not eating that?" Peter gave him a little nudge because he thought Simon was just being greedy. Partly Simon was after the bacon roll but he also knew that today was a big day for Carla and that she was probably a too on edge to eat. "What?" Simon laughed, "I'm asking because I'm concerned."

"Concerned?" Carla asked with her eyebrow raised, leaning on the breakfast bar with her hands wrapped around her cup of coffee.

"Yeah… I mean today's the day you ave to go to court." Simon said, "Are you nervous?" Peter watched Carla closely, wondering what she would say to Simon.

"Yes… I am." She said truthfully, "But… this is just something that has to be done aint it?"

"I can come…" Simon suggested, "I can sit in that place where people sit n watch… I've seen it on TV." Peter chuckled and shook his head as Carla leant even more forward and took hold of Simon's hand.

"No… you're going to school." She said, her heart warmed because Simon was being so supportive, he had been so nice to her all week and was really showing signs of growing up.

"But…" Simon began, but Peter intervened this time.

"Simon… you're going to school." He said.

"I'm gonna be fine kiddo, besides I don't think they let under eighteens in." Carla said, squeezing Simon's hand tightly. "And… I'm gonna ave your Dad there…" She added, smiling at Peter who nodded.

"Okay…" Simon nodded too, wishing he could be there because he really did love Carla and he wanted to show her his support. "Could ya just text me n let me know what happens… Please?"

"Sure." Carla said with a nod, she got on her tip-toes and kissed Simon on the forehead. Peter reached and gave his son a proud pat on the back before he picked up his bag and went off to school, after he'd left Carla shook her head at Peter and said, "That kid of yours… he never fails to make me melt."

"He must get that from me eh?" Peter smirked he looked down at Carla's bacon roll and said, "Come on you, eat up." Carla nodded but she only made it halfway through her breakfast before giving up.

"Should ave gave it to Simon really." Carla said, stretching her arms and yawning. Peter finally noticed what she was wearing and said,

"Ave you been to the gym this morning?" Carla nodded at him with a smirk and then headed towards his bathroom.

"I sure did… I woke up really early n I needed to just let loose… but guess what?" She said, her eyes were full of mischief and Peter couldn't help but chuckle as he said,

"What?"

"I'm still in need of my post gym shower... Wanna join me?" Carla asked as she walked into Peter's bathroom.

It took him all but a second to run after Carla and take her up on her offer.

Peter was dressed first. He and Carla had showered as quickly as they could have and whilst Carla began drying and then straightening her hair, he went into his kitchen to wash up. He had taken the day off work of course to support Carla and when she came out of the bedroom in a pair of fitted grey trousers and a black blazer, Peter let out a loud wolf whistle.

"You look incredible…" he said as she walked towards him. "I hate that it's for today but you do." Carla smiled at him bravely and took hold of his grey tie gently, they hadn't to be dressed in co-ordinated outfits but it had happened and Carla couldn't help but smile at Peter and say.

"Right back at ya baby." She took a deep breath, as Peter stood before her in his black suit with the grey tie.

"Shall we go?" Peter asked, wondering if it was too soon and maybe if Carla needed another minute. She just nodded and picked up her black handbag. They met Michelle who was also coming along for moral support, in the car she told Carla a little more about what had happened over the past few days in the trial, but what she hadn't done was tell Carla that Rich's parents had also been at the court, so when the tree of them had gotten out of the car and were almost at the court, They saw Rich's Mum and Dad looking stressed as they walked inside. Carla grabbed hold of Michelle and said,

"Chelle! You never said they would be ere."

"What his parents?" Michelle replied as Carla took hold of Peter's hand tightly. "Of course they're ere Carla… I mean they want to support their kid."

"I guess…" Carla began, "I never really thought about that." Then Michelle was the one who had a surprise because suddenly as if from nowhere, her mother appeared.

"Oh god." Michelle sighed, Her Mother walked past Peter and Carla and put her arms around her. Carla took a deep breath as Helen Connor had never been her biggest fan especially once she had married Paul.

"Michelle darling… it's so good to see you." Helen said, kissing her daughter on the cheek.

"Hi Mum." Michelle said through gritted teeth, knowing exactly how her mother felt about Carla and vice versa. Michelle's Mum had called Carla a dirty liar in the past and of course still believed that her nephew was completely innocent.

Peter still had a tight grip on his wife's hand and was watching her as she bit her lip, she was trying her absolute hardest to act like she didn't care what was going on and to everyone else, she probably looked hard as nails but Peter knew that she was beginning to get very anxious about the day ahead.

"What are you doing here?" Michelle asked, Helen tutted at Michelle and didn't even look at Carla before saying,

"Obviously I'm ere to support my nephew and sister Michelle."

"Well you better say goodbye to him." Carla sighed gaining Helen's attention and forcing her to look at her, "Because hopefully after today he's going down for a very long time." Carla didn't even give Helen a chance to respond, she just began walking away from Michelle and her Mum, dragging Peter along with her. As they walked into the court together, Peter was just about to ask if Carla was okay when she literally jumped into the air and squealed excitedly.

"Guy Slater!" She called, gaining the attention of a very good-looking, blonde man who was stood on his phone in a very smart fitted grey suit. He got just as excited as Carla did when he looked up from his phone and he ran towards her as she let go of Peter's hand.

"Oh my god!" Guy cried, throwing his arms around Carla, picking her up and he squeezed her tight. Peter watched as Carla looked ecstatic to see the man whose arms she was now in.

"What are you doing ere?" Carla asked as her feet hit the ground, she could barley believe that he was stood in front of her but then she realised that it all made sense. Guy was one of Carla's good friends when she worked at the shoe shop and he was the one who had saved her from coming to any real harm that night when Rich had drugged her. They had stayed very good friends until Guy moved to London with his boyfriend Daniel and they had lost all contact soon after Carla had left home.

"I got called in to give evidence didn't I?" Guy said, still holding onto one of Carla's hands tightly. "Oh it's so good to see you babe."

"You too… it's been way too long." Carla said smiling, then she pulled an amused Peter towards her and proudly said, "Peter this is Guy he's the one who took me home that night, Guy this is Peter my gorgeous husband." Peter smiled at Guy as they both shook hands.

"Nice to meet you." Guy said,

"You too..." Peter nodded, glad that Carla had finally seen someone decent from her past. "It sounds as if you were a real hero that night so thank you for looking after my Queen."

"Oh I just did what any good person would do." Guy said with a modest smile, then he nudged Carla and said, "You've pulled a right fittie there eh?"

"I sure ave." She nodded, leaning against Peter again and feeling so relived that Guy was there, his story was obviously going to be the same as hers and it made her feel a lot better about the situation.

"How long ave you two been together?" asked Guy, Peter and Carla both looked at each other happily before Peter said,

"Four years… although we've been through so much... it feels a lot longer than that."

"Yeah especially since I were head over heels in love about a year before we even got together." Carla said nudging Peter in the side.

"N who could blame ya." Guy gushed, genuinely taking an interest in Peter and Carla's life. "So... give me the goss, ave you got any babies?"

"No babies…" Peter chuckled as Carla shook her head with a smile.

"Well not yet anyway…" She began, still leaning against Peter. "But I do ave a gorgeous Stepson called Simon."

"Oh really? How old is he?" Guy asked.

"Twelve n if he had it his way he'd be ere right now actually." Carla laughed.

"Awww I bet you're an amazing Mum to him babe." Guy said, Carla just smiled modestly but Peter was more vocal.

"She really is… he adores her." He said, kissing Carla on the cheek lovingly.

"Uh Peter you are just too much." Guy gushed, "I already love you." Peter chuckled as Carla happily took hold of his hand again. Even though she dreaded today she was so pleased that it was happening because being reunited with Guy was totally worth it.

"So are you still with Daniel?" Carla asked, remembering Guy's first proper boyfriend and how they had both moved away together.

"Yes I am… he couldn't make it ere I'm afraid because he had to stay in London for work but he so wanted to come… we're actually due to get married in the summer." Guy said excitedly, showing off his wedding finger where he was wearing a ring.

"Wow congratulations." Carla said, as a flustered Michelle walked towards them. Guy then got all excited all over again when he saw Michelle and as they hugged, Peter leant in to Carla and said,

"I'm so glad he's ere." Carla nodded at him and gave his hand a quick squeeze.

"What happened to ya Mum Chelle?" Carla asked after a while, Michelle rolled her eyes and shook her head as she said,

"Oh she's gone to sit in the gallery already…"

"What did she say about me after I left then?" Carla asked, curious to see what Helen Connor still had left to say about her these days.

"Nothing actually, she was saying that she's staying in Manchester for a few days n how terrible I looked." Michelle said, Carla looked at her friend properly as she spoke and had realised that she did actually look quite pale. Michelle caught on to being and shook her head at Carla before saying, "I'm fine… just been feeling a bit rough lately that's all but you know my Mum… subtle as ever..."

"Oh just ignore her Chelle." Said Carla, she wondered whether Helen hadn't actually mentioned her or if Michelle was just saying that so that she didn't upset her.

"I can't ignore her Car... she reckons that she is staying at the Pub." Michelle groaned. The four of them spoke for a while longer but it soon became time for the trial to start, which meant that Carla and Rich had to go and sit in the witness room before they gave their evidence.

"Right ere goes." Carla said taking a deep breath.

"You are gonna be fine baby, I promise." Peter said, using his fingers to gently tuck some hair behind her ear, it was just a subtle touch but it meant to world to Carla who nodded and said,

"I know... He's going down."

"He so is." Guy added, He hugged Michelle goodbye while Carla and Peter kissed. As Guy and Carla walked off, Peter and Michelle made their way towards the public gallery so they could watch the events of todays trial unfold. Peter was rather quiet as they made their way there and it only took Michelle a few seconds to realise why.

"Is it weird?" She asked, watching Peter who frowned a little. He knew what she was getting at and decided it was pointless to pretend other wise.

"Yeah… very weird actually." He said, remembering the last time he was at this court and what had happened to him whilst he was there. He still remembered how he felt when he heard the word **GUILTY** and the thought of being taken away the way he had been made him shudder so he decided to change the subject and talk about Carla instead. "I'm so glad that Guy is ere… It's so nice to meet someone from Carla's past who is actually really decent for a change."

"I know…" Michelle nodded, "I know we were best mates n stuff but me n her led completely different lives at times, especially where our families were concerned... I still feel guilty for the way I acted that night."

"Don't Michelle…" Peter said, putting his arm around her supportively, "You can't change the past okay, there's no point in dwelling on it."

"I know I know." Michelle sighed as they got to the doors of the public gallery.

* * *

As the trial got under way, Carla and Guy were sat chatting away in the witness room, It was almost as if they were in a coffee shop or something as they sat next to each other on the sofa with a cup of coffee in each of their hands.

They had spoken about their lives, where the lived and what they did with themselves these days. Carla explained a little bit about Paul because by the time Guy had left she was already with him and he had asked what had happened, she didn't talk about the whole Liam thing but she just said that Paul was in a accident.

"So tell me… how did all of this happen?" Guy asked, wondering how Rich had gotten arrested in the end because all he had been told was that he was needed to give evidence about what had happened at a party he had attended one December in the early nineties.

"Long story short…" Carla sighed, "Rich had the nerve to show his face in Wetherfield, which is the delightful little place where I live now and well I just couldn't handle it anymore… I couldn't keep it to myself and when Peter found out… well he went mental."

"I bet he did." Guy said.

"Rich went n got him arrested for assault but actually it ended up doing him a lot more harm than Peter because it turned out the police had a lot of information on him… A lot of girls have actually complained about the things he has done and they were already working on a case." Said Carla.

"Uh he makes my skin crawl… I always knew what he was like." Guy said, shaking his head.

"Anyways I got him to admit what he did to me and had the police listen in on it..." Carla explained, "It got really intense at one point and I wasn't so sure it was going to work but it did n ere we are now."

"Oh good on you babe." Guy said nodding at Carla in triumph.

"I just wish we had done something sooner." Carla said, raising her coffee cup to her lips.

"I know… me too but I also believe that things happen for a reason and I believe that all of this was meant to happen now." Guy said. Carla swallowed down some coffee and nodded along with Guy, she smiled at him when she finished and put her cup down on the table. "So are ya nervous?" Guy asked, with no idea how much Carla had been in this type of situation before.

"Well… not so much at the talking n giving evidence part… I'm pretty used to that." Carla sighed, "I just… I really really want him to get done for this and I haven't had the best luck with juries in the past..."

"What do you mean?" Guy asked intrigued.

"Well I've given evidence a few times and it didn't go well." Carla began. Normally she would try and avoid this conversation but being with Guy was just like it was when she was a teenager and she still trusted him completely, which is why she was able to say,

"Before I got together with Peter… I had this fiancé... I ended it with him because I was desperately in love with Peter and he... raped me." Guy put his coffee cup down and moved closer to Carla, he didn't say anything at first because he was so shocked. "I reported it and it went to court but he was found not guilty."

"Really?"

"Yes… I mean there was a whole lot of ridiculousness that went along with the trial but yeah... they just let him go free and I just… couldn't understand it." Carla said, she watched Guy's concerned reaction and then added, "Don't worry too much though… couple of months later his mother killed him."

"Wait… what?" Guy half laughed, not because it was funny but because it all sounded like some sort of crazy movie. Carla laughed awkwardly too and shook her head because she had just heard the way she had revealed what had happened to Frank and it did sound insane. "His Mother?"

"I confronted him about what he did n he admitted it… he even went as far as saying he'd do it again…" Carla explained, finding it hard but also refreshing to be talking about Frank again. She rarely spoke about him and when she did it was only ever with Peter. "I got away from him but what we didn't know was that his Mum was there listening to it all… I guess the reality of what her son had become was all too much for her."

"Wow…" Guy breathed.

"N the next time that I gave evidence well that was just as bad and they ended up sending Peter down for... murder." Carla said, shaking her own head now because her life was truly ridiculous.

"Your Peter?" Guy exclaimed, "Are you actually being serious ere?"

"Deadly." Carla nodded, she didn't want to get into the whole Tina thing but she knew she couldn't leave it at that, especially not with the look on Guy's face. "Another very long and horrible story short… there was this girl… Tina… she n Peter…" Carla sniffed hard and took a moment to make sure that she wasn't going to cry. Guy understood what she was getting at and nodded to let her know that he did and eventually she was able to say,

"She was murdered n Peter was the obvious first suspect… but I knew it wasn't him… he could never hurt someone like that… ever... I came ere n I told em it wasn't him… I was so sure of it… n in the end it turned out I was right… it was Rob."

"Wait… Rob your baby brother?" Guy said, remembering how sweet and innocent Rob had been when he had met him as a kid.

"Yep." Carla said she swallowed hard and shook her head before saying. "God my life is so ridiculous." A tear ran down her cheek due and she wiped it away quickly.

"Yeah… you've been through it girl." Guy said, reaching out and taking hold of Carla's hand. "But y'know what… by the looks of things you've come out on the other side happier then ever right…" Carla nodded at her old best friend and squeezed his hand tight.

"I am so happy… happier than I've ever been in me life." Carla said, "Peter is… incredible… he made a huge mistake but he is so sorry and he is totally the love of my life."

"I can tell." Guy said, "N he's such a hottie as well." Carla and Guy both started laughing as they sat together in the witness room.

"I've missed you so much… I had no idea how much until now." Carla smiled remembering all the good times she'd had with Guy when she was a teenager.

"Me too." Guy said, "We ave to meet up again… after this… n keep in touch."

"Definitely." Carla nodded. "I'm expecting n invite to your wedding as well."

"Oh of course!" Guy said hugging Carla tight. "So…" Guy began with a cheeky smile as he let go of Carla. "As someone who has clearly given evidence a few times… got any tips." Carla laughed and gave Guy a playful shove.

* * *

Carla was called in to be a witness first, she took a deep breath and got up of the sofa when her name was called. She didn't actually feel nervous anymore and as she was shown to the witness box, she knew that what she was doing was totally worth all the stress.

When Carla saw Rich she had been expecting him to look smug but when she actually looked at him, he looked scared lost and like a completely different person. Carla wondered if this was an act, if was acting like this for sympathy and as she took her oath she couldn't help but stare at him.

Peter and Michelle were both still sat in the public gallery and they both gave Carla an encouraging look when she glanced over at them. Having them both there made her feel at ease and as she was begun to ask questions about Rich, she knew that what ever happened today that they would be there for her.

Carla had to speak about how she met Rich, how they got along and whether he had been inappropriate before the night of the party. She then went over the details of the night and as his mother sat before her, she couldn't help but stare over at her.

Rich's mother had called Carla all sorts of names when she had heard about what Rich was being accused of. Along with Michelle's mother she called her a liar and had always hated her ever since but now, after two days of a trial that was about her son, Rich's mother looked defeated, she looked embarrassed and ashamed, she even got up and walked right out of the court room before Carla had even finished talking. She made a scene as she did it as well and was in tears as she stormed out of the courtroom. Carla felt guilty for about a millisecond and then just continued with what she was saying, she continued to speak the truth and even when Rich's defence came and tried pick apart her story, she remained as sassy and as strong as ever.

She was asked why she hadn't reported it before, she was asked why now, why she was coming forward now.

"I was sixteen years old… I was at a party with a whole load of Uni students and a whole load of drink and drugs… there were hundreds of people there and I had no real proof… Would you have believed me? I told my Mum and she didn't... she didn't even come to the hospital with me to get checked over n to see if I were alright..." Carla began, she sniffed and took a look at Peter who was sat staring at her intently. He nodded at her and gave her what she needed to continue. "When your own Mother doesn't believe something like that… well you lot can't even begin to imagine how I felt… You see, she wasn't a nice person… at all... I knew that and yet somehow I thought that if something terrible like that happened that she would be there for me… but she wasn't… she wasn't and I… didn't know what to do… but times ave changed… I don't need her… I now know that I shouldn't have let the fear of not being believed stop me from telling the truth... and that's why I'm ere today.

When the lawyers and judges were done with Carla they said that she could go, she took one last look at Rich before she left and he still looked totally guilty as she walked out of the witness box. She was about to make her way into the public gallery so that she could see Guy's evidence but then she saw Rich's Mum.

Margret was sat with her head in her hands and was crying. Carla didn't know what to do at first, she lingered around for a moment wondering if she should maybe say something, she almost walked right away from her but then she heard her name being called,

"Carla…"

"Yes." Carla said, folding her arms and wondering if she was going get a whole load of insults thrown at her. Margret stood up and walked towards Carla gingerly.

"I…" she cleared her throat and shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"You're… what?" Carla asked, staring at Margret in astonishment.

"Sorry… for everything." Margret said, "Not believing you… for creating such a monster." Carla sighed sympathetically and then nodded at Rich's Mum, accepting her apology. "I honestly don't know how he turned out like this… even until the trail started I had faith that this was all just horrible lies and rumours but then I walked into that courtroom and I saw him… he looked so guilty… so ashamed… I knew it as saw as I saw his face."

"I'm sorry that you are going through all of this… I really am Margret." Carla said, "But he has to be stopped… n you know it."

"I do… and I think he knows it as well." Margret said with a very sad sniff. There was an awkward silence between the two before Peter appeared.

"Hey…" he said, as Margret got up and walked back towards the gallery.

"Hi…" Carla sighed, as Peter put his arms right around her and held her close.

"You okay?" he asked, Carla nodded into his shoulder and smiled as he placed a kiss on her to her forehead.

"She just said sorry to me." Carla said, still in a bit of shock.

"Really? Well... good." Peter said, "I'm so proud of you y'know that right."

"I do baby." Carla nodded. They both headed back into the public gallery where they watched Guy give evidence. His story also matched Carla's and he also talked about what had happened when he had tried to stand up to Rich. Carla looked over at Rich's Mum who still looked distraught and even Michelle's Mum looked horrified at walk she was hearing. When it was all over and the jury were discussing their verdict, Carla, Peter, Guy and Michelle were stood across the road from the court. Peter and Guy were smoking whist Carla was stood against the wall with Michelle, their arms linked together.

"It's Rob's birthday on Sunday." Carla said quietly, Michelle nodded at her and rested her head on her best friends shoulder.

"I know…" Michelle said sadly. "I sent him a card… is that... weird?"

"No… I did as well." Carla said with a sigh, thinking about how Rob had left her sat in the seat waiting for him all that time when she had visited him all the way back in July. "I hope gets em in time… although he'll probably just throw mine in the bin."

"No…" Michelle said shaking her head, "I bet he'll keep it... I really do." Carla sniffed and didn't think the chances of Rob being pleased to see a card from her were too high, Peter had been watching and saw that Carla and Michelle were having a sad moment as he threw his cigarette butt onto the ground.

"You two okay?" he asked.

"We're fine… just having a little moment." Michelle said, putting an arm around Carla and holding her close. Peter smiled at them both and so did Guy.

"Uh I think it's so amazing that you two are still such good mates." He said, Carla nodded at him in agreement and clung onto Michelle tight before letting go and taking hold of Peter.

"Thanks for being ere today… both of you." Carla said to Peter and Michelle, she then smiled at Guy whose number she had just taken and said, "You too… even though it's under these crazy circumstances I am so glad we had the time to catch up today, as soon as you ave some more time of work we are so going to meet up."

"Deffo." Guy said, Carla kissed Peter lovingly and then said,

"Whatever happens today… I know everything is going to be alright." She felt confident that it really was going to be alright but as they all walked back into the court, her heart started thumping so hard it was a wonder no one else could hear it. She sat next to Peter and Guy and held onto both of their hands as Rich was brought back out in front of everyone. His Mum was already in tears and he looked immensely worried about what the jury were about to do to his future…

* * *

Carla and Peter sat in a very long but very amicable silence. Peter had his back pressed against the back of his sofa as Carla rested her back on his chest. Her head was next to his and he had his arms around her. They were both still dressed in their court clothes when Simon came bounding through the door.

"Hey… what happened?" He asked, almost out of breath because he'd practically ran home from school. He chucked his backpack on the floor and rushed over to the sofa. "You said you were gonna text me n tell me the verdict."

"Sorry Si." Said Peter before yawning.

"So?" Simon said exasperatedly, "What happened?" He was watching his Dad and Carla closely but he couldn't tell what their expressions were saying.

"He got found guilty." Carla said in relief.

"Yes!" Simon said, actually fist pumping the air. His reaction had made Carla and Peter both smile as he sat down at the end of the sofa by their feet. "So he's going to prison right? How long for?" Simon then asked.

"He has to go back to court on Monday and get his sentence... but yes he is going down." Carla explained, as Peter softly kissed her on the cheek. Hearing the news that Rich had been found guilty was such a relief for Carla and everyone else who he had taken advantage of but even they couldn't help but be affected by the sounds of his outburst.

"I'm so sorry!"

He screamed it, loud in front of everyone as he got taken away. He screamed it over and over again leaving everyone in a stunned silence.

It was a haunting sound, one that Carla couldn't seem to quite shake off and neither could Peter, they both decided to get right off the subject of Rich and ask Simon how school went. He said it was fine and talked about some of his lessons for a while before Peter decided that he wanted to take them both out for dinner.

"Can we go to that Caribbean restaurant in town please Dad?" Simon asked, "Some of me mates have been and they said it was dead good in there."

"Sounds fun." Carla said, Peter nodded and said that they'd leave his place at seven and maybe make a night of it. Carla had decided that she wanted to change her outfit and had gone home to get dressed much to Peter's delight because he had something he wanted to discuss with Simon. After all the stress of trial this week and just because he loved her, he decided that he definitely wanted to treat Carla, so once Simon was out of his school uniform, Peter sat him down in the living room and said,

"So… these Disneyland Valentines day plans… I think it's time we talked about them don't you?"


	45. Surprise Plans & Odd Friendships

Peter and Simon didn't have any time to discuss their secret Valentines Day plans because Carla was back and knocking on their door before they knew it.

They went to the Caribbean restaurant that Simon had picked out and had such a wonderful time that they didn't actually leave until closing time which was half past twelve.

Peter had woken up early the next morning and dragged Simon along to the swimming pool with him. He had left Carla fast asleep with a note stuck to his kitchen counter to explain where they were. Peter had really gotten in to swimming now and he had swum non stop for about an hour or a half but then as he took a quick break he saw Simon who was bobbing about aimlessly at the other end of the pool. He smiled at him, guessing he was probably bored and swum over to say that they could go.

"No we don't ave to Dad..." Simon begun but Peter knew that his son was just being nice and that it wasn't fair to keep him there any longer.

As they both got dressed and left the changing rooms, Peter was a little more than surprised to realise that his Swimathon was now less than a week away.

"How did I not realise this?" Peter asked, staring at the poster on the wall in shock. His mind has been putting off how close it was for weeks now but since the date and time was right in his face, he couldn't do it anymore.

"I dunno…" Simon shrugged, reading over the poster that advertised next Saturday's Swimathon. "How long is five kilometres exactly?" He asked.

"It's like three miles…" Peter said quietly, wondering what on earth that he had gotten himself into. Especially since Carla had already collected hundreds of pounds of sponsor money from various people and it seemed like a lot of them had decided that they might even come to watch.

"Three miles…" Simon exclaimed, with a towel around his neck because his curly hair was still wet. "Are you sure that you can do this Dad?"

"Course he can." Said a voice that Simon didn't recognise. He turned around to see a very pretty blonde woman stood next to him and his Dad. She was very tall and it appeared that she was a lifeguard because she was wearing a bright yellow T-Shirt with blue shorts. She had a whistle around her neck and she was smiling at them both brightly. "You must be Simon."

"Yeah…" Simon said, turning to his Dad who was typing something out on his phone. "Dad?"

"Yeah…" Peter said, reading a text message from Carla, which said,

**_"Baby where are you? x"_**

"Aren't you gonna introduce us Peter?" The woman said, as Peter quickly typed out his reply.

**_"I'm at the leisure centre with Si, didn't you get the note we left in the kitchen? x"_**

"Sorry Si…" Peter said, finally looking up from his phone and at Simon. He introduced Simon to Kelly and Kelly to Simon.

Kelly was the one who had talked Peter into doing the five kilometre swim all those months ago and she had been spurring him on ever since. It was also pretty clear to everyone but Peter, that Kelly had a huge crush on him.

"It's so nice to meet you finally." Kelly said to Simon, he nodded at her and said the same even though he wasn't sure if his Dad had even mentioned her before. "So are you ready for Saturday then?" Kelly asked Peter.

He didn't answer because his phone had buzzed in his hands as she spoke, he looked down and read the message, which was on screen, and when he had read it, he couldn't help but smirk.

**_"No I didn't… I'm still in bed… alone… alone n horny x"_**

Now, even though Peter adored having Simon about all the time, he would have been lying if he said that he hadn't missed those nights when Simon used to stay at Leanne's. He'd also be lying if he said he didn't miss how spontaneous he and Carla used to be and his mind was full of all kinds of thoughts as Kelly looked at Simon because his Dad hadn't answered her yet.

"Dad… Kelly asked you a question." Simon said, nudging his Dad who was still smirking down at his phone.

"Sorry Kelly… What was the question?" Peter asked although he was now unable to get Carla off of his mind.

"I said are you ready for Saturday…" Kelly said, slightly peeved that Peter wasn't giving her his full attention.

"As… ready as I'll ever be…" Peter said, "I mean I'm gonna come ere every day this week before or after work." His phone vibrated in his hands again and when he looked down he saw another message from Carla,

**_"So are you gonna do something about that or what? x"_**

"What are you up to later Si?" Peter asked as he replied to Carla's message.

**_"I'm working on it…" _**

Simon read his Dad's overly innocent expression and then raised his eyebrow.

"Going to a mates house… why?"

"No reason… just curious." Peter said, he unlocked his phone and quickly typed out another message to Carla as Kelly said,

"Well I'm so sure that you're going to be fine Peter… n I bet you'll have loads of people here to cheer you on."

"Yeah... I mean so far I've got Carla, Si, Me Dad, Tracy me sister and her daughter Amy..." Peter replied, also replying to Carla at the same time with,

**_"Si's going over to a mates so it looks like it'll be just me n you later x"_**

"Santana's coming too Dad and Carla said that a couple of the factory lot wanted to come as well." Simon said.

"Wow… sounds like Peter's gonna ave the entire spectator's area full." Kelly laughed, her eyes fixated on Peter who nodded even though he didn't actually hear what was being said to him. He was way too wrapped up in Carla to notice much of what anyone was saying because she had replied to his message with a rather steamy picture that was captioned,

**_"Good… Don't keep me waiting too long xx"_**

He tried his very best to keep a straight face but he now had the image of a scantily clad Carla in his mind so quickly put his phone away before saying,

"Right we better get going Si… Do ya want me to drop ya to your mates house now?"

"Yeah… Thanks Dad." Simon said, "Bye Kelly… it was nice to meet ya." Peter was already walking away but then he stopped to say goodbye to Kelly.

"Oh yeah…" He chuckled, "Bye Kelly… I'll probably see ya on Monday."

"Bye." She waved longingly, not that Peter had noticed because his mind and heart was one hundred per-cent fixated on Carla.

As Simon got into his Dad's car and put his seatbelt on, he looked at him and said,

"That Kelly proper fancies ya y'know."

"What?" Peter scoffed, "No way…"

"Errr yes way, she was proper staring at you not that you were paying her the slightest bit of attention." Simon said as his Dad started the ignition.

"No she wasn't Si… she's just being supportive that's all. She's the one who talked me into the Swimathon." Peter explained.

"Whatever Dad…" Simon grinned, knowing that his Dad truly though that what he was saying was true. "Let's see what Carla thinks about her when she meets her shall we?"

Peter chuckled and shook his head, thinking that Simon was just reading too much into Kelly because he was young. He dropped Simon at Santana's and then drove as fast as he could without breaking the speed limit home to see Carla.

* * *

After the obvious, Carla and Peter had both spent the rest of their Saturday afternoon, mucking about with Simon's PlayStation and watching old TV shows before Carla had to reluctantly get up and get ready for a night out with Michelle and some of their old school friends.

Simon had returned home at around seven pm and was quite pleased to see Carla go because he and his Dad had stuff to talk about but then their night took an unexpected turn and was spent with Tracy and Amy who had turned up at Peter's with a pizza.

This, of course meant that they didn't talk about their secret plans because things don't stay secret for long when Tracy and Amy were around.

So their next option was to talk on Sunday morning. Carla had gone back to her flat in the early hours, after her night out with Michelle, so that meant Peter and Simon could finally start planning their surprise.

"Right, first things first Si… Ave you spoken to Santana's Mum about all of this?" Peter asked. Simon just shrugged and shook his head at his Dad which obviously meant no. "So obviously I'm gonna have to speak to Juliana then…" Peter said,

"Why?" Simon frowned, "I don't want too many people to know Dad, otherwise it will get ruined." He was desperate to make sure that this all stayed a surprised but he soon realised that he couldn't exactly take Santana out of the country without her parents permission, which is also what Peter explained to him.

"I do think we need to pop over there at some point and discuss all of this with Juliana Si… I mean she might not want Santana away for her birthday at all, She might already ave plans for them." Peter added, "Maybe we should see if we can pop over today... if she's free." Simon nodded but he also said,

"N what if Santana's there? I can hardly say to her, Oh I'm not ere for you, I want to speak to your Mum, She'd get well suspicious."

"I know that… So maybe we'll need to do it when she's not about… And little Carmen should probably not be there either because if she gets wind of this then there will no keeping it a secret."

"You're right…" Simon said thinking about how he could go about this without his girlfriend finding out.

In the end Peter phoned up Santana's Mum Juliana and had asked if they could pop round and have a chat when Santana wasn't around. He explained it was for her birthday and that Simon wanted it to be a surprise.

Luckily for Simon, Santana's Grandmother had surprisingly turned up from America so she was taking Santana and Carmen out later on today.

"That's perfect." Peter said, as Simon sat next to him and listened. When he hung up he said,

"So? What's happening Dad? When are we going to Santana's?"

"In an hour." Peter smiled, "So go n get ready." Simon jumped up excitedly and ran to his bedroom to get dressed.

They were just about to leave their flat when the buzzer went off. Peter walked over to his intercom and answered it.

Just their luck it was Carla.

"Uh oh." Simon said, Peter let Carla in and as she came up the stairs Simon said, "Dad what are we gonna do? What if she wants to come with us?"

"What to a football match? In January? Not likely mate!" Peter said. That was their cover story, that they were both going to watch a local football match and because it wasn't Carla's thing at all, of course she wasn't going to be joining them.

Peter opened his front door and saw Carla stood there in her black jacket and black boots.

"Hi…" Peter began, wondering if she was okay because she looked a little upset about something. "You okay love?"

"Yeah…" Carla began as Simon pulled on his black coat. "I just missed you last night and I realised that you n Si are going to be out all afternoon so I thought I'd come n get a quick kiss n cuddle before you went… If that's okay?"

"Course it is." Peter smiled, putting his arms around Carla lovingly and holding her body close to his.

"Thanks baby."

"Good night last night was it?" Peter asked, looking at Carla's un-straightened hair and her tired eyes.

"Yeah… it really was… although Chelle was acting a little odd." Carla said, she yawned as Simon picked up his coat. "Hi Simon."

"Hey Carla." He smiled, "You okay?"

"Yeah… just tired n hung-over that's all." She replied with a sigh.

"You sure that's it?." Peter asked, as Carla wrapped her arms around his waist. He'd had this horrible feeling that he was forgetting something today, that he was supposed to be remembering something that was important but he just couldn't put his finger on it, it had been there since he woke up and now that he had seen Carla, he knew that he was right.

"Yeah…" Carla nodded, she was smiling all be it a little sadly. "You gonna kiss me then or what?" Peter ran a hand through her long hair before kissing her and Simon took that as his cue to make himself scarce for a few minutes. He went into his room and pottered about for a while and when he heard his Dad's voice again he knew it was save to come back out.

"Oi…" Carla said, pointing at him and waving him over to her. "You don't get out of it." Simon grinned and quickly went over to Carla for a hug as Peter got his coat on. Whilst in Carla's arms, Simon couldn't help but smile as he thought about him and his Dad's secret plans, he knew that Carla and Santana would be over the moon when they found out and as his smile got broader, Carla noticed it and said, "What's that smile all about eh?"

"Nothing…" Simon said mysteriously.

"You sure?" Carla grinned at him as Peter nudged them both and said,

"Come on… We better get going." Carla and Simon nodded and they all walked out of the building together. As they walked towards Peter's car he said to Carla,

"What have you got planned for today love? Do you need a lift anywhere?"

"No ta. I'm just gonna hang about the pub for a little bit… I might go n see your Dad n Tracy later too." Carla replied, what she wanted to say was that it was Tracy that she wanted to see more but she knew that would make Peter slightly suspicious and since he wasn't aware of what today was, she didn't want to make him feel guilty.

"Ahhh that'll be nice, I bet me Dad would really like to see ya." Peter said, unlocking his car and letting Simon get in. "I'll call you when the footie's over n let you know what we're doing yeah?"

"Alright." Carla said nodding and then kissing Peter softly.

"You sure you're okay?" He asked one more time.

"Yes." Carla insisted, poking him in the tummy softly and then tapping on the car window to get Simon's attention. He rolled down the window so she could kiss him on the cheek and say, "Bye Si… ave a good time yeah."

"Thanks Carla, Bye." Simon said smiling. He had no idea why he had acted so hostile towards her before hand because he always felt like he had a proper little family unit when he was around his Dad and Carla.

"Bye baby." Carla said, turning back towards Peter and kissing him one more time.

"Bye." Peter said. He watched Carla begin to walk off and when she got to the corner she stopped and gave him another little wave. Peter waved back and as he got into the car and closed the door behind him, he said, "Si I avent forgot anything ave I?"

"Like what?" Simon asked.

"I dunno… I've just had the feeling all morning that I've forgotten something… And it's obvious that Carla's got something on her mind as well." Peter explained, biting his lip as Simon sat next to him in the passengers seat. Simon looked down as if he was full of thought for a moment and then he looked back at his Dad before saying,

"Well we don't have to do this today Dad… You can go after her if you want. See if she's okay."

"That's sweet Si but I can tell when Carla needs to talk and when she needs to just be left to it and for now it seems like she's okay… For now I'll let her get on with it n later… Well I'll know if she needs to talk." Peter said as he started the car. Simon nodded at his Dad, knowing that when it came to Carla, his Dad definitely knew best.

* * *

Santana and her family only lived twenty minutes or so away and it wasn't long before Peter was parking in their drive way. Simon found himself feeling very nervous and he and Peter walked towards the door, he got along with Juliana very much but there was still a chance that she could still say no to his big idea.

"I hope Nick's not ere." Simon said quietly as Peter knocked on the door.

"Nick?" Peter asked, forgetting all about Juliana and Nick's New Years Eve smooch.

"Yeah… Did I not tell you? Juliana n Nick ave been going out for weeks now." Simon said, Peter looked surprised but he didn't have time to say anything because Juliana opened the door.

"Afternoon…" She smiled, "Come in fill me in on this surprise then."

Peter and Simon both said Hello as they were welcomed into Juliana's home. Simon had been there plenty of times before so he made him self very comfortable straight away but as Peter walked down the hallway he looked at the walls which were covered in happy family photo's and smiled because he couldn't help but think that maybe he and Carla could have a place like that one day.

As he entered the living room, Peter noticed a piano in one corner and a heap of toys in the other, toys which clearly belonged to Carmen. Frozen dolls and pink Lego bricks were practically balancing on top of one another and there was also a little pink microphone stand with a mic balancing on it. Peter laughed as he imagined Carmen giving her family a little show whether they liked it or not.

"Sorry about the mess but you know kids…" Juliana said as Peter took off his coat, she has spotted him looking around the room, which wasn't even that messy considering a four year old lived there.

"No…" Peter said, "Don't apologise at all… I think it looks really nice in ere… Y'know like a proper family home… Santana and Carmen must be really happy here."

"I'd like to think so." Juliana smiled modestly, taking Peter's coat off of him as Simon had already flung his over the banister in the hallway. When Juliana returned she smiled at Peter and said, "Right… How about I put the kettle on and then you can tell me what this is about…"

"Good idea." Simon nodded, He was already sitting down at the dining table and as Peter sat next to him he smiled excitedly, unable to refrain from revealing his plans for a moment longer.

Once Juliana had brought in three cups of tea for the three of them, Simon got started. He explained that he wanted to do something very special for Santana as not only was it going to be her thirteenth birthday it was also going to be Valentines Day as well. He said that he had been thinking about it for a while and one day he had found out that Santana had never been to Disneyland before. He hadn't been there either and decided it would be so much fun if they could go together.

Peter could see the rather shocked look on Juliana's face and assured her that he and Carla would be going along too and that they would obviously keep an eye on them both.

Juliana was quiet for a moment as she let all of this information wash over her. She was so pleased to hear that Santana had someone that cared about her so much but she couldn't help but look a little concerned and it was a look that Simon caught on to immediately.

"What? What is it? Do you hate the idea?" he said worriedly.

"No." Juliana said, Peter wasn't too convinced and raised an eyebrow at her before she continued. "It's a really really lovely idea… it's just… I'm not sure that I'm too happy about being away from Santana on her birthday."

"Oh…" Simon said, "I… understand that."

"And also… who's paying for all of this?" Juliana asked,

"Me…" Simon said earning a loud clear of the throat from Peter. "Well I've been saving but my Dad is helping out of course."

"Look Si… maybe you don't need to do it on Santana's actual birthday, maybe we could just go on the Friday and come back on the Saturday instead?" Peter suggested,

"Yeah but then it's not her birthday… or Valentines day either." Simon mumbled, Peter looked at his disappointed son who'd had all his hopes on taking his girlfriend away on Valentines day and then looked at Juliana who could also see how sad he was.

"I'm sorry Simon…" Said Juliana "I know how much Santana has always wanted to go to Disney and it truly is a wonderful idea but with the absence of her Dad I just think that it would be good for Santana to actually spend some time with me on her birthday… and what about Carmen? She would be absolutely devastated if she couldn't see Santana on her birthday… and if she were to find out that she was in Disneyland without her… well…"

Simon nodded dejectedly at Juliana and decided that she was right, he knew how important it would be for her to be with her family and even though she would be happy to be in Paris, he knew she would be happier to be with her family.

Peter thought for a moment and then had a brain wave one he was sure that could work… If Juliana had the money of course.

"What if she comes with us? You too?" He suggested, "Now I know it sounds very last minute and very costly but if you do ave the money… then it would be great if we all went." Juliana looked at Simon who suddenly got very excited.

"Santana would love that!" He cried, "It won't be that much, it's only going to be for one day or so isn't it Dad?" Peter nodded but gave Simon a look that said settle down and then he looked back at Juliana.

"Well? What do you think?" He asked, "Si's right… You'd really only have to pay for the one day… I had a look online last night and you can get the Eurostar right into Disneyland for a pretty good price."

"I… guess I do have a bit of money saved up for a rain day… I was gonna use it to treat the girls in the summer but…" Juliana got up from the table and went into the living room, when she returned she had a laptop in hand and she was smiling. "Let's see how much this is gonna cost us…"

"Yes!" Simon cried, almost fist pumping the air as Juliana opened up the laptop…

* * *

Meanwhile, Carla knocked on the door to Ken's place, dressed in her warmest black jacket because the cold weather had really kicked in now and as she waited for someone to open the door she shivered before knocking again.

Today hadn't been a very good day so far for Carla. She had been feeling pretty sad since waking up and it looked as if things were about to get any better for her. As Simon and Peter were both preoccupied today, She thought that she shouldn't tell them the way she was feeling because they'd end up not doing what they planned and she didn't want that so she went to spend some time with Michelle instead.

Carla couldn't work out exactly what was wrong with her best friend but as soon as she had seen her, she knew that something was up. She wasn't particularly different with Carla it was just that she still seemed to be in a very odd mood and that she wasn't going to get out of it anytime soon, which is why Carla had ended up leaving and going next door instead.

Tracy soon appeared on the door step in a red top and blue jeans, she was dressed but it didn't look as if she had been out of the house because her hair was messy and her eyes were puffy, like she had been sleeping or maybe even crying.

"Hi…" Tracy said in a slight daze.

"Hiya Tracy…" Carla said, clearing her throat and smiling as best she could given the day she was having. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah…" Tracy said, moving to the side and letting Carla inside the house. Carla walked gingerly into Number one and as Tracy closed the door behind her she said, "Me Dad's not in though."

"That's okay… I actually wanted to talk to you." Carla said delicately. They both walked into the living room but Tracy didn't have to ask what Carla wanted to talk about. She knew that this was going to be about whose birthday it was today. There was a silence whilst she made the coffees and when she brought them into the room, Carla smiled at her and said,

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Tracy replied, sitting down opposite her old enemy and feeling incredibly awkward. Even though they had both shared many a conversation since Carla had been back with Peter, it still felt incredibly weird for her and Tracy to be sat alone like this.

"So… what did ya come round for?" Tracy asked, even though she knew.

"Well…" Carla sighed, "I've not had the best day today… n by the looks of it neither ave you…" Tracy nodded at her and took a sip of coffee before saying,

"Does Peter know you're ere?"

"Well... I told him I'd stop by." Carla answered, wondering who was going to bring the subject up first. The subject she had been dreading talking about because it was just too painful.

"Does he know what today is?" Tracy asked.

"I don't think so…" Carla began, "I mean he knows something is up… but no… he hasn't remembered n why would he? It's not as if he n Rob were ever proper mates… besides I think he might get a little annoyed… Rob let him get done for murder… I don't think he'd care too much what today was."

Rob's birthday. That's what today was.

Carla had missed him a lot over the festive season and now that it was his birthday, his special day, she couldn't help but feel really guilty for being part of the reason that he was in prison again.

"What do ya think he's doing right now?" Tracy asked, gazing ahead of her as if she could see him and it was very clear to Carla that she was still in love with him.

"I don't know…" Carla shrugged and thought about what people on their birthdays in prison, she wondered if they had cakes, cards maybe even presents and she couldn't help but let her mind wonder to what they might be doing if Rob wasn't in prison, if he was on the street with them and if he wasn't a murderer. She swallowed hard and tried not to let Tracy see just how upset she is but it was clear that the both of them were struggling with what today meant to them.

"I'd imagine he's let everyone know that it's his birthday today and that he'd be trying to scam as much presents out of the other prisoners as he can." Tracy said, shaking her head and trying not to smirk.

"That sounds like something Rob would be doing." Carla nodded, her hands around her coffee cup for comfort, the warm feeling making her slightly better about things, just for a moment anyway.

"I sent him a card… is that really stupid?" Tracy asked, feeling slightly foolish for even trying to contact Rob after everything that had happened.

"No… it's not. I... actually sent him one too." Carla admitted, "And Michelle did actually… I wonder if he's got them yet?"

"Well I bet if he has he's tore em right up n chucked em straight into the bin." Tracy sighed, "Actually he's probably kept Michelle's one…"

"Yeah… I guess she didn't really ave anything to do with where he is now … that was just down to us." Carla said but Tracy shook her head and said,

"I actually meant because he's always had a soft spot for her… but yeah… that too." Tracy said. She paused slightly and then asked, "Do you ever think about... trying to visit him?" Carla looked down at her hands and didn't speak for a while, making Tracy lean closer and say, "Errr ello… earth to Carla."

"Sorry…" Carla said sadly, Tracy read her down expression and then quietly asked.

"Have you… already tried to see him?"

"No… well sort of." Carla began, Tracy looked confused so she just continued to explain. "A while back… like just before Si's birthday… I'd gotten this visiting order from him."

"Really?" Tracy cried, almost in outrage. "So he wanted to see you… you n not me?"

"Well I am his sister…" Carla began, knowing that for once Tracy wasn't being spiteful on purpose and that her love for Rob was making her angry.

"You were the one who called the police on him in the first place…" Tracy began but she trailed off upon realising how ridiculous she sounded.

"Tracy just listen to me will ya… I went… n… he didn't show up." Carla said, the memory of it being enough to make the tears spike her eyelashes and make her feel just as distraught as she had done that very same day. "He'd got this mate who was sitting at another table to tell me that it was all done on purpose… that Rob wanted me to see what it was like when you think that somebody is going to be there for you… n then they're not." Tracy didn't say anything at first because she was too busy trying to imagine how horrible that must have felt for Carla, she watched as tear ran down Carla's cheek and then she did something remarkable, she moved closer, reached over Carla's shoulder and pulled her close.

"Don't cry…" She said but not at all awkwardly, in a way to that made Carla sniff hard and take a deep breath.

"The reason that I wanted to come over was because other then Chelle... no one else around ere really knows Rob… or cares at least… and I knew that you wouldn't judge me… I wanted to know if it felt for you like it does for me…" Carla began, "Like he's dead… or something…" Tracy nodded at Carla because that was just what it felt like. She had tears in her eyes too but tried her very best to fight past them. "Do you feel the same?" Carla asked, sitting up and looking at Tracy properly.

"Yes…" Tracy said, finally feeling some relief because she didn't talk about Rob to anyone and she missed talking about him. "It's crazy… he's literally an hour or so away but he might as well be a whole world away because we can't speak to him… or see him…"

"And we never got the chance to say a proper goodbye." Carla sobbed. She couldn't help but rest her head against Tracy's shoulder again and they just sat there. They were both quiet for a while, finding solace in the fact that they were both missing Rob like mad.

"Are we crazy ere?" Carla asked, breaking the silence between her and Tracy that had gone on for rather a long time at this point. She sat upright again and looked at Tracy, feeling glad that she was with her because she knew that she could trust her to be honest. "For feeling like this?"

"No." Tracy said firmly. "We're allowed to feel like this… he was my fiancé and your brother and yes he did a terrible thing but we are allowed to miss him."

"I still feel so guilty…" Carla sniffed.

"Well don't." Tracy said firmly, Carla wiped her eyes and listened to Tracy as she continued. " and know that I don't blame you y'know… for calling the police on Rob at our wedding."

"You don't?" Carla replied, wondering if this was a rare occasion, wondering if Tracy Barlow was about to say an I'm sorry.

"No… and if I'm honest… I'm actually really really glad you did." Tracy said, "Peter didn't deserve to get locked up and aving him ere is... amazing isnt it?"

"Yep…" Carla nodded, "I don't know what I'd do without him… I really don't."

"Exactly… He has been a rock to me Dad... besides If Rob didn't want to go to prison then he shouldn't ave killed Tina… Carla the only person's to blame for him being in that place… is him… okay?" Carla nodded at Tracy in awe before giving her a sad smile and saying,

"You're right… My god… Tracy Barlow... is right about something."

"It's been known to happen." Tracy smiled, sniffing and also wiping her sore eyes.

"Tracy...?" Carla asked, "Does this mean we are sort of... friends?"

"Maybe..." Tracy said but she was now still smiling at the idea of this new and odd friendship that she might had just struck up with Carla. After a while she said, "You should talk to Peter… about Rob… Even if he gets a little annoyed... I think he'd understand." Tracy said, "He loves you like no else does Carla… and I'll deny I ever said this but I am so envious of you because of it."

"You'll find someone Tracy… I know you will." Carla insisted but Tracy shook her head.

"But... Rob was the one." Tracy sniffed. It was Carla's turn to put her arm around Tracy this time.

"I know he was…" Carla said, holding Tracy close. They sat in a amicable silence for a while, neither one of them saying anything else until Carla said, "So where did your Dad go?"

"He went to a garden centre… with Audrey." Tracy said, and when she said Audrey's name Carla could tell that she wasn't happy about this at all. "They've been spending a lot of time together lately."

"Oh right…" Carla said, letting Tracy go and shaking her head.

"What?" Tracy said, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You helped me deal with the whole Rob thing so I'm gonna help you with something." Carla said, "You're lonely right?"

"Errr yeah!" Tracy said as if Carla was being dense.

"And you just want someone to hold right? Someone to pay you a little bit of attention… which probably explains why you did what you did with Tony." Carla said, Tracy rolled her eyes and nodded at Carla wondering where she was coming from.

"Yes." She sighed.

"So… you must get how your Dad feels." Carla said, "You must know how lonely he felt and how it felt for him when he started getting close with Audrey… I mean do you really want your Dad to be un-happy?"

"Of course I don't." Tracy's face softened as Carla continued and it was clear that she wasn't as angry as she had first made out.

"Look I know that you're probably thinking it's too soon after your Mum… and do you know what, I'm sure that your Dad probably feels the same… he probably feels guilty… like he's betraying your Mum… he's probably really putting himself through it and he really doesn't need you to do it for him... he just needs you to support him... no matter what." Tracy kept quiet for a while and didn't say anything because she couldn't. She couldn't because Carla was right, after a while she smiled at her mischievously and said,

"Okay... I guess... I'll lay off the whole Audrey thing… for now."

"Why do I get the feeling that's the best that I'm going to get from you on this?" Carla grinned.

"Because it is…" Tracy laughed, making Carla laugh too.

* * *

It was around five pm when Ken got home. He'd walked Audrey home and when he walked up Coronation Street he actually bumped into Peter who had taken Simon to Leanne's. Peter said he'd pop in to see Tracy before finding out where Carla was and as he and his Dad walked in to the living room they got a real shock.

Carla and Tracy were both sat next to each other with a half drunk bottle of wine on the table and empty wine glasses in front of them. Carla had her hands laid out in front of her on the table, whilst Tracy was painting them with a bright red nail polish. They had music playing the background and looked like two proper friends who were just hanging out together.

"Err ave we walked into some kinda alternate universe or something?" Peter asked not used to seeing Tracy and Carla be so close. Ken chuckled as they walked further into the living room and as Tracy looked up and said,

"Hi Dad…" Carla gave her a quick kick under the table, which made her jump and quickly say, "Did you and Audrey ave a good time?"

"Yes…" Ken said, stunned because earlier Tracy had made it clear that she wasn't best pleased with the news that he was going out with Audrey. "I did, thank you for asking Tracy." Peter walked towards the table and kissed Carla on the cheek who smiled lovingly at him and said,

"How was the footie?"

"Footie?" he replied, totally forgetting all about the cover story he and Simon had come up with.

"Yeah the match you n Si were supposedly going to watch this afternoon?" Carla grinned as Tracy went back to painting her nails.

"Eh what do you mean supposedly?" Peter replied with a smirk.

"Oh come on… you think I don't know when you n Si are up to something?" Carla replied also with a smirk to match his. He kissed her in an attempt to get her off the subject.

"Oh do you two flamin ave to?" Tracy asked, unable to refrain from smudging one of Carla's nails.

"Watch it Trace!" Carla cried, looking down at her nails. Peter shook his head at the pair of them and then asked,

"Since when was painting your nails with wine a good idea?"

"Oh yeah... blame the wine for the smudging of the nails... not the fact that you had your tongue down Carla's throat." Tracy replied. Peter turned back to Carla and then tried his best to look very innocent.

"I don't know why you think me n Si are up to something." he said. Carla squinted suspiciously at him and then shook her head before saying,

"Y'know what... it's fine… whatever it is... it seems like it's going to be a really nice surprise so… I'm gonna let you get on with it... for now."

"There's nothing going on." Peter smiled knowing that Carla didn't believe him. "How was your day?"

"Good." Carla nodded, she smiled at Tracy who had her head bent so that she could get a good look at Carla's nails.

"You sure seem like you've cheered up." Peter said, sitting down next to Carla at the table.

"I ave... especially since you've got ere." She said, kissing him on the lips and causing Tracy to cry out,

"Oh for god sake!"

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me earlier eh?" Peter asked, with Carla sitting opposite him on the sofa. After staying at Number one for another hour or so, they had both gone back to Peter's flat and Carla had told him what today was and what it had meant to her.

"Because I didn't want to spoil you n Si's plans… I knew you'd stay and talk to me about it and if I'm honest… I thought you wouldn't want to hear about him." Carla replied, she was sat crossed legged and at a distance as Peter shook his head slowly and said,

"Well first of all me and Simon didn't ave any plans… we really were at a football match." Carla giggled at his blatant white lie and then said,

"And… second of all?"

"Well second of all… of course I'd wanna hear about him… Carla if it's important to you… it's important to me." Peter replied. "I really wish you could ave spoken to me about this earlier."

"Peter the man put you in jail… why on earth would I want to remind you about that… n anyways… as I said, you n Simon had stuff to do and I didn't want to get in the way of that." Carla said.

"But you know that you can talk to me about anything right?" Peter asked,

"I do... and I'm talking to you about it now aren't I?" Carla replied, uncrossing her legs and moving closer to Peter. "I… sent him a card y'know… for his birthday… it was this stupid one with a dog on it... I wrote inside… Happy Birthday Bro… I miss you." A tear ran down his cheek as Carla spoke making Peter reach forward and take hold of her hand. "Peter… I hope he doesn't see my handwriting and just throw it into the bin… I hope he reads it and keeps it."

"Me too." Peter said, "I really do Carla." He then pulled Carla towards him and put both arms around her.

"I love you." Carla said sometime later, with her head rested on his chest.

"I love you too." He said, placing a light kiss on her head.

"And I'm sure that whatever you and Simon ave up your sleeve… will be amazing." She said, Peter laughed silently and then decided that there was no use in pretending any more.

"Oh don't worry…" He said thinking about everything, He, Simon and Juliana had planned today. "it will be."


	46. Just Keep Swimming

**_I warn you... this is a long one..._**

* * *

"Right sit down you." Carla said, dragging a half dressed Peter over to his breakfast bar where she and Simon had prepared a huge breakfast.

Today was the day of the Swimathon and they both knew that Peter was going to need all the energy that he could get today which is why they had made him this rather special breakfast.

Simon had whipped up some pancakes after searching for the recipe on Google, whilst Carla had made some toast on brown bread and some scrambled egg to go with it. Simon had also popped to Dev's to get some syrup for the pancakes whilst Carla laid it all out and when he returned he was surprised to see his Dad hadn't woken up yet. He and Carla had both woken up extra early for this and had left Peter sleeping as they had also guessed that he needed to get as much sleep as possible too.

It was around half past eleven by the time he had woken up and as soon as they heard the sound of his footsteps, Carla and Simon had gotten very excited to see what he would think of their efforts. He had emerged from his bedroom shirtless in a pair of black tracksuit bottoms when Carla had grabbed him.

He looked down at the lovingly prepared breakfast with a smile and then beamed up at his son and wife who were stood on the other side of the breakfast bar to him.

"This is amazing." He gushed, not knowing where to begin as Carla handed him a fork. Simon poured his Dad a huge glass of orange juice as he said, "Thank you so much… seriously... I wasn't expecting anything like this, you really didn't ave to."

"Course we did." Carla said, "We are so proud of you baby, I mean a year ago who'd ave thought you'd be doing something like this? Besides, you're supposed to eat a good breakfast before something like this... so you've got lots of energy… right?"

"Yes." Peter grinned putting his fork into the egg that Carla had cooked, He looked down at it which made Carla then say,

"Don't worry… it's cooked. I mean I know I made it but still... it's alright you know." She thought that Peter had been worried about her cooking but he was actually proud because it was clear that she and Simon had been working hard on this.

"I trust you…" Peter smiled, he began eating as Simon and Carla both sat down opposite him with their own breakfasts too.

"So are you nervous Dad?" Simon asked with a piece of toast in his hand.

"Nope…" Peter said shaking his head. Carla watched him and wondered if he was being totally truthful. He looked as if he was but his eyes said something different and as he continued to eat she said,

"Your Dad is going to be amazing, I know it."

"Definitely… especially with you lot there to cheer me on eh?" Peter said nodding. Simon nodded back at him but Carla was looking at him with a knowing and rather mischievous smile. "What?" Peter asked, "What's that face for?"

"Nothing." Carla said, shaking her head and tucking into her own pancakes. Peter didn't believe her at all and he was just about to ask her again when his phone rang. He had left it on the kitchen counter last night and as it rang, Carla looked down at the screen to see who it was.

"Who is it?" Peter asked, craning his neck. Carla shrugged and handed his phone over to him. The number on screen was rather recognisable and Peter soon realised that it was the leisure centre calling him. "I wonder what they want…" he said before answering it. Carla looked at Simon, who laughed and said,

"I hope they aven't cancelled it." Carla watched as Peter swallowed down the eggs he was in the middle of and said,

"Ello… oh Hi Kelly."

"Kelly?" Carla asked, looking at Simon. "Isn't she the lifeguard that told Peter to the do the swim?"

"Yeah… she proper fancies me Dad." Simon replied, he had forgotten that he wanted Carla to see Kelly's behaviour towards Peter for herself and he wondered if Carla was now going to be annoyed at what he said but instead she just laughed and said,

"Course she does..."

"Yeah, I'm up and I'm eating breakfast as we speak…" Peter said, raising his eyebrows at Carla and Simon, who were both listening to his conversation now. "Okay… thanks… see ya later." Peter hung up the phone and put it on the breakfast bar before saying, "She just wanted to check that I was awake."

"Really?" Simon exclaimed, he then looked at Carla who was pulling a face too, only it wasn't a concerned one that he had been expecting it was more of an amused one.

"Wow..." She said, "Do ya reckon she's calling all of the other participants as well?"

"I'm sure that she probably is..." Peter said, picking his fork up again. He wasn't sure that she was but he didn't want Carla or Simon starting to think anything of it. He had never really noticed Kelly's behaviour towards him until Simon had mentioned it and he'd be lying if he said that the last few times he had been at the swimming pool this week, she hadn't been practically following him around the place.

He of course, had no interest in Kelly what so ever but he knew that given his past mistakes it wouldn't take much for Carla to start doubting him again.

After they had all finished their breakfasts, Carla said that she was going for a shower and left Peter and Simon in the kitchen. Simon shook his head and said,

"I can't actually believe that Kelly called you."

"It's nothing Si…" Peter sighed, picking up their empty breakfast plates and taking them over to his dishwasher.

"Where did she even get your number from? You didn't give it to her did ya Dad?" Simon asked.

"First of all no... I didn't give it to her, she probably got it from the leisure centre computers or something and second of all... what is this Si?" Peter said, turning to Simon who was stood next to him in the kitchen. Simon had been making comments about Kelly liking him all week, they were just casual comments, the sort any twelve year old would make when he thought someone fancied his Dad but what Simon hadn't realised was that all of these comments were starting to affect his Dad.

"What do ya mean Dad?" Simon asked, folding his arms.

"Well it's just you've been saying stuff about Kelly fancying me all week n know you're asking me if I've given her me number… I mean really?" Peter said awkwardly, "Do you really think I'd do that?" He asked, wondering if Simon was worried that he was going to do something stupid… again.

He knew how happy Simon was at the moment, how happy he was with him and Carla and he also wondered if his son was scared that he was going to spoil it all… again.

"Oh god." Simon said shaking his head when he saw the distressed look on his father's face. "Dad I didn't mean it like that… I know you love Carla to bits… I mean you're pretty much obsessed with her. I was just worried that you might ave given that Kelly your number because she sounds like she is proper mental."

Peter laughed at Simon, Half with relief and half at the proper mental comment. He was assured by the look on his son's face, which said that he meant every word he was saying.

"I'm being serious Dad… I know you wouldn't do anything like that to Carla again. I'm sure of it… it's just that Kelly seems a bit like a bunny boiler to me." Simon said.

"Do you even know what a bunny boiler is Si?" Peter chuckled, shaking his head and beginning to load up the dishwasher with their plates.

"Not really… I've just heard people say it a lot that's all." Simon laughed too, bending down and helping his Dad out. When they were finished, Peter turned to his son and said,

"Thanks mate." Simon nodded at his Dad and then bit his bottom lip in shame, he felt like such an idiot for the way his comment had sounded earlier and when his Dad said, "What is it?" he replied with,

"I'm sorry for earlier… I really am, if I'd ave known that I made you feel… you know like I didn't trust you then I would ave stopped… I mean it." Peter put his arm around Simon lovingly and said,

"It's fine Si… It's me own fault really… as long as you know that I'm a completely different man now."

"I do… I really do Dad." Simon said and he meant it.

* * *

They arrived at the leisure centre at one o'clock in the afternoon, an hour before the Swimathon was due to start. Peter gave Carla a kiss and a hug goodbye, Simon too before going off the get changed into his swimming gear.

"I'll come n see ya before I start." He said, leaving Simon and Carla to head over to the spectator's area. Simon was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black sweatshirt whilst Carla was in a pair of tight black jeans and a kaki green jumper. She of course, had a pair of heels on too and as she and Simon walked up the huge steps to get a good space to watch Peter, he chuckled and said,

"Maybe you should ave worn your converse."

"Never…" Carla grinned, as Simon held out his hand for support. She smiled at him fondly and took hold of his hand for the rest of the way up. "Let's sit ere." She said, stopping right in the middle of the spectator's area, which was starting to fill up with some other people who also were coming to watch the Swimathon.

"Okay." Simon nodded, he took his backpack off as Carla sat down next to him.

"So where is this Kelly then?" Carla asked, scanning the pool and looking for anyone who could be this woman that apparently fancied her husband, Simon looked up too and then shook his head.

"She's not ere... not yet anyway." Simon said, he looked at Carla and then grinned. "Are you gonna warn her off?"

"No..." Carla smirked, "As if... I just wanted to see what she looked like that's all."

"She's blonde..." Simon said, "Tall... but don't worry you're miles and miles prettier than her."

"I'm not worried." Carla said truthfully, "I'm just curious thats all... honestly Si... I completely trust your Dad." Simon nodded happily at Carla and it wasn't long before they were both joined by some more of Peter's supporters.

Leanne showed up first, smiling and wearing her red coat as she walked up the steps. She was pleasantly surprised when Simon flew towards her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Hello Simon…" She chuckled, he kissed her on the cheek and said,

"Hi Mum… you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine… are you? Bet you're really excited about today." She said, continuing to walk up the stairs and meeting Carla who smiled at her.

"Yep… I'm well proud of Dad." Simon said, as Carla stood up and hugged Leanne. It was a weird sight for him to see but he smiled as they embraced and as Carla said,

"Alright Leanne." They sat down next to each other and as Leanne took off her coat she craned her neck and said,

"Where's Peter then?"

"Getting changed." Carla said, she couldn't help but smile every time she spoke about Peter and this didn't stop throughout the day. A few minutes after Leanne had arrived, Juliana, Santana and her little sister Carmen turned up. Four year old Carmen was armed with a large piece of A3 card, which she had drawn a picture of a man swimming on, She clutched onto it tightly as her Mum helped her up the steps.

"Hi everyone." Carla said, smiling at them all as they reached her. They all said a friendly Hello to each other before Santana sat down next to Simon and handed him a piece of card. Just like the one Carmen had, only this one was blank.

"Thanks." He said, pulling his pencil case out of his bag. He got busy making a poster for his Dad, whilst Juliana sat down next to Carla. Carmen was stood gazing around the swimming pool, obviously looking for Peter who was still getting changed.

"Where is Peter?" She asked, still holding onto her home made poster, which she had made this morning.

"He's putting on his swimming trunks." Carla said, smiling at Carmen who was wearing a pink jumper, denim shorts and black tights with black Ugg boots. Carmen nodded but she still stood in place until Peter had appeared. He walked towards the spectator's area expecting to just see Carla, Simon, his Dad maybe even Tracy and Amy but that was it. Instead he saw all of those people, plus Santana and her family, Leanne, Michelle, Steve and Audrey, who had come with his Dad.

"Woah…" he said, standing at the bottom of the steps, slightly taken aback. "I didn't realise half the street was going to show up… talk about pressure."

"Peter!" Carmen cried, she jumped carefully down each step and flung the poster she had made towards him. "Look what I made you... Look!"

"Wow…" Peter gasped, as Carla walked towards them. "Is that me?" He asked, looking at the picture of the man in what could only be a swimming pool. He could tell she had spent a long time colouring this all in and gave her a little hug to say thank you.

"Yes… you're swimming lots and lots." Carmen nodded as Carla stopped next to them. She smiled at Peter who was stood clutching a pair of goggles and a swimming hat. He was wearing the black swimming trunks Carla had bought him for Christmas and winked at her before saying,

"You didn't tell me all these people were coming."

"I didn't know." She replied, as Carmen took back the poster she'd made Peter and said,

"I'll look after it for you cause you can't take it into the swimmy pool."

"Good idea." Peter chuckled, he made his way up the steps and had a little chat with his family, and everyone who had arrived to watch him.

It was five minutes to two when he heard the announcer say that all swimmers needed to be at the start point so that they could get ready to begin.

"Right…" He said, taking a deep breath and getting up from where he was sat next to Carla. "I'd better go over there I guess."

"Good luck." Carla smiled as Peter bent down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. He had been feeling pretty confident in the morning but now that he had half the street watching him he was starting to feel a bit scared.

"Yeah good luck bro." Tracy said, patting Peter on the back as Amy gave him a quick hug. Audrey and Ken nodded at him whilst Santana said,

"You're gonna do great Peter… I know it."

"Yeah Dad, You're going to smash it!" Simon said, holding up the poster he had just made which said, _"COME ON DAD, YOU CAN DO IT!"_

"Thanks." Peter breathed, taking a deep breath in as Kelly suddenly appeared at the bottom of the steps. She had her long blonde hair hanging down and over her shoulders today and was smiling as she called,

"Come on Peter… everyone's waiting to begin."

"Yep… I'm coming." Peter said, turning to her for a second and giving her a quick wave. He then turned back to everyone who had been there to watch him and said, "Any last minute advice?"

"I ave some vice!" Carmen cried, stood next to her Mum. Peter smiled at her and bent down so that he was at her level as she said, "Just do what Dory says…"

"Just keep swimming?" Peter grinned, knowing exactly what she was talking about and referring to.

"Just keep swimming." Carmen nodded and she threw her little arms around Peter. Her Mum and everyone else for that matter smiled at how sweet she was. When she had let go of Peter, everyone else gave him a quick pat on the back or hug.

"Come ere gorgeous." Carla said, giving him one last kiss before he walked down the steps and made his way to the other end of the swimming pool with Kelly by his side. "Is that Kelly?" Carla asked Simon who was still finishing up his poster.

"Yep." He nodded, watching Carla for her reaction. She just nodded and then stayed standing up until the Swimathon had begun.

The swimmers had lined up in front of their lanes and were all ready to start and when the clock struck two they all began. There were loud cheers from everyone who was watching the Swimmathon begin and for the first ten minutes or so, everyone was stood up and waving as their loved one went by, after that though, people started sitting down and talking to each other, well everyone except Carmen who was running along with Peter's pace. She stopped at the end and then went back on herself and made sure that she could always see where Peter was.

"That girl…" Juliana said, shaking her head and sitting down next to Carla who also had her eyes on Peter.

"She's so adorable… and I know I say that every time I see her but it's true." Carla said, turning to face Juliana. Carmen was still holding her poster that she had made for Peter and she kept going back a fourth so much that the other people on the steps ended up moving and making sure that she had a clear path.

"She's really taken to Peter." Juliana said, watching her daughter and thinking about all the times they had met up. "I think he reminds her of her Dad."

"Yeah?" Carla asked smiling.

"Yeah. I mean they look nothing alike but it's the way he is with her, it's so sweet, As much trouble as he's caused one thing I'll say about Santos is that he loves his girls." Juliana said, referring to Carmen and Santana's Dad.

"How long has he got left?" Carla asked, remembering how Santana had told her that her Dad was in prison.

"Oh it must be like a month or so… as long as he behaves himself that is..." Juliana said, "The girls will be so glad to have him back in their lives." Carla nodded but she desperately wanted to ask what their Dad had done to end up in prison in the first place. Instead she smiled at Juliana and said,

"So how's things going with Nick then?" Simon had told her that Juliana and Nick were now in a relationship, not to mention the fact that she had seen them both out together in town. One night, she and Peter were out for dinner in the same restaurant as Nick and Juliana and they actually all met up towards the end of the evening and had had a drink together. Juliana smiled at the mention of Nick's name and looked sheepish as she said,

"Good… really good, he's really sweet." When Carla just nodded Juliana then said, "I know you and Peter have quite a lot of history with Nick and I was mortified when I found out he was Leanne's ex… but I really like him."

"Well that's all that matters." Carla said, "and I can tell that he really likes you too because every time I've seen him lately he's been in a ridiculously good mood."

"Is he?" Juliana asked but she couldn't help but grin. Carmen, who's arm was aching from holding up the poster that she had made for Peter, had come running over with it in hand and said,

"Mummy look after this!" She handed it to her Mum before running back to her step and then following the direction of Peter's swim again.

"She loves Nick." Juliana said, "I know it's early days and everything but he's really good with her."

"Yeah I can imagine, Simon always adored him when he was little too. Still does to be honest." Carla said, "Peter always found it really difficult to cope with… especially when we first got together."

"I bet…" Juliana said nodding, "I can't imagine Santos is going to be too happy when he gets out and finds out that I'm dating Nick."

"Yeah well… you two aven't been together for ages. He can't expect you to stay single for ever can he?" Carla said, she had been scanning the swimming pool for Peter and had found him in lane three. Juliana had nodded at what she had said but decided to change the subject because talking about the father of her kids was always hard for her.

"So… what's next for you and Peter then?" She asked, as Tracy came over and sat with them with a polystyrene cup of coffee in her hands.

"What d'ya mean?" Carla said, she was still watching Peter swim and had a distinct look of love on her face as she did so.

"Well when are you two gonna ave kids?" Juliana asked amused, Carla's head spun around at the mention of kids whilst Tracy scoffed and said,

"They don't even live together yet."

"What?" Juliana asked, "Seriously?"

"Well not technically…" Carla began, nudging Tracy in the side. "I mean we both ave our own flats but we rarely spend a night apart these days. I'm always at his place."

"So why don't you just move in then?" Juliana asked, Santana had told her bits and bobs about Carla and Peter but for the most part, she was left in the dark.

"Because Peter's place isn't big enough for all of my stuff and he's signed a six month contract for his which he can't get out of until May or something." Carla explained. It wasn't as if she and Peter hadn't actually discussed this, in fact it was the subject of many of their conversations.

Carla really did have way too much stuff to be able to fit it in Peter and Simon's flat, they had talked about him getting more storage but it soon became clear that she should probably stay put for now.

"Okay fair enough…" Juliana nodded.

"So does that mean in May you two are gonna move in together then?" Tracy asked, curiously.

"Probably…" Carla nodded, "and as for the whole kid thing…" Michelle, who had been stood with Steve, had suddenly approached them and sat down too, she looked irritated causing Carla to stop what she was saying and instead say. "You alright Chelle?"

"Yeah…" Michelle sighed, "It's just Steve that's all."

"What's he done now?" Tracy asked, rolling her eyes because she knew all too well how unpredictable Steve could be.

"Oh he's just stood there n told Ken and Audrey that he's going to Spain in a few weeks time…" Michelle tutted.

"Okay…" Carla said nodding, "And what? He doesn't want you to go or?"

"No that's the point, he does, He just sprung it on me and said that we were both going… I had no idea and to be quite honest... I really don't fancy Spain right now…" Michelle sighed.

"Why?" Carla asked, watching her best friend closely.

"Because… I've errr got parties that I'm supposed to be organising at the moment... and when I told Steve this guess what he said, _well if you're staying ere you can help me Mum with the pub_, as if I aint got enough to do." Michelle said with another sigh. "Anyways ignore me..." She said waving her hand as if she was waving the issue with Steve off and into the distance.

"Are you a party planner?" Juliana asked to which Michelle nodded. "Sounds like a fun job to have…"

"Yeah it is, I really enjoy it." Michelle said with a smile, this only being the second or so time she had met Juliana and she didn't want her to think she was some moody cow who just complained all the time. "So... when I sat down, it looked as if you lot were talking about something, what did I interrupt?" Michelle asked.

"Oh we were talking about Carla and Peter having kids." Juliana said, turning to look back at Carla.

"You were?" Michelle asked, watching Carla closely. This had been a conversation that she had spoken to Carla about, just before Christmas in fact and whilst then it had seemed like a rather touchy subject for Carla, now it seemed like she really didn't mind it.

"Well… not really. Juliana just asked me when me n Peter are gonna ave kids." Carla said, she remembered the conversation she and Peter had on Christmas Eve. The one where they had said that maybe soon they'd talk about the possibilities of having babies and she smiled.

"And…?" Michelle asked, as if she was on tenterhooks, she needed to know what Carla thought about this... for reasons that she didn't want to think about right now, not until she knew Carla could handle it.

"And… the thought of having kids scares the shit out of me but I know Peter will be ere for me next time… he's a different man now..." Carla said still smiling and looking out for Peter in lane three who had just got to the end of the pool and turned around to begin his next length.

"Next time?" Juliana asked delicately, Carla nodded slowly and then said turned to Juliana and said,

"Yeah… erm… I were pregnant just before me n Peter broke up." She decided to put it simply and not go right into the horrible affair and all the events that had occurred after it. Juliana was kind and was becoming a real friend to Carla but she still didn't think she needed to hear all of that, not now anyway. "But… I lost… her… shortly afterwards."

"Oh…" Juliana said, suddenly looking very sad. "I am so sorry… I wish I never said anything now."

"No…" Carla said shaking her head. "You… you didn't know…" She had tears in her eyes and quickly wiped them as best she could. She sniffed hard and swallowed trying not to let everyone around them see her in tears.

It was clear that she was still very cut up about the loss of her and Peter's baby and seeing her like this made Michelle quickly get up and say,

"I'll... be back in a second…" She couldn't stand seeing Carla upset, especially now and especially over the baby.

"Chelle?" Carla watched as her best friend began making a quick get away then shook her head at Juliana who was still looking and feeling incredibly guilty. "Oi… don't look like that." She said, "Honestly Juliana, I'm okay… I promise. Me n Peter think it's good to talk about it…about her…"

"I just feel so bad for asking you about kids… I mean it was really insensitive of me." Juliana said shaking her head again.

"It's fine as I said... you didn't know. Me n Peter ave had the conversation about trying again one day n we're going to talk about it again soon… although he says we should wait until after Valentines Day actually." Carla said smiling and wondering what on earth Peter was up to.

"Oh does he now?" Tracy said, raising her eyebrows. Juliana on the other hand, knew exactly why Peter had wanted their big baby discussion to come after Valentines Day and tried her very best not to smile. Unfortunately she wasn't very good at hiding her smile and Carla caught it.

"What?" she asked, "What do ya know?"

"Nothing…" Juliana said, shaking her head. Carla looked at her sideways and then grinned back at her as Carmen had finally stopped running back and fourth and plonked her self down on the step below them. "I bet you're tired after all that running." Juliana called out to her hoping this would sway Carla and it did. Carmen nodded and let out a deep breath before saying,

"I'm taking a little break… I'm just so hausted!" Carmen wiped her brow precociously and made all the adults laugh at her again.

It was five minutes or so when Michelle had made her return to the spectator's area of the pool. She stood with her arms rested on the barrier, which separated the steps and the ground when Carla nudged her in the side.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Michelle began smiling at Carla lovingly. "It's just… seeing you upset… I've never been able to take it..."

"That's just it Chelle... I'm not upset… I mean yes... what happened to me n Peter's baby girl is the worst thing that's ever happened to me but I am so happy right now… even when I'm in tears I'm the happiest I've ever been… I promise." Carla said, linking her arm into her best friends and resting her head on her shoulder.

"Good..." Michelle nodded, kissing Carla on the head.

"And… you?" Carla began, "Are you happy?"

"Yeah course…" Michelle nodded again but this time not as assuringly as she had done before.

"You sure Chelle… you've been acting odd for a while now." Carla said, sounding worried. "You'd tell me if anything was wrong wouldn't you."

"Carla…" Michelle said, "Nothing is wrong... Trust me."

* * *

An hour and a half later and Peter was still swimming. There were two super fast swimmers who had finished already but everyone else who had taken part was still swimming away.

Carmen was sat with her legs dangling through the bars, which separated the floor and the steps. Amy, Simon and Santana were sat near by and the all of the other people who were watching, were sat behind them.

Ken and Audrey were sat next to each other, and Audrey had actually packed some tuna sandwiches that she and Ken had tucked into.

Peter had stopped to take a few sips of water a few times and when he did, he saw that everyone was still there watching him and cheering him on, He was exhausted but it was the sight of his family that was giving him the strength to keep going.

Michelle had gone outside to have a word with Steve who was still talking about Spain, whilst Carla watched Juliana and Leanne who were busy talking. They had been doing so for at least fifteen minutes and looked as if they had made very good friends. It wasn't long before Carmen nagged her Mum to take her to the toilet. As they both headed down the steps, Carla smirked at Leanne and said,

"Keeping your enemies close eh?"

"What?" Leanne asked, although she knew what Carla meant.

"I'm kidding." Carla teased, sitting down next to Leanne.

"Funny." Leanne said with a sigh, "I've told you already... I'm very happy with Kal."

"She's really nice aint she." Carla said because it was true, Juliana really was one of the nicest women that you could meet.

"Yeah she is…" Leanne nodded, "We were just talking about Nick actually."

"I bet you were." Carla grinned. Leanne rolled her eyes and couldn't believe that she had forgotten how tongue-in-cheek Carla could be. "I bet _you_ had a lot to say about him... I bet you were letting Juliana in on all of his bad habits."

"Yeah yeah what ever." Leanne said as Carla craned her neck to take a look at Peter. "I can't believe this… I mean who'd ave thought Peter Barlow would be willingly swimming five kilometres."

"I know…" Carla said, smiling proudly. Everyone could see how proud she was to be Peter's wife and they couldn't help but talk how much she practically glowed with pride.

"I was stupid all those years ago…" Leanne said after a while. Carla turned to Leanne in confusion and said,

"What do ya mean?"

"Trying to stop Peter from falling in love with you… I mean when I think about how much he has changed over the past year n a bit… and it's all because he lost you... he never would ave done that for me... " Leanne said but without an ounce of bitterness to her voice as she spoke. Carla smiled at her modestly as she continued, "You two make Simon really happy… I can tell... whenever he's at mine… he's just full of nothing but kind words about the pair of ya."

"You make Simon happy to ya know…" Carla began, "He misses you every single day… you're his Mum Leanne, you always ave been and you always will be."

"I know…" Leanne nodded, "I was really annoyed when he moved out but now that I think about it I think that was the best for him… I mean we actually spend more time together now he's gone… we make the effort to see each other and we treasure the time we spend together too."

"Glad to hear it." Carla said with a nod then she grinned. "You're still taking Simon back to yours tonight right?"

"Yes…" Leanne said with a smirk, not wanting to know what Carla had planned.

"Good." She nodded smirking back at Leanne. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two before Carla and Leanne both started giggling.

"How much money did ya get in the end?" Leanne asked when their laughter had died down, knowing that Carla had been marching about the streets for week now trying to get sponsor money for Peter. Tracy had been walking past when she heard and stopped next to them to say,

"Yeah how much?"

"Ahhh…" Carla said, tapping her nose. "I'll let everyone know that later."

* * *

Two hours had gone by and Carla had been trying very hard to keep track of what Peter was swimming and how long for, she knew the time as she had been watching it her phone but she couldn't work out the distance, Carmen had gotten back up and was now following him back and fourth again and Simon joined her waving his poster as they went.

Eventually Peter finished the Swimathon. His time was two hours and ten minutes. He had started off slow but towards the end he had swum as fast as he could, just because he wanted to get it over and done with. When he was told that he was finished, he hauled himself triumphantly out of the water and he could already hear his family and friends cheering.

He got a pat on the back from some of his other friends as he picked up his water bottle and he didn't hesitate to pull of his black swimming cap which had been annoying him since he'd put it on. He looked over to the spectator's area where Carla was already making her way down the stairs.

"Well done baby." She cried, throwing her arms around Peter's neck.

"Carla… I'm soaking wet." He chuckled looking down at his body, which was still dripping wet from his swim as he hadn't brought his towel down with him.

"I don't care… I am so so so proud of you." Carla said, beaming with pride.

"Thank you." Peter breathed, picking her up slightly and kissing her on the cheek. She pulled away from him eventually and let Simon and everyone else say _well done _and _congratulations._

"You must be very tired." Carmen said looking up at Peter in awe when she had gotten a chance to speak to him.

"I'm okay." Peter smiled as Carla wrapped a towel around his shoulders. "Thanks." He said as she put an arm around his body and kissed him on the cheek. He was too full of adrenaline to feel tired yet, He felt indestructible and was so pleased with himself that he couldn't stop smiling. He put an arm around Carla and held her close when Kelly had suddenly appeared.

"Well done Peter!" She cried, smiling excitedly as she approached them.

"Cheers Kelly." Peter nodded, he then turned to Carla proudly and then said, "Kelly this is my beautiful wife Carla... Carla this is Kelly she works ere."

"Nice to meet you." Carla smiled, holding out a hand to shake Kelly's.

"You too." Kelly nodded.

"I hear you're the one who told Peter to do the five K." Carla said to which Kelly nodded.

"Yeah... I saw him swimming ere one day and just casually mentioned it to him... I knew he could do it... I bet you're dead proud of your hubby." Kelly said.

"I sure am…" Carla nodded, kissing Peter on the cheek and holding him close once more. She had done it purely out of love and pride but it blatantly looked as if she was marking her territory and it also looked like Kelly wasn't best pleased with this action too. She smiled uneasily at Carla and Peter and then said,

"You should go n get your medal Peter." Peter nodded at her before she walked away and then smiled proudly.

"Go on." Carla nodded, giving him a poke in his bare stomach. "I want to see it." Peter let go of her and went over to a table in the corner where all the other swimmers were stood getting their medals. When he gingerly returned back with his medal around his neck, he received more cheers from his Dad, Tracy and Simon whilst Carla put an arm around him again and held him. Carmen stood on her tip toes and to get a better look at the medal and eventually said,

"Can I see? Can I see?" Peter nodded and handed her his medal as his Dad had come over to see the medal also.

"Peter we are extremely proud of you for doing this." Ken told him.

"Yeah…" Tracy nodded, "Seriously bro you're amazing."

"Stop it guys." Peter said sheepishly as Carmen stared down at the medal that she was holding. "Seriously." He said as it looked like his Dad was about to continue.

"Yeah otherwise Peter won't be able to fit his head out of the building." Steve laughed, patting his friend on the back. "Right, I say we let Peter get some clothes on and then we all go down to the Rover's to celebrate."

"Really?" Audrey asked, "I mean the man's just finished a five K swim, I should think he wants to go home."

"No… I'm fine." Peter insisted, "Although I could do with a large pizza or something... I'm starving."

Carla eventually let go of Peter and he went to get dressed. When he came out of the changing rooms, she met him along with Simon who still looked at him as if he had just climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

They all made their way back to Coronation Street and piled into the pub. Carmen, Santana and their mother had gone home in the end because their Grandma was still in town and they were going to dinner with her but everyone else was sat in the pub, all talking about Peter to everyone who wasn't there.

Ken, Audrey, Simon and Amy were on one side of a booth in the pub, whilst Michelle and Leanne was sat on the other side. Carla and Peter were in the middle and they were both in a very lovey dovey mood. Carla was sat against Peter who had an arm draped around her shoulder, he was making his way through a pizza which Steve had ordered to the pub as Carla in a comfortable silence. She was still in awe about what Peter had done today because the Peter she had used to know, used to do barely any exercise at all and here he was today, sat next to after just completing a Swimathon.

Many people stopped and did a double take when they saw Peter sat in the pub and said well done to him and asked him if he was tired. Peter answered them all politely as he ate his Pizza but eventually, Carla stood up. Peter watched her as she cleared her throat and said,

"Can I ave your attention please everyone?" Everyone in the pub stopped to listen as Peter narrowed his eyebrows together and mouthed,

"What are you doing?" Carla just smiled at him and ignored him before saying,

"So as you all know… my gorgeous husband has just finished a charity Swimathon and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has given me some sponsor money. I thought you lot might want to know that Peter has raised…" She paused excitedly and then looked down at Peter who was curious to know how much money his neighbours had given. "One thousand and fifteen pounds." Carla started clapping the people in the pub whilst Peter's mouth dropped open.

"Wait what?" He cried as the pub erupted with cheers, he looked up at Carla who was smiling at him. "Are you being serious? I mean that's crazy."

"Course I'm being serious." Carla said, "Some of it has come from the people around ere but I might ave called your boss n let him know what you were up to today and he might ave given me five hundred quid to sponsor you."

"Wow." Peter said in awe, he hadn't expected to raised nearly half that much and then Steve called from the bar,

"Come on Peter... give us a speech!" Peter knew that he had to stand up and say thank you so he did. He cleared his throat and then took a deep breath before saying,

"Ermmm I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has sponsored me… After everything… I errr really appreciate all of your support... I think that you all deserve to know where this money is going. We were allowed to pick which charity we wanted... so after thinking about it for a while I decided that I wanted to donate your money to a cause that would mean a lot to everyone…" He paused and looked at Carla who he hadn't actually told where he had planned to send the money. He knew she be touched when she heard it and as he spoke he reached down and took her hand. "Two years ago we all lost someone... someone who was very important to us… a friend, a wife... a real mother figure... She meant a lot to everyone around ere which is why I'm going to donate the money I raised to the pancreatic cancer research fund… in memory of Hayley."

There was a small silence in the pub, one where Roy who had been sat with Fizz and Tyrone just nodded at Peter thankfully. Carla's throat went dry as Peter sat down next to her and then Steve started clapping.

"Nice one Peter." Tyrone said, also joining in with the clapping and soon enough so did everyone else. Peter nodded at them all sheepishly and then turned to Carla who was still teary eyed over Peter's mention of her late best friend.

"You…" She began, sighing and shaking her head at him dotingly.

"I had to..." He said, squeezing her hand tightly.

"I love you so much." Carla kissed him passionately in front of everyone causing Amy and Simon to both recoil in disgust.

"Oh get a room." Simon said, shaking his head but Carla and Peter stayed in their embrace for a moment longer before remembering where they were. They stopped kissing and rejoined the conversation that was going on at their table.

"How are you feeling?" Carla asked watching Peter as he finished his second glass of orange juice. It was almost an hour after he had told everyone what he was going to do with the sponsor money and she still couldn't believe it.

"Good…" Peter said, "A little tired but I feel really good about myself… proud in fact."

"N so you should be." Carla nodded and then she grinned, "I do hope you're not too tired though."

"Why?" Peter asked suspiciously. Carla just kept quiet on the matter and smiled knowingly, letting Peter know that she obviously had something planned.

* * *

"Carla…" Peter called. He was sat on his bed, with his back against his headboard. They had gone back to his place whilst Simon had gone back to Leanne's for the night. When getting inside Peter's flat, Carla had sent him straight towards the bedroom and told him to wait for her because she was going to the toilet. After five minutes or so it became clear to Peter that Carla wasn't just in the toilet, especially as it had flushed four minutes ago.

"Carla… what are you doing?" he yawned, covering his mouth and kicking off his shoes as he sat on his bed. He stretched out his arms and then yawned again before calling out, "Carla Barlow... you out there?"

"Do you remember our first date?" Carla's voice suddenly said, she wasn't in the room yet but it was clear that she was just outside his door.

"Which one?" Peter asked, half chuckling.

"The one we had in November… the one at Bills... Where you told me about the Swimathon." Carla replied, her tone of voice sultry as she spoke.

"Oh right… well of course I do." Peter said, licking his lips and wondering what Carla was up to out there, she waited a moment and then asked,

"Do you remember what you said when I asked if I could come n watch?" The door opened soon after she spoke, revealing what she had been doing all this time.

"Yes…" Peter breathed as Carla stood before him. She was smiling coyly at him and she was wearing a red and white cheerleading costume, she was also clutching a matching set of pom poms and she had tied her hair up into two high pony tails.

"I would ave wore this earlier but I thought it would be more fun if I saved it until now." She said, walking towards Peter slowly. His eyes travelled down her body and then up again as she approached him.

"Wow…" Peter gasped, unable to say anything else when Carla stopped right in front of him.

"So…" Carla said, gently pushing him backwards slightly with a grin. "Are you still tired?" Peter licked his lips again in delight and very quickly shook his head at Carla before saying,

"Definitely not."

* * *

_**Let me know if you're still enjoying this n what you think.**_

_**Thanks again for reading.**_


	47. Isn't She Lovely?

It had been a long while since Michelle had a themed Rover's Return pub night, before Christmas in fact and even though her mind was all over the place at the moment, she had still managed to plan another quiz night. She had planned it for Saturday the sixth of February and had left a clipboard on the bar where people could sign up and enter.

The Nazir family had not taken their defeat well the last time, so they were first on the list. Sharif had made sure their name was written on it the moment the clipboard had been left on the bar. Second was The Underworld team, who didn't really care if they won either way and just wanted a fun night out. This team consisted of Sinead, Beth, Kirk and Fizz. The Underworld team were missing Sally, a crucial member who hadn't taken well to losing last time either, so she had ditched the Underworld team and formed her own "Team Sally" which consisted of her husband Tim, her ex husband Kevin and her daughter Sophie.

Another one of the teams that had signed up for the quiz were The Barlows. Ken, Peter and Tracy had won last time and Tracy felt as if they should really defend their title. What Tracy didn't know was that her Dad had invited Audrey to join their team and that she would be joining them on the quiz night.

By the time Friday the fifth of February had come, Six teams had entered the quiz. Michelle was sat in Roy's Rolls with Carla, who was on her lunch break, with the list of teams laid out in front of her. She was staring down at it as Carla went over to the till and ordered for the both of them. She had taken a break from the factory to meet Michelle and on that break, Carla had been planning on asking Michelle what was going on because she was still acting oddly but things didn't go the way that Carla had planned.

"What can I get you Carla?" Anna Windass said, she didn't look as if she was in the best position to be taking Carla's order because she was holding onto her baby granddaughter Miley.

"Err… two coffees…" Carla began, watching Miley as she sniffed tearfully and started whimpering again. Anna saw Carla's concerned expression and then said,

"I'm gonna kill Tim… he were supposed to be ere half n hour ago." A queue had begun forming behind Carla at this point, there had been a lot of building work going on around the corner and it looked like the builders were now all on their lunch break. "This is ridiculous… we barley get to see Miley as it is n he's late." Anna sighed.

"Is Roy not about?" Carla asked, because he would normally never leave someone in the café to work on his or her own.

"He were on his way ere but his car's broken down… He told me to just close but there's no point in that is there? Besides Miley was asleep until about three minutes ago." Anna sighed, she looked at Carla and then back at the baby that was in her arms. "You… couldn't hold her for me could ya… just until Tim gets here…"

"Errr…" Carla said, shaking her head instantly because Miley looked as if she would really rather stay in the arms of her Grandma then be passed over to a stranger.

"Oh go on… please... I'd ask someone else but you n Chelle are the only people in ere who I actually know." Anna begged, Carla looked around the café, sure that there would be someone who could help out, but it looked as if there wasn't. "It's either that or you could help me in ere…" Anna added, looking around at the kitchen that she was stood in and then raising her eyebrows. Carla thought about having to cook and help out in the kitchen… for about a millisecond that is. She then nodded reluctantly at Anna and held out her arms awkwardly not entirely sure what she was getting her self into. "Thanks Carla…" Anna breathed, she handed Miley over and as she did, Miley shook her head and began to cry. "It's alright Miley… you're fine." Anna said, then she nodded thankfully at Carla and said, "It wont be long I promise."

"Okay…" Carla nodded although she was sure Anna's promise wasn't going to be kept. She looked at the little blonde baby that was in her arms uncertainly and took a deep breath. _"I can do this..." _She thought to herself and as Miley continued to cry, Carla gave her a little jiggle and said, "Shhhhh…"

Michelle had a pen in her mouth as Carla sat down before her, She was in a high level of concentration, that she didn't notice that Carla had a baby in her arms at first. It was only when Carla started nervously signing _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star _that Michelle had looked up and said,

"Oh…" She looked at Miley who was now quiet because Carla was gently bouncing her up and down and singing. "Where did she come from?" Carla didn't answer because she was mid song and didn't want to stop, so instead she just nodded towards Anna. "Right." Michelle swallowed, still staring at the baby in front of her. Carla sat holding Miley whilst Anna took the rest of the queues orders, Miley was quiet enough, although each time Carla stopped singing and bouncing her slowly up and down, she would start whimpering again. It was ten minutes before Anna had come over with Carla and Michelle's coffees.

"Thank you so much Carla." Anna breathed thankfully, she then took Miley off Carla, who was mighty relieved to be giving the ten mouth old baby back to her Grandma.

"No problem." Carla said, smiling and starting to feel slightly proud of her self. She had never really been around a baby before, other than when Michelle had had Ryan that is and even then she barley helped out. She was feeling rather triumphant for keeping Miley rather settled and picked up her cup of coffee as Michelle stared down at her list. After a while, Michelle had finally put her pen down and said,

"Oh… where's Miley gone?"

"Over there." Carla said, pointing at Anna who seemed to have control on things for now. Michelle shuffled in her seat uncomfortably and picked up her coffee to take a sip as Peter suddenly entered the café. He smiled ecstatically when he saw Carla and walked over to the table where she was sat with Michelle, he placed a soft kiss on Carla's lips before saying,

"Afternoon ladies."

"Afternoon." Carla smiled, looking at Michelle and expecting her to say hello to Peter but she didn't. She looked as if she was a million miles away as Peter sat down on the spare chair. "Chelle…" Carla said, reaching over the table and giving her a little poke.

"Yeah?" Michelle asked, then she realised that Peter was sat with them and shook her head quickly. "Oh Sorry Peter… Hi."

"Hi." Peter nodded although he couldn't help but shoot Carla a look, which said, _"What's wrong with her?"_

"How come you're not at work?" Carla asked Peter with a head on one side.

"Finished early." Peter said with a nod.

"Alright for some eh?" Carla smiled.

"So is everything ready for tomorrow then Chelle?" Peter said, looking down at the list of teams that she was going over.

"Almost." Michelle said, "I'm gonna leave this list on the bar tonight just in case anyone wants to sign up at last minute… Bet your Dad is looking forward to it."

"He sure is." Peter nodded, "Tracy's running around telling everyone that _her_ team is going to win again as well which is a joke considering she practically did nothing the last time."

"Well judging by the names on this it seems that you're Dad's got this covered." Michelle nodded as she picked up her coffee.

"Oh I don't know about that…" Carla smirked, "I saw Zeedan earlier and he said his Dad is on a mission to beat yours." Peter chuckled silently and was about to get up and order himself a coffee when Anna approached Carla again.

"Sorry Carla…" She said, holding Miley out for Carla to take her again. "Please… this guy wants a bacon balm n I can hardly do it with this little one in me arms can I? I'll bring you lot over some lunch on the house yeah?" Carla nodded bewilderedly and placed Miley in her lap as Anna dashed around the till and began dealing with the orders that she now had backed up.

"Hi... Miley." Peter said, reaching out and taking hold of Miley's little hand, Carla jiggled Miley up and down for a moment but she seemed happy enough for now. Being sat together in a café, with a baby sat on Carla's lap was a rather odd experience, for her and Peter. He leant forwards and smiled again at Miley, who Anna had quickly ran over and given a piece of very buttery toast to munch on.

"She's so cute." Carla nodded at him but she didn't say anything, she just sat slowly moving her knees up and down so that Miley didn't get too bored of sitting still. Carla was adamant that she had to keep Miley settled so that she could prove to not only Peter but everyone else around, that she could handle it.

It had been almost two weeks since the Swimathon but that didn't stop the conversation that she'd had with Juliana and Tracy about babies, from lingering in the back of her mind. She knew that Peter had said that he wanted to get Valentines Day out of the way first but that was only a week or so away now and she was starting to get very nervous about what would happen when they eventually did sit down and talk about when there was going to be children in their future.

The only thing that Carla knew for sure, was that the concept of children was definitely a _when_ not an _if… _She one hundred per-cent wanted Peter's child she just wasn't sure when. Peter, also had his mind on his future with Carla. He knew that babies weren't really her thing and he was impressed to see that she was handling Miley rather well. He watched as Miley wiped her messy face on Carla's white shirt and then bit his lip because Carla looked far impressed,

"Uh oh…" Peter said, trying not to laugh as Miley now continued to wipe her buttery face on Carla's shirt, then she started using it to wipe her fingers.

"Miley…" Carla began, she took a deep breath and then grinned as she handed Miley over to Peter who chuckled and took hold of her.

"Errrr Anna ave you got a changing bag with some wipes or summat?" Carla asked, looking down at her filthy shirt and then back up at Anna.

"Yeah upstairs." Anna said in the middle of frying up some bacon and clearly not in any rush to go and get Miley's stuff.

"Okay…" Carla nodded, opening the door and heading up to Roy's flat where Anna had left all of Miley's stuff. She returned quick enough, with a packet of baby wipes in hand and started to clean up Miley whilst she remained on in Peter's lap. "Peter…" Carla laughed as Miley had obviously decided that she didn't want to sit down anymore and had started trying to climb up Peter's body. "Keep her still."

"I'm trying love." He chuckled as Miley looked over his shoulder, keeping her face as far away from Carla as possible. Like most babies she hated having her face wiped and as Carla reached over to clean her up, she butted her head left right and centre, trying to make it as hard as possible for her to wipe it. Michelle was sat quietly and didn't get involved in the Miley situation, She was thinking about Children and her future too and she couldn't believe she had kept quiet for so long.

"Seriously Peter… hold her." Carla said, still laughing because she couldn't believe that this ten month old was stronger than Peter.

"Sit still Miley." Peter laughed although she was having none of it. She giggled as Carla caught her face and started wiping it and when she was done she said,

"There ya go… much better." She smiled at Miley who had her hand in her mouth and as Peter gave her a quick stroke on the head, she gazed up at him. "I think she likes you." Peter smiled at Carla unaware that they had an audience.

"You two really suit that y'know." Anna said with a smile, she had been watching Carla and Peter from the kitchen and couldn't help but make a comment at how at home they looked with a baby in their presence. There was a silence at the table for a moment, Carla smiled at Anna and then glanced quickly at Peter. He nodded and before they could say anything else, Tim bounded into the café.

"Oh about flaming time!" Anna cried, "You were meant to be ere ages ago."

"Sorry…" Tim began, obviously ready with a million excuses but Anna wasn't in the mood to hear any of them as she shook her head.

"I've been in ere all alone all morning… I've had to make poor Carla sit with Miley." Anna said tutting at Tim who walked towards them.

"Ohhh lucky Miley… sitting with Carla eh?" Tim grinned, giving Carla a cheeky wink as Peter handed Miley to him.

"Yeah well not lucky Carla, look at the state of her." Anna said, pointing at Carla's once white shirt.

"Oh… it's fine… don't worry." Carla said, shaking her head and trying not to make a fuss. As Tim got all of Miley's things together he said thank you to Carla and Peter for watching her and it wasn't long before Anna brought them all Bacon rolls to say thank you. She had brought one for Michelle too and as Carla went to the toilet, Peter had picked it up and said,

"Chelle..." Michelle took one look at the food in front of her and then instantly covered her mouth.

"Get it away from me Peter." She said, suddenly disgusted. Peter put the plate down on the table and watched Michelle for a moment. He looked at the revolted look on her face and then down at the coffee that she had barley touched too.

"Michelle…" He said, leaning back at little.

"Yeah?" She said not quite looking at him in the eye.

"Are you okay?" He asked,

"Yeah... I'm just... not in the mood for bacon." Michelle nodded at him, trying to keep it all together but failing miserably. She sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek and when Peter leaned forward she just came out with it. "I'm pregnant."

Peter didn't say anything. He was quiet at first, mainly because he was stunned but also because he had some questions and he didn't know which one to ask first. He wondered if Carla knew yet, then he wondered if Steve even knew yet, judging by the look on Michelle's face he was the first person that she had told and as Carla came back from the toilet, Peter really didn't have a clue what to do.

"Look at the state of me." Carla sighed, but with a soft smile all the same. She brushed at her shirt although it really made no difference and then said, "Oh are these from Anna?" She was looking at the bacon rolls which were now on the table in front of her and when Peter nodded she picked on up. She had gotten halfway through it when she realised that Michelle was teary eyed and that Peter was clearly on edge about something. "What? What is it?" Carla said, putting down her bacon roll onto the plate.

"Michelle?" Peter said, staring at her and hoping that she would just come out with the truth. She didn't. She got up and said that she had to go because there was stuff she had to do and with that she left the café.

"What the hell was that about?" Carla asked, turning around and wondering if she should follow her best friend out. She then turned to Peter and waited for him to answer her. "Peter?"

"How would I know?" Peter said, licking his lips nervously before picking up his bacon roll.

"Well you were just sat ere talking to her…" Carla said as Peter bit into his roll. He just shrugged it off and pretended like Michelle hadn't just dropped a major bombshell on him. He sat with Carla for the rest of her lunch break and tried to change the subject from Michelle as best he could.

He did think about telling Carla what Michelle had just told him but then he went against that thought because he didn't feel like it was his place. After he and Carla had eaten, he walked her back to work and assured her that Michelle was probably fine. Before leaving her he kissed her on the cheek and said,

"I'll see you later yeah?"

"Yes." Carla nodded before walking into the factory. Peter watched her go into his building before quickly turning around and heading over to the pub in the hope that he would find Michelle there. He wanted to speak to her because there was clearly something wrong. She didn't seem too happy to be pregnant at all and as Peter walked into The Rover's he wondered if maybe she was keeping a secret for a specific reason.

Michelle knew it wasn't going to be long before Peter had come to find her and as he sat down in front of her in the pub, she sighed heavily.

"Did you tell her?"

"No." Peter said, assuming that she was talking about Carla. "I didn't think it was my place… Does Steve know?" Peter asked, glancing around him and hoping that Steve wasn't near by so that they could have a proper conversation about this.

"No." Michelle shook her head. "You're the first person I've told."

"Why" Peter asked.

"I dunno… I guess I've been keeping it my self for so long… it was bound to come out eventually and it just so happened to be you I told about it." Michelle said with another sigh, knowing what question would be coming next.

"So how long ave you known for?" Peter asked, watching Michelle who swallowed uncomfortably and said,

"Three weeks."

"Three weeks?" Peter cried, Michelle kicked him underneath the table because his outburst had caused a lot of attention, Liz was suddenly watching them both and looked rather surprised to see the pair of them sat together and talking without their other halves like they usually did. Normally Steve would be sat with Michelle whilst Carla would be sat tucked underneath Peter's arm, they would spend many a night chatting away but now it was just Peter and Michelle talking and even they had to admit it probably looked weird.

"Shhhh." Michelle hissed shaking her head as Liz continued to watch them.

"I'm sorry… but three weeks?" Peter asked with a hushed tone, "How on earth ave you kept that to your self for that long?"

"I guess I was in denial at first… I've only officially known for two weeks… I took the test before I'd met you lot at the Swimathon."

"Right…" Peter said, still not getting why Michelle hadn't said anything yet because now he was talking to her, she looked a little bit excited about things.

"I had my suspicions when you n Carla were in California… I've been pregnant before so I knew what the symptoms were… but I guess I kept hoping that they'd go away… they didn't and so in the end I knew I had to take the test… just to make it real."

"How come you didn't tell Steve about any of this?" Peter asked.

"Because I wanted to be sure… I didn't want to worry him with it until I knew… I'm still so worried about him… he's so much better now but I've read that sometimes it can take the slightest little thing to bring him back down again." Michelle said and she was starting to get teary eyed now, She sniffed as Peter took another look around and said,

"Okay… I get that… but I reckon Steve's gonna be pretty thrilled when he finds out."

"I was going to tell him… and then he started going on about going to Spain… he really wants to go and I know if I tell him then he won't." Michelle said sadly, looking down at her clasped hands and sniffing again, obviously trying her hardest not to cry. "I do want this baby… What if he doesn't want it… what if he freaks out?"

"Well you won't know until you tell him will ya?" Peter said.

"I know… I'm… frightened… Peter It's been a long time since Ryan and I'm just wondering if me n Steve can hack it." Michelle sniffed, thinking about how much of a big change to their lives a baby would bring.

"He deserves to know Michelle… He'd want to know how your feeling n… to be honest by telling me you've put me in a rather difficult position… the man's me best mate… not to mention the fact that I'm married to your best mate… who you also aven't told." Peter said, thinking about how worried Carla had been about Michelle for weeks now.

"I know… and I am sorry Peter." Michelle said, "I really am." She took a deep breath and once again she knew what question was coming next from Peter.

"So how come you aven't told Carla about this?" He asked, although he thought he had a bit of an idea why.

"Why d'ya think?" Michelle asked, "After everything she's been through… I don't know if she's ready to know yet… I mean just talking about the possibility of kids at the swimming pool a few weeks back almost had her in tears… I just don't want to make her upset."

"Michelle… trust me ere… She will be more upset about the fact that you felt like you couldn't talk to her about this." Peter said. Michelle nodded at him and knew that he was right. She knew that she had to tell Carla and she also knew that it wasn't fair on Peter to keep this secret either.

* * *

A day had past, and as Peter and Carla made their way over to the pub for the quiz, Peter wondered if Michelle had finally bit the bullet and tell Steve that she was pregnant.

He had sat with her in the pub for a little while on Friday afternoon to make sure that she was okay and to help her figure out how to tell Steve. He had tried to be funny and supplied Michelle with lots of creative ways to tell her husband that she was going to have their baby but in the end, she just said that she would just tell Steve that night.

It was clear to Peter from the moment that he had stepped into the Rover's that Michelle hadn't told Steve, because he was sure that Steve would have rushed over to him and said something right away.

He already knew that Michelle hadn't told Carla yet because she hadn't mentioned it either and he knew that finding out that her best friend was pregnant was going to have a definite affect on Carla.

Steve was in full quiz-master mode as Carla went to sit with Tracy at the table, which had been reserved for Team Barlow, he was going over the list of questions that he had picked out as Peter walked past him and went straight over to Michelle who was stood on the other side of the bar.

"So… I'm guessing you aven't told him yet?" Peter said looking at Michelle disappointedly.

"You're guessing right." She sighed, looking over at Carla who was laughing away at something with Tracy.

"Look…" Peter said delicately, "I don't want to push you to do anything ere… but I can't keep this from Carla much longer… last night was torture… If you don't tell her…soon I'm gonna ave to, I hate keeping secrets from her… And I don't want to give her any reason to not trust me." Peter said, he had been on edge since speaking to Michelle yesterday and as he and Carla had spent the night together, he had been desperate to tell her.

"I get it…" Michelle nodded, looking over at Steve who was greeting more and more people into the Pub. "I will tell her… Just once I've told Steve… Okay."

"Okay…" Peter said and then he heard Carla call out.

"Get a move on with the drinks Peter."

"Two Red wines and an orange juice?" Michelle asked, looking over at Carla who was say with Tracy. They looked pretty companionable sat in the corner together and Michelle couldn't help but feel a tiny bit jealous because she knew with a baby coming soon, her time to spend chatting the night away with Carla, would be limited.

"Yes Please." Peter nodded with a light sigh, after he was handed his drinks he walked over to Tracy and Carla.

"Cheers Darlin." Carla said smiling at Peter as he sat down next to her. She knew that he and Michelle were up to something, she could tell by the way that they were talking and she wondered what it was about but as Peter smiled lovingly back at her, she was sure that it could be nothing bad.

"What times Dad getting ere?" Tracy asked after a while, the pub was pretty full now and all the eager teams for the quiz were sat at their tables, waiting for Steve to begin.

"Any minute now…" Peter said and he looked slightly concerned as he spoke too, knowing what was coming next. Carla watched him for a moment and then she knew why he looked a little worried. Ken soon walked into the pub with Audrey by his side and when Tracy saw the both of them she sighed.

"What's she doing ere?" Tracy whispered leaning towards Carla and Peter as her Dad and Audrey waved and then said that they were going to quickly get their drinks for the quiz.

"Erm… I guess she's ere for the quiz." Peter began, knowing full well that his Dad had invited Audrey to be on the Barlow's team and also knowing that Tracy wasn't going to be pleased about it either.

"But… We can only ave four team members." Tracy said, Peter nodded at her as Carla raised her eyebrows and took a large swig of wine.

"Yeah… We do, Me, You… Dad n Audrey." Peter said slowly.

"Errr what about Carla?" Tracy asked, staring at Carla who shrugged and said,

"Me... I'm just a spectator."

"What?" Tracy exclaimed, although she was keeping the volume of her voice low because she didn't want her Dad to hear. "So you've been chucked off the team and replaced with Audrey Roberts?"

"No. I were never actually on the team to begin with." Carla said, being truthful as well because she hadn't actually wanted to take part in the quiz at all.

"But… You're actually family." Tracy said, glancing over at Audrey and her Dad who were chatting as their drinks got prepared. "What are people gonna think if Audrey sits with us?"

"Does it matter?" Peter tutted hoping that Tracy wasn't going to make things difficult tonight. "Dad's happy… why can't you be?"

"I am…" Tracy said, shaking her head and then looking at Carla. She had remembered what Carla had said to her a few weeks back about supporting her Dad though this but she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as Audrey and Ken came to sit down at the table. Five minutes went by before Tracy had gotten up and said a very unconvincing. "I… don't feel well... I'm going home."

"Tracy?" Ken said, knowing that she was leaving because of Audrey. He was about to beg her to stay but she had gone before he could say anything else. Carla looked at Peter, who cleared his throat awkwardly and said,

"She'll be alright Dad… leave her be." He was trying to make his Dad feel better about things and smiled as he added, "Besides… it's not as if she was much help last time was she?" Ken let out a sad chuckle as Steve took hold of the microphone and got the quiz started.

The five teams were highly competitive and the room was silent as the quiz begun. By the time the quiz finally ended, it was gone eight thirty pm, Sally looked over at The Barlow's table and said,

"I really ave a good feeling about this, I think we've got in in the bag." Although she didn't have a good feeling about the quiz at all and she had been arguing with Tim for most of it.

"Yeah yeah… whatever you say Sally." Said Carla, who had eventually joined in with Team Barlow because they were now one person down. She had been expecting to be useless but she had actually answered a good chunk of the questions that were in the quiz and was secretly thrilled that she'd had the option to join in the quiz after all.

Team Nazir had been very quiet during the quiz and had whispered each answer whilst the Underworld team had several arguments out loud, after not agreeing on most of the answers.

As Michelle collected the quiz papers, Steve said that he would take them out back to mark them in private. Michelle was busy collecting Team Barlow's quiz paper when Peter leant forward to her and quietly said,

"Now's your chance." Michelle looked nervously at Steve and then nodded at Peter.

"Spose it is." She said anxiously.

"He's gonna be fine... I know it." Peter smiled at Michelle and as she began walking away, Carla had returned from the toilet.

"Okay… what's going on?" She asked, sitting down next to Peter and watching him suspiciously.

"What d'ya mean?" Peter asked, picking up his glass of juice and nonchalantly taking a sip.

"You n Chelle… you keep whispering about stuff… N I wanna know what it is." Carla said. Peter put his glass down at looked at Michelle who was walking towards the bar, he hoped that she was about to tell Steve about her pregnancy and then he hoped that she would tell Carla afterwards. He was just about to try and shake his wife's curiosity off when she smiled and said, "Is this about Valentines Day?"

"Valentines Day?" Peter half grinned.

"Yeah… This secret thing that you ave planned." Carla said excitedly because Peter and Simon had both made it clear that they had something secret planned for the women in their life. "Have you told Michelle about it?"

"Maybe." Peter said mysteriously. "Maybe not."

"Oh baby come on… can't you just tell me what it is? I mean it's only a week away really." Carla pleaded, linking her arm into his and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Well if it's only a week away then you can wait… can't you." Peter said, kissing Carla on the side of her head as Ken sat back down with some more drinks, Audrey had accompanied him to the bar and when she sat down too, she smiled at Carla and Peter and said,

"Y'know, I ave to say. You two are such a sight for sore eyes."

"Really?" Peter chuckled to which Audrey nodded.

"Yes, it's very uplifting to see two people so much in love." Audrey added which made Carla and Peter both smile.

"Well thank you." Carla beamed, turning to look at Peter dotingly. "He's got this secret Valentines Day thing that he wont tell me about…" She began, giving him a nudge and hoping maybe Audrey could work some magic to get some more information.

"Ohhh how lovely." Audrey said, Ken nodded too and then smirked before saying,

"It's not such a secret actually..."

"What?" Carla said, frowning slightly at Peter. "Did ya tell ya Dad?"

"No… I didn't." Peter said, wondering how on earth his Dad had found out about what he had planned when as far as he knew, it was just Juliana that they had told.

"Let's just say a certain son of yours let slip what you would be doing next Sunday…" Ken said, smiling at Carla in a way, which told her that he wouldn't be saying anymore. Peter chuckled silently at his Dad as Carla sighed and asked,

"So just how involved is Simon in all this eh… are we double dating with him and Santana or something?" She was looking at Ken hopefully, but he just shook his head and said,

"I am not going to say anything else on the matter."

"Good." Peter said with a nod, "And Neither am I."

* * *

Half an hour had passed since Michelle had left the bar with Steve in two and when Steve came bounding back out with the results of the quiz in hand, it was clear to Peter that he had just been told that he was going to be a father again because Steve looked totally ecstatic as he took hold of the microphone.

Michelle soon appeared in the bar and glanced at Carla who was mid conversation with Audrey, she didn't interrupt and instead she looked at Peter and when she eventually caught his eye, she nodded at him happily and mouthed,

"I told him..." She also put a thumb up to show Peter that it was all good, he looked relieved as Steve cleared his throar and got everyone's attention. He began to announce the winners of the quiz in reverse order.

Not surprisingly, Team Underworld had come last place, they were followed by Team Sally and then two of the other teams, so that meant that first place was going to go to either Team Nazir or Team Barlow.

"So… the winner of tonight's pub quiz is…" Steve left a very intense and very long gap to try and create some tension, he smiled excitedly as he looked in between both tables and had left it so long in fact, that Zeedan tutted and shouted out,

"Oh just get on with it Steve will ya?" Steve nodded and looked down at his sheet of paper one more time to make sure that he was reading out the correct result before saying,

"The winners... by one point… are... Team Barlow." Loud cheers erupted from the Barlow's table whilst the Nazir's looked very disappointed indeed. Carla threw her arms in the air and clapped in a showy fashion as Zeedan and Alya shook their heads, they weren't too annoyed about losing the quiz and Yasmeen Nazir was rolling her eyes because she also hadn't been that into the quiz in the first place and had only gone along to keep her husband happy.

"Not again." Sharif said frustratedly, shaking his head as Ken got up of his table. He was thrilled to have won once again and made his way over to where the Nazir's were sitting.

"We will have to have a rematch at some point." Ken said, holding his hand out to Sharif in commiseration.

"Definitely, I am determined to beat you." Sharif said with a smile.

"Let me buy you guys a drink." Ken said, ushering Sharif over to the bar with him. Steve still had his microphone in hand and looked as if he might explode with the news that his wife was pregnant. It wasn't very long before a very pleased Carla had gotten up from where she, Audrey and Peter were sitting and sauntered over to where Zeedan and Alya were.

"Oh ere she comes to gloat." Zeedan said with a smirk.

"Me… never." Carla said but she poked her tongue out at Zeedan all the same, he tried his best not to blush but he looked incredibly sheepish as Carla patted him on the back.

"It were only one point anyways…" Zeedan eventually said, his sister with her eyes transfixed on him.

"Very true…" Carla nodded, "Although I'd like to think I were the one who were responsible for that one point lead." She grinned.

"I'm just glad Team Sally didn't win." Alya said with a raised eyebrow. "I couldn't bare work on Monday if she had done."

"Uh I know right, She's dragged Tim outside to ave a right go by the looks of things." Carla laughed. Meanwhile, as Ken had returned to sit with Audrey, it was Peter's turn to get up. He walked over to the bar and leaned on it, waiting for Michelle who was busy pouring drinks, to come over.

"So… how'd it go?" he asked, when Michelle had finished and had walked over to him.

"Good…" Michelle said, looking much happier than before. "Really good... He's a little nervous about it but so am I so that's Okay... I'm actually quite excited about it now."

"Good… me too." Peter said with a cheery nod.

"Thanks Peter… you have been really supportive…" Michelle said, looking over at Carla who was now sat down next to Zeedan and was in the middle of a conversation with him about the quiz. "I'm gonna tell her in a bit… How d'ya think she'll react?" Peter was just about to answer Michelle when Steve suddenly spoke into the microphone again,

"Congratulations to the Barlows… that's their second win in a row." He then looked right at Michelle, right into her eyes and she knew what he was about to do.

"Oh god!" She cried but before she could stop him he said,

"I'm sorry but I can't keep this in any longer… Everyone... Me n Michelle are aving a baby." Once again the pub exploded with cheers, Liz looked over joyed at the prospect of becoming a Grandmother again and threw her arms around her son, then as she let go, Steve pulled a stunned Michelle towards him and kissed her on the check. "Sorry babe... I had to." Michelle didn't say anything and just nodded in shock as she heard countless voices saying

"Congratulations." Peter who had been leaning on the bar, stood up straight when Steve announced the news and his eyes immediately found Carla. She was motionless. Still sat with Zeedan and Alya who were both watching her closely. They weren't actually living in Weatherfield when Carla had suffered from her miscarriage but it was common knowledge and they both knew that she was probably finding this bombshell pretty hard to deal with.

"Are… You okay?" Zeedan asked, leaning towards Carla, who just nodded slowly. He knew her well enough from all their chats at the gym and he knew what she looked like when she was troubled.

"Yeah…" She said, she swallowed hard and stood up to congratulate her best-est and most oldest friend.

"Carla..." Michelle began, as Carla gingerly approached her.

"Congratulations." Carla breathed, shaking her head because she was still in shock.

"I was gonna tell you myself." Michelle said as she felt Carla's arms go around her.

"Hey… Don't even worry about it." Carla said, shaking her head. "I'm so happy for you Chelle… And Steve." Michelle squeezed Carla tight and kissed her on the cheek as Peter stood beside them. When Michelle had let go of Carla, Peter bit his lip and said softly to his wife,

"You okay love?"

"Yes... I'm fine." Carla said, but her voice broke as she said the word fine and as Liz cracked open a bottle of champagne, she had tears in her eyes. Peter took hold of Carla's hand as she quickly reached for the glass of bubbly that Liz had poured for her and gave it a little squeeze to let her know that he was there for her. Everyone in the pub looked overjoyed at Steve and Michelle's news and Liz was handing out free drinks left right and centre to celebrate.

Steve had gone over to the jukebox and had selected Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely.

"This is dedicated to my future daughter... or son..." Steve chuckled, receiving a pat on the back from Tyrone and Luke. Carla was on her second glass of champagne within minutes and Peter just stood by at first. He watched as his wife tried to pretend like everything was okay but he knew it wouldn't be long before Carla needed to shed a tear. Sure enough, it was only five minutes later when Peter realised that she had disappeared.

He had left her talking to Michelle whilst Steve had pulled him aside for a quick word but when he looked, Michelle was surrounded by Liz, Eva and a few other of her friends.

"Where's Carla?" Peter asked, not caring that he was blatantly interrupting a happy conversation.

"She was just ere a minute ago…" Michelle said pulling Peter to the side and biting down on her bottom lip. "Oh I could just kill Steve… I mean fancy him telling everyone like that... we don't even know how far gone I am yet."

"He's just excited… That's all." Peter said, craning his neck and looking for Carla, he wondered if she had maybe gone to the loos and had sent Alya in to see if she was there. Alya returned moments later and shook her head at Peter.

"No... she's not in there." She said.

"Okay... thanks Alya." Peter said, he then turned back to a guilty looking Michelle and said, "Hey... don't look like that..."

"I feel terrible." Michelle sighed, shaking her head. "I knew she wasn't ready for this."

"Stop it." Peter said, "I know for a fact that Carla would hate to hear that you were thinking this way, which is probably why she's vanished... She probably just needs a moment that's all... I'm going to go n find her, alright."

"Alright." Michelle said dejectedly, Peter left Michelle were she was stood and went in search to find Carla.

It wasn't long before he found her, out back in the freezing cold outdoor smoking area of the pub, her arms were folded to keep warm as she had left her jacket indoors and as a tear ran down her cheek, she shivered.

Peter didn't say anything, he just slowly walked towards Carla, who turned to see who it was behind her. When she saw Peter she sniffed and gave him a sad smile. He smiled back at Carla in the same bittersweet way and put his arms around her from behind, as he did so he kissed her softly on the cheek.

He didn't have to say anything and neither did she.

* * *

**_I really enjoyed reading your reviews last week, I'm so glad to read that so many of you are still enjoying this so keep em coming :)_**

**_Apologies for my lack of updates this week, I won't even get into how busy I've been, hopefully I'll do better this week._**


	48. Coughs & Cuddles

After finding out that her best friend was pregnant, Peter knew that Carla needed a bit of a treat and he literally could not wait a moment longer for Paris on Saturday. He had almost everything sorted out and all that he needed to do was think of a way to get Carla to pack a suitcase without being suspicious. He also needed to make sure that Simon got Santana to do the same. He had been racking his brain on ways to do so when Michelle's pregnancy had been announced.

Initially Carla had said that she was extremely happy for Michelle and Steve but it was clear to all, especially Peter, that Carla was finding her friend's pregnancy difficult and after a while she had disappeared.

Peter eventually found her outside, held her close to him and kissed her on the cheek, letting her know that he was there for her. They seriously could have stayed outside in each other's arms all night but obviously they were soon interrupted by somebody coming outside for a smoke, so they ended up going back inside. They stayed in The Rover's for a short while but eventually, Peter had told Carla that he had been the one to know about Michelle's pregnancy first. He didn't have to say anything about it of course, no one would have known but at this point in their relationship, he found it better to be completely truthful to Carla than to lie to her about anything, other than their little trip to Paris of course.

From the moment that Peter had told Carla, He could tell that she wasn't best pleased that her best friend had chosen to share such news with him and when Michelle had eventually come back over to them Carla quickly said,

"How come you told him and not me?"

"Car… it wasn't like that… I just blurted it out." Michelle began but Carla just shook her head and said,

"Y'know what… I don't feel so good… let's go Peter." And she took Peter by the hand and dragged him out of the pub before he could say anymore on the matter. Carla wasn't being entirely untruthful there, she did have a slight headache but she told herself that was probably the champagne that she had been downing. From the moment that they both entered Peter's flat, they fell straight into bed and didn't have the chance to talk about it again.

The next morning, Peter woke at around nine am, he could tell that it was pouring with rain outside because he could hear the raindrops crash against his bedroom window. He stretched and hoped to feel Carla next to him but she wasn't, he quickly hauled himself up and out of bed in search for his wife.

Carla was sat crossed legged on his sofa wrapped in a fleecy blanket, she looked rather pale as Peter approached her and when he got closer, he saw that she was shivering a little.

"You okay baby?" he asked, staring closely at her for a moment.

"Yeah…" Carla said, smiling lazily at Peter who sat down next to her and kissed her on the cheek.

"You sure?" Peter said, raising his hand and feeling Carla's forehead. "You're boiling love."

"I'm okay... I think I'm just getting a cold or something." Carla began but little did she know how ill she would get over the past few days.

"Awww love." Peter said, reaching over and kissing her on the cheek again. "So do… you want to talk about last night?" He asked, putting his arm around Carla and holding her close.

"No." Carla said sternly.

"Carla…" Peter began but she had already started talking again before he could.

"Why couldn't she just tell me?" She said, shaking her head and genuinely feeling like a crap friend.

"She didn't tell anyone." Peter said, although he knew what was coming next.

"She told you." Carla sighed and then she coughed, a lot.

"Listen love, it's like she said..." Peter said once she had finished coughing. "We were just sat in the café when you had gone to get some wipes for Miley and she just came out with it… then she were gone before she even had a chance to explain anything."

"Yeah… well you could ave told me." Carla moaned but she didn't blame Peter for the way she was feeling, not one little bit.

"I know… but it wasn't my place." Peter said, biting his lip because this was what he really really hadn't wanted. "She was a mess… She looked really scared and I didn't want to make it worse for her… I was trying to be supportive."

"I know…" Carla sighed again, knowing that absolutely none of this was Peter's fault. "I know." She snuggled up closer to him and nuzzled her nose again his chest as he said a very concerned,

"Do you hate me for not telling you?"

"Course not…" Carla said, sitting up and shaking her head, "How could I hate you eh?" she added, smiling up at him adoringly. "I just… I guess I'm just jealous."

"What of?" Peter said, "That Michelle told me first or that she's… pregnant." He had said that last bit delicately and he almost wished that he hadn't because he wasn't quite sure how Carla was going to have reacted but she just shrugged and said,

"Both… I guess."

"Well you don't need to be." Peter insisted, squeezing Carla's shoulder and pulling her even closer. "Chelle only didn't want to tell you because she thought you might get upset… trust me… I were probably the last person she wanted to confide in… and about the baby thing… Me n You are gonna ave a whole bunch of kids one day… just wait n see." He kissed Carla on the forehead and she was quiet for a while, she was smiling down at her lap but when she did finally speak again she said,

"This whole bunch of kids… just how many are you expecting?"

"Oh…" Peter nodded with a grin, "A least… five." He joked.

"Five!" Carla exclaimed nudging him in the stomach with her elbow.

"Yeah, I want three boys and two girls." Peter smirked.

"Errr are you forgetting that I ave to push these babies out of me?" Carla asked, staring at her husband.

"Alright, alright." Peter chuckled, "Two... One girl, One boy, plus Simon... how does that sound eh?"

"That sounds… a little less scary." Carla smiled, leaning against Peter again and feeling truly content, even if she was still feeling slightly ill.

She had managed to go to work on Monday, insisting that she just had a cold and that she would be alright but by the time Tuesday came she could barley sit at her desk without feeling weak and by Wednesday, Carla was in bed, wrapped in two duvets with a very nasty cough and a fever.

She wasn't too bothered by the illness, even though she felt totally weak she rather enjoyed having Peter and Simon waiting on her hand and foot. They brought her medicine, made her hot drinks whenever she wanted it and bringing her anything else that she required. Carla had thought that Simon and Peter were just being fussy but actually, they were more concerned about her getting better before the weekend.

"What if she's not better Dad?" Simon hissed on Thursday morning. He was dressed in his school uniform and sat at the breakfast bar as Peter was busy making Carla a hot drink, one that was lemon flavoured and full of medicine to try and ease her cold.

"I'm sure she will be." Peter said, stirring Carla's drink and biting his lip. He wasn't sure, in fact he was just trying to keep positive because he didn't know what on earth would happen if Carla wasn't better by Saturday. "Besides… I don't think that you should worry about Carla… she's my problem, what you need to worry about is getting Santana to pack for Saturday."

"Oh I'm not worried about that." Simon replied, biting into his last piece of toast as he spoke.

"Oh yeah." Peter asked with an eyebrow raised. "N why's that then?"

"Well…" Simon said and then he paused. "I'm just gonna call her Saturday morning right… tell her to pack then."

"Si… our train is at nine am… you're gonna need to talk to her before then." Peter said, "We'll ave to pick her up at about Seven."

"Oh… yeah." Simon said as he finished his toast. "You're probably right… What are you telling Carla then?"

"Well I'm going to ask her to pack on Friday night… tell her that I'm taking her somewhere special." Peter said, taking Simon's empty plate of him. "Why don't you just tell Santana that?"

"Yeah… I could." Simon nodded, "But I wanted to wait until last minute, I didn't want to actually tell her we were going to Paris until I absolutely had to."

"It's the night before Si…" Peter said, putting Simon's plate in the sink and beginning to wash it up. "Besides you don't need to tell her where we are going… just say it's a surprise."

"Hmmm I dunno… I'll think about it… hey, maybe Santana's Mum can help." Simon said.

"Santana's Mum can help with what?" said a familiar voice. Simon and Peter both spun around on foot and saw Carla appear in the hallway.

"Hey… what are you doing?" Peter asked, frowning as Carla walked slowly towards him and Simon. She was wearing Peter's big navy blue dressing gown and as she reached him, he took hold of her and walked her towards the sofa instead.

"Peter…" She sniffed with a giggle. "I need a wee."

"Oh… right." Peter chuckled, letting go off Carla and letting her walk towards the bathroom. She had been in bed for so long that her arms and legs were feeling weak. She was shivering as she walked into the bathroom and when the door closed behind her, Simon let out a breath of relief and said,

"That was close…. Do you thinks that's all she heard?"

"I dunno…" Peter replied but then he saw Simon's face and it was clear to Peter that surprising Carla was also very important to him., "Don't worry… I'm sure she didn't." Simon wasn't sure that he shouldn't worry but he listened to his Dad as much as he could. He also didn't want to think about what might happen if Carla didn't get any better. She could barley walk let along take a train journey to Paris on Saturday and he was desperate for this weekend to go without a hitch.

When Carla came out from the bathroom, she smiled at Peter and Simon and said,

"So… what can Santana's Mum help ya with?" Simon glanced at his Dad and then thought quickly on the spot.

"Oh… some homework that I've got." Simon said, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Well what is it? Maybe I can help." Carla suggested, shaking slightly as she walked back towards them, Peter handed her the lemon drink that she had made and she smiled at him thankfully before looking back to Simon for an answer.

"Errrr Science… About... errr bacteria... I thought I'd ask Juliana cause… y'know she looks after all those ill people." Simon said. Peter was a little taken about at his son's ability to lie on the spot so easily but then he guessed that Simon probably got that from him, which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Oh… right." Carla nodded with a sniff, she had a tissue in hand and used it to wipe her nose before saying, "It's probably better you ask Juliana then."

"Yeah… otherwise I would ave asked you." Simon said, he walked over to the coffee table and picked up his backpack and then said, "I better get going then."

"Bye son." Peter said, high fiving him triumphantly because Carla had believed what he was saying, She watched them high five and smirked, knowing that they were up to something.

"Bye Dad." Simon said, he then went to hug Carla and said, "I really hope you feel better."

"Stop it will ya… I'm feeling much better today anyway." Carla smiled. The look on Peter and Simon's face told her that they were worried about something and whilst she didn't know what it was, she knew it had to be related to Valentines Day.

Peter had been acting slightly shifty all week and so had Simon for that matter. They had both been not so casually dropping hints about the weekend and how they hoped that Carla didn't have plans. She found this all very suspicious but let Simon and Peter get on with it because she knew it was all supposed to be a surprise. As Simon left the building, Peter took Carla over to the sofa and put a blanket around her. He then sat next to her and put an arm around her lovingly.

"So…"

"So?" Carla repeated, looking at Peter sideways and wondering what he was going to say.

"Spoken to Michelle at all recently?"

"No… Well not in the way you mean." Carla answered, knowing that Peter was talking about speaking to Michelle properly about her pregnancy. After a few days of text messages, It was clear to Carla that Michelle desperately wanted to spend some proper time with her so they could have a proper chat about everything but since Carla had been so ill, she had been putting it off. "Baby it's only because I've not been well… I'll love Chelle to bits you know that. I'll speak to her about everything soon." Carla shivered again then she winced when swallowing and she was clearly in a lot of pain as she did so.

"Okay… That's it, let's get you back to the bedroom." Peter said, standing up and holding out his hand to help Carla up.

"Oh yeah?" Carla giggled, reaching and patting him on the bottom gently as they walked down his hall way.

"Not like that." Peter laughed, "Come on love." They entered his bedroom and as Carla walked over to his bed she said,

"Are you going to work today?"

"Yes." Peter said reluctantly, He had taken Tuesday and Wednesday off work to look after Carla but seeing as she was slightly on the mend today he couldn't really justify another day off. "I ave to catch up with yesterday and Tuesday's work… but I'll try n get out as soon as I can."

"Okay." Carla pouted, she was only teasing Peter and understood that he needed to go to work today, especially as she was a little on the mend.

"Don't look at me like that." Peter groaned. He kissed Carla on the lips even though she was sick and he helped her get all tucked up into bed. "Right I've left ya painkillers over there, a bottle of water, some of ya favourite biscuits and me laptop so you can spend the day on Netflix."

"Thanks gorgeous." Carla smiled as Peter got his jacket on.

"I promise… back as soon as I can." Peter said, kissing Carla again and waving goodbye. On his way to work, he saw Michelle coming out of Roy's Rolls with a coffee in hand.

"Morning." Peter said, nodding towards Michelle.

"Morning." Michelle replied, she sighed and took a sip off coffee as Peter asked,

"How you doing? How's pregnancy treating ya?"

"Not bad… Although I barley slept last night. How's Carla doing?" Michelle asked, not entirely sure that Carla's illness was authentic because sometimes, when Carla really didn't want to talk about things, she'd push people away.

"Better… Still rather ill though." Peter said watching Michelle in amusement as she nodded slowly, obviously not believing him. "Seriously… She is ill… Go n see for your self if ya don't believe me."

"Hmmm maybe I might just do that." Michelle said slyly, wondering what Peter would say. He just nodded at her again and then said,

"Go ahead. She's at my place."

"Really?" Michelle asked.

"Yes really." Peter said plainly. "I just took her to bed but she's staying awake, I think that she's going to watch something."

"Okay…" Michelle said nodding slowly, "But what if she doesn't answer the door?"

Peter smiled at this question and before Michelle knew it, she was being walked around the corner to Peter's flat. It was only minutes away from the street and as they got closer Michelle took a deep breath.

"What are you so nervous about?" Peter asked, sticking his key in the door and walking inside with Michelle.

"I'm not nervous I… I dunno… I just don't want Carla to be sad that's all." Michelle said, she had seen Carla and Peter outside on the night her pregnancy was revealed. She had seen their close embrace but had left them both to it because they looked totally and utterly peaceful.

"She won't be." Peter said as they walked up the stairs to his flat, he took his key and let Michelle in, "Good Luck." He said and he was off down the stairs before Michelle could say anything else.

Michelle closed the door gently behind her so as not to disturb Carla in anyway, she didn't want to make a lot of noise in case Carla got scared that it might be an intruder. She had been to Peter's flat many times before so she knew where his bedroom was, right down the hallway, the last door on the left.

She knocked on it warily and when she heard Carla say,

"Peter? Is that you?" Michelle gently pushed the door open and said,

"Nope… only me."

"Chelle…" Carla said, smiling weakly at her best friend. She was still tucked up under the covers that Peter had left on top of her and had the laptop open, just about to start watching something when Michelle had entered the room. She closed the laptop and then said, "What... are you doing ere?"

"I… wanted to talk… if that's alright." Michelle said as she walked warily towards Peter's bed. She looked at Carla and it was plain to see that she really was unwell. She had dark circles under each eye and a red nose, one which was also a little sore because she had been blowing it so much over the past few days.

"Course it is." Carla said, "Although I ave this horrendous cold so beware you don't catch it." Almost on cue, Carla sneezed twice and then winced because it had hurt her sinus when she did so.

"Y'know I'm not gonna lie… I kinda thought this whole illness thing was just a ploy for you not to speak to me." Michelle began, sitting down on the end of Peter's bed as Carla sat up a little.

"Why?" Carla asked, a little offended but trying no to let it show too much.

"Because… I didn't think you were talking to me… after finding out about me telling Peter first. It wasn't like that, I just came out with it I swear." Michelle said.

"I know…" Carla coughed, "I know… I were just being silly that's all, I'm not mad at you Chelle… I just... well I wish you could have told me."

"I was going to I just didn't want to… you know bring up bad memories for ya." Michelle said quietly, still not wanting to force Carla to talk about the loss of her baby.

"Chelle…" Carla sighed, shaking her head slowly.

"Oh come on Carla… you can't tell me that it still doesn't upset you." Michelle said, almost in tears now, mainly because she had been really emotional lately and partly because she knew that it was a really upsetting situation.

"I'm not…" Carla said, leaning forwards. "Loosing... her... still devastates me... But I can't hide from every pregnant woman can I?"

"No I spose not." Michelle said,

"Especially not you… I'm dead happy for you n Steve, Chelle… I promise." Carla smiled, wiping her nose with her tissue. Michelle nodded at her and then sniffed hard as a tear ran down her cheek. "Don't cry Chelle… come ere ya dingbat." Carla said, holding her arms out and pulling Michelle close.

"I'm sorry." Michelle sobbed, "I'm all over the place at the mo... Ignore me."

"Don't apologise either… it's fine… I'm fine." Carla said. She let go of her best friend after squeezing her tight and then said, "Now… are you fine?"

"Yeah… I am." Michelle nodded, "I really am."

"Good." Carla grinned she then flipped back the covers and patted the space in the bed next to her saying "Get in." Michelle giggled as she kicked off her shoes and quickly got into the bed with Carla so that she didn't get too cold and as Carla lay on one side, she asked, "So… do you know how far you're gone?"

"Not really… I took one of those tests that tells you how many weeks you are?" Michelle started, laying on her side also.

"And?" Carla asked, staring at her best friend intently.

"Well it only goes up to three weeks so it said three weeks plus." Michelle said, "I went in booked in for a scan n guess what, the next appointment the hospital had isn't till the twenty ninth so I've got a few weeks to go… but I had a check up at the doctors n he said everything seems to be fine."

"Well that's good news." Carla smiled, resting her hand underneath her head and then sniffing. "You know I'm not sure this is such a good idea…" She said, looking at how close Michelle was lying to her. "I really don't want you to get ill… especially not in your condition."

"I'll be fine." Michelle smiled back, sincerely glad that she and Carla had had the chance to speak again, they were both silent for a while but then Carla asked,

"Ave you told your Parents and Ryan yet?"

"Yeah… yesterday." Michelle sighed, "I mean Ryan were thrilled, said he couldn't wait to be a big brother but you know what me Mum's like, fussing n saying she wants to come back over from Ireland… like I need her about."

"Oh god." Carla said rolling her eyes, not liking the idea of Helen Connor being anywhere near Weatherfield. "How's Amy taken the news?"

"Good actually, she's dead excited although she said she wants a little sister and not a brother… like it's a choice." Michelle said biting her lip nervously. Carla watched her for a while and then said,

"Are you scared… you know about giving birth again?"

"Yes!" Michelle cried, making Carla laugh. "Which is insane right? I mean I've had a baby for god's sake."

"No… I'm imagining it'll be scary every time round right?" Carla said, she had trailed off slightly and Michelle looked sympathetic. She scrambled underneath the duvet covers and found Carla's other hand so that she could take hold of it.

"Your time's gonna come babe… I know it." Michelle said softly.

"I know." Carla nodded, "Me n Peter were just talking about that this morning actually… he reckons he wants five."

"Five?" Michelle exclaimed with her eyes wide. "Five kids?"

"Yeah…" Carla laughed hoarsely. "I managed to talk him down to two."

"Oh that's good… a little compromise eh?" Michelle said with her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah something like that." Carla smiled shaking her head.

"Eh maybe you should get pregnant now…" Michelle joked, poking Carla playfully in her flat stomach. "Then we can get fat together."

"Errr I'm alright for right now thanks…" Carla scoffed but then she looked serious. "But it's definitely on the table for the future."

"Look at us eh?" Michelle said, "Me up the duff and actually married this time… you n Peter happy and thinking about babies."

"Yeah…" Carla nodded, "Are we actually doing things properly… you know like grown ups do?"

"I think we are." Michelle grinned, "It's crazy init."

"Deffo." Carla said smiling. "So… got any nice plans for Valentines day?"

"Dunno yet? Steve's got this surprise planned so who knows." Michelle said sighing, knowing that Steve always had some sort of crazy tricks up his sleeve.

"Has he? So has Peter… do you think that they are to do with each other?" Carla asked but then she remembered Simon. "Actually… maybe not, Si's involved too."

"Yeah… your Peter's probably got something really romantic planned and Steve's probably got us doing something completely mental." Michelle said with a laugh.

"Ahh don't be like that." Carla said, "I bet he's got something well nice planned… he might surprise ya."

"Maybe…" Michelle smiled, "Whatever it is I'll just be happy that we're okay this year y'know, last Valentines day we weren't even together."

"Exactly." Carla said, "I'm the same… I'd just be happy to stay at home with Peter all day, although I doubt I will be because Peter's been acting dead shifty and Simon."

"Oh yeah?" Michelle asked intrigued.

"Yeah… he and Simon were on his laptop the other day and when I came in they slammed it shut… they're always whispering all the time as well…" Carla said, "I reckon me n Peter are going on some sort of double date with Santana and Simon, although Simon swore blind he and his girl would never go on a date with me and Peter."

"Can't imagine why…" Michelle grinned, Carla went to give Michelle a cheeky slap but before she could, Michelle grabbed her hand and said, "Oh no ya don't I'm with child now after all." Michelle took hold off her stomach in an over dramatic fashion and smiled.

"That's alright…. I'll just save all your slaps until you give birth then." Carla grinned. "I'm so glad you came over Chelle." She added.

"Me too." Michelle nodded, still holding onto Carla's hand tightly. "I love ya."

"Love you too." Carla replied, yawning and squeezing Michelle's hand like she had done to her.

Peter returned home from work at three pm. He hadn't taken a lunch break so that he could get home to see Carla as soon as possible. He let himself into his flat and wondered if she and Michelle had managed to talk things through earlier on. He soon found out that they obviously had done because when he had gone into his bedroom to find Carla, instead he found her and Michelle fast asleep, hand in hand, in his bed.

He smiled at them and picked up his laptop gently. He was going to cook Carla some nice dinner tonight and run her a nice soothing bath but since she looked so peaceful, Michelle also. He tiptoed out of the room quietly and let them both be, besides, He had Paris to plan.


	49. Excité

A miserable Simon was sat in one end of a classroom whilst his girlfriend Santana was sat in the other. She had her arms folded and looked furiously ahead of her whilst Simon just stared down at his desk.

Neither one of them were too impressed because they were currently in detention… on a Friday afternoon and it was especially annoying because next week was half term and like everyone else in the school, Simon and Santana had wanted to get out of school as soon as possible.

It had all started earlier on in the day in the second lesson of the day which was Science. Simon and Santana were in the same class but their science teacher had a seating plan so they couldn't sit next to each other. Instead they were sat in alphabetical order which meant that Simon was on one of the large hexagon tables at one end of the room whilst Santana was pretty much down the other end.

Simon had heard something this morning that had made him rather worried so he very slyly got out his mobile phone and decided that he had to ask Santana there and then. Simon hid his phone underneath the desk and when his teacher wasn't looking he quickly typed out his message,

**_"Tan, is it true you're staying at Charley's house tonight?"_**

Charley Bright was rather new to Weatherfield High, She had just moved to Manchester from London and had instantly made friends with Santana. She had very long and very bright blonde hair to match her name, it was the kind of hair colour that looked incredibly fake even though it actually wasn't and her cockney London accent made her stand out even more than her hair did.

She had only been in their school since the beginning of term and Simon couldn't help but feel like she was a right little show off, her Dad was in charge of a very large and very successful security firm in London and now he had set up shop in Manchester which meant Charley and her family were filthy rich.

Charley was the kind of girl that everyone wanted to be friends with and Santana had been no exception, she had a few classes with Charley and by the end of January the pair had become very firm friends.

Simon didn't know why, but he instantly took a disliking to Charley, there was just something about her that he found a little off but everyone else seemed to love her, especially all the other boys in his year, they all fancied her like mad and would fawn over her which meant that she was always being followed around by boys.

On the way to his Science lesson, Simon had overheard Charley telling another girl that she was having an "epic" sleepover tonight with some of the girls in their year and that Santana was one of them. That was when he realised getting Santana ready for tomorrow wasn't going to be easy. He had called her Mum the night before and had begged her to ask Santana to pack for a birthday surprise on Friday night, but she couldn't pack if she was staying at Charley's, could she?

Simon had waited for Santana outside their Science room so that he could ask her all about this sleepover but since she had been in P.E before hand, she ended up arriving to Science late. Simon had already been ushered straight over to his stool by this point and as she walked into the Science lab late and full of apologies, Simon knew that he wouldn't be able to talk to Santana face to face until break time and he just couldn't wait that long.

Once he had sent his message, Simon stared over at Santana, praying that she had her phone on her at the desk, she was writing something down in her science book and then she suddenly flinched. She looked down, obviously pulling her phone out of her pocket and then she looked up at Simon.

Her reply came shortly afterwards,

**_"Yeah I am, why?"_**

Simon read Santana's reply and dithered foolishly for a moment. He didn't know what else to say now, he knew that he eventually had to tell Santana that he was taking her on a little trip tomorrow but he still wanted to keep it a secret for as long as he could.

**_"Because… I wanted us to go out tonight that's why."_**

**_"You never said so... where abouts?"_**

**_"Well actually I wanted you to come over to mine." _**

"Simon Barlow please pay attention!" A voice suddenly called. He looked up to see his teacher glaring at him from across the room. Mr Curtis was your typical middle-aged Science teacher and he was the kind of guy who seemed like he really hated his job. He clearly hated his students and in their eyes, he often made it his mission to have a go at them whenever possible.

Simon nodded at his teacher and then quickly shoved his phone in his pocket. He waited a little while before looking over at Santana again. She was also very weary of Mr Curtis who was asking them all to turn to page three hundred and ninety four of their textbooks, she looked so weary in fact, that her reply didn't come for at least ten minutes.

Simon felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and made sure his teacher was busy going through a power point presentation about photosynthesis before getting it out underneath the desk and reading what Santana had written.

**_"Simon I can come to yours anytime tho… This is Charley's first sleepover up ere, She invited me specially seeing as it's my birthday this weekend. I can't back out now can I?" _**

Simon tutted and quickly typed out his next reply before his teacher looked up from the computer screen that he was staring at.

**_"Why not?"_**

**_"Because it's rude that's why." _**

Santana tutted and shook her head at Simon who was still across the room, Simon sighed and once again, when his teacher wasn't looking he replied with,

**_"She won't care, she barley knows you." _**

Simon stared over at Santana after pressing send and as she shook her head at him, he knew the reply that he was going to get wasn't going to be a good one.

**_"N that's exactly why she is having this sleepover, I don't know why you're being like this? I know you don't like her but that doesn't mean I can't spend time with her." _**

"Santana La Rosa!" Santana's head jerked to the side when she heard her name being called out so abruptly. Mr Curtis furiously marched over to where she was sitting and held out his hand before saying "Go on… Hand it over." Santana rolled her eyes and reluctantly handed over her mobile phone. She didn't see the point in pretending that she didn't have it because it had been pretty obvious what she was doing.

"Sorry Sir." She sighed as Mr Curtis shook his head disappointedly at her.

"You know the rules Santana, no mobile phones at school and especially not in class. I'm gonna have to give you detention... tonight." Santana looked down at her hands as the teacher walked away from her and from a far, Simon felt incredibly bad for getting his girlfriend into trouble.

He waited a little while for his teacher to calm down and then made an excuse to go and get something from his bag. During Science they had to place their bags into pigeonholes and Simon had put his one at the end of the room, he'd have to walk past Santana's desk to get it as as he did he stopped and said,

"I'm sorry." He was looking guilty as he spoke and glancing at his science teacher who was on the other side of the room helping out another student.

"Don't…" Santana sighed shaking her head and not looking at him properly. "Just go back to your stool Si… I'm already in enough trouble as it is."

"I ave to know… are you going to Charley's tonight?" Simon said with his eyebrows furrowed together.

"_You ave to know_?" Santana asked shaking her head again. "Si what is going on with you?"

"Nothing." Simon replied with a shrug.

"Then why are you being so bossy?" Santana asked glancing over at Mr Curtis who was still helping out one of their peers.

"I'm not… I just had plans and I don't want em ruined by that Charley." Simon whispered because a few of the other students who were at Santana's table were now listening in on them.

"Whatever…" Santana replied, clearing not liking the way that Simon was acting. "You don't make plans for me Si…"

"Right that's it!" Simon and Santana both jumped as their Science teacher approached them. "Barlow back to your desk at once."

"But…" Simon began, much to Santana's disappointment because she knew what was coming next.

"I ave had enough of you today Simon, I've already had to ask you to pay attention and now you're answering me back? You can join Santana in detention later on today now get back to your seat this instant." Simon nodded dejectedly and then hastily made his way back over to his stool. Santana looked even more annoyed now and she didn't speak to Simon for the rest of the school day.

She had avoided him at lunch time and as they had no classes together in the afternoon they next time they saw each other was in the detention room. Simon had arrived first and been told where to sit. Santana arrived shortly afterwards and was asked to sit on the other end of the room by the window.

Simon had given her a small smile as she walked passed him but she didn't say or do anything, she just ignored him and walked over to where she had been asked to sit. Simon sighed as their detention had gotten under way and he also spent the first ten minutes of his detention trying to get Santana's attention. He desperately wanted to apologise for getting her into this situation in the first place but Santana barley looked at him.

The deputy head teacher Mr Barnes led detention. He was sat at a desk at the very front of the classroom and even though he was quite a decent guy, as teachers go that is, everyone knew not to mess around in his detention. It wasn't just Santana and Simon in detention though, there were three other kids that were sat at various desks around the room and all of them looked equally annoyed to be in detention on a Friday afternoon...

* * *

"So… I take it you're feeling better then?" Peter asked, watching a half dressed Carla dance around his living room. It was four pm and Peter had opened the door to his flat to find Carla prancing around his sofa in a pair of jeans and a bra. She had one of the music channels blaring through the speakers on Peter's TV and she grinned at him as she pulled a black jumper over her head. Her shoulder length hair was wet, showing that she had just gotten out of the shower and as Peter walked towards her she nodded at him and said,

"I sure am." She had spent Friday morning in bed but she had actually been feeling better when she had woken up. Peter hadn't interrupted her and Michelle last night and they had woken up at around eight pm. They had gone into his front room and the three of them had actually spent the evening watching TV and eating Chinese food. Before going to sleep, Carla had stocked up on ibuprofen and cough medicine and by the time she had woken up this morning she seemed to have had a rather miraculous recovery. She still had a slight cold but her fever and headaches had cleared up instantly and she definitely felt a million times better than she had done on Thursday morning.

"Good." Peter said, pulling her towards him and kissing her passionately on the lips. He looked her up and down and then realised exactly what she was doing. "How come you're getting dressed?" He asked, releasing Carla but only just slightly, still holding onto her hips so that she couldn't get too far.

"I said I'd meet Chelle for dinner." Carla said, much to Peter's annoyance.

"Ohhhhh…" He groaned, "Really?" He had a comical look on his face, showing that he had clearly been expecting to spend the night in with Carla.

"Yes really." Carla said, bending down and picking up a pair of sliver, hooped earrings that she had left on his coffee table.

"Do ya ave to?" Peter asked, as Carla put her earrings in. "I mean I was kinda hoping me n you could make up for lost time."

"Yeah I bet you were." Carla said with a nod, she picked up her hairbrush and began brushing through her damp hair as Peter took off his coat.

"What time are you gonna be home?" he asked as Carla put down her brush. "I'm not being bossy, I'm just gonna miss ya that's all." Peter said as he pulled Carla towards him. He had a grin on his face as he spoken and before she could answer, he kissed her again.

Seeing as Carla had been so ill this week, She and Peter hadn't spent too much time kissing so now it seemed like Peter was really trying to make up for it.

"It's only dinner in town..." Carla began with a soft smile. "N it's not like me n Chelle are going to be having a heavy night of drinking is it?" Carla said, still not over her best friend being pregnant. Peter nodded at her and then pulled Carla over to his sofa. She giggled but did absolutely nothing to resist Peter's advances. The next thing that she knew she was sat on his lap with one leg either side of his and he had one of his hands tangled in her hair. They stayed sat on the sofa and slowly kissed for a while but it was Peter who broke it off when he realised what time it was and who was missing.

"Wait…" He asked, taking his lips off Carla's and glancing around the room. Normally there would be a black backpack resting against the kitchen counter and next to it would be a pair of scuffed school shoes. "Where's Si?"

"Detention." Carla said, resting her arms on Peter's shoulders and softly wrapping a hand around the back of his neck.

"Detention?" Peter asked as Carla stroked the back his neck gently, in a way that she always did when sat like this.

"Yep, he called me half hour ago, his Science teacher gave him detention, Santana too." Carla explained.

"Did he say why?" Peter asked curiously, thinking of the previous times that his son had been subjected to detention and remembering that it had been due to some violence. "I hope he hasn't been fighting again."

"I doubt it…" Carla began, shaking her head as she spoke. "I mean Santana got one too… maybe they were being cheeky to the teacher or something."

"Maybe…" Peter nodded, "Did he say how long the detention was for?"

"An hour… he said he was going to walk Santana home afterwards though and that he'd be home around five thirty-ish." Carla said and then she grinned.

"What?" Peter asked intrigued, Carla licked her lips and couldn't help but keep grinning at Peter who chuckled and said, "What?"

"It's Valentines day on Sunday." She said excitedly, she had been thinking about Peter and Simon's plans all week and now that it was Friday that meant she only had one more day to go.

"Is it?" Peter asked in mock surprise.

"You know it is." Carla said with a gentle poke to Peter's tummy. He chuckled and as she started tickling him she said, "So… are you gonna give me any clues as to what we're doing for it?"

"Nope." Peter cried shaking his head as Carla continued to tickle him.

"Ohhhh come on baby…" Carla groaned when she realised that tickling Peter was getting her nowhere. "Please, I can't wait any longer." Peter stopped laughing as Carla put her arms back around his neck lovingly and then said,

"Trust me love, you don't ave to wait for much longer… tell you what, when you get back from your meal with Michelle I'll give you a little clue… okay?" Peter smiled affectionately as he tucked some of Carla's damp hair behind her ear.

"Okay." She smiled happily, the last remaining part of her cold not affecting her one little bit.

"So…" Peter began with a cheeky smirk on his face. "Si's not gonna be home for a bit… n I ave absolutely no plans for this evening… What time are you meeting Michelle?"

"Six." Carla grinned, knowing exactly what Peter was up to by the intent look on his face, she was unable to stop herself from giggling excitedly as Peter looked her up and down and then spoke again.

"And… you're sure that you're feeling better?" he asked, although he was already undressing Carla with his eyes and in a state of total desire to get closer to her.

"Absolutely." Carla grinned and before she knew it, she had her legs around Peter's waist and was being carted off to the bedroom.

* * *

It was four fifteen pm and Simon and Santana were still sat in detention. They had been allowed to get on with some homework during their time there so Simon took this opportunity to brush up on his French for the weekend.

"Excité" he whispered to himself, thinking about the weekend ahead. He was so excited and he wanted Santana to be excited too, he glanced over at her and she had her Maths book open with a pencil in her hand, she didn't look so angry anymore but Simon had guessed it was because he was too busy concentrating on her homework to be annoyed with him.

Minutes went by although for the kids in detention they felt more like hours and then suddenly the door to the classroom opened, There was a teacher at the door and she very quickly approached the desk and whispered something into the deputy heads ear, it was clearly something important because Mr Barnes stood up suddenly and said,

"I have to pop out for a second… behave yourselves or you will find your self back in detention straight after half term." Mr Barnes had only been out of the room for seconds before the room erupted with noise. There were several moans and groans as Simon jumped out of his seat and quickly made his way over to where Santana was sitting.

"Simon, what are you doing? Are you trying to get in even more trouble or something?" Santana tutted, not looking at Simon and still staring down at her homework instead.

"I don't care… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Simon began, "I didn't mean to be bossy… it's just… this surprise I've got planned for your birthday… let's just say it requires you to be up rather early tomorrow."

"Really?" Santana asked, finally looking up at Simon. "How... early?"

"Well… let's just say that me… me Dad and Carla will be picking you up from your place at about seven am." Simon said quietly, glancing at the door and making sure that Mr Barnes wasn't about to burst in.

"Seven?" Santana repeated in awe. "Simon where are we going? Wait... and Carla's coming too?"

"Yes but she doesn't know where we are going either… it's a surprise." Simon said smiling because he had never seen Santana look so excited. She glanced down at her Maths book with a huge grin on her face and then back up at Simon.

"Okay…" She said softly, "I won't stay at Charley's tonight… She'll be mad but I'll just tell her you ave a big surprise for me… She'll be well jealous." Simon chuckled as Santana closed her Maths book in a thrilled fashion. "So this thing… is it just for Saturday then?"

"Well that's just it." Simon said, "It's the whole weekend… so you have to pack a little suitcase… your Mum knows all about it."

"What?" Santana laughed in awe, "When did you guys even plan all this?" Simon grinned at her smugly and moved closer as he said,

"Never mind all that… just make sure you're packed n ready to go at Seven am sharp." He didn't give Santana another chance to ask him anything else and he quickly ran back to his seat before Mr Barnes came back and caught him away from his desk. Santana was now grinning widely as she tried to continue with her homework and she couldn't help but keep looking over at Simon in excitement.

It was five more minutes before Mr Barnes did come back to the room and when he did so, he told everyone that they could go, even though they still had ten minutes or so left. Most of the students that were in the detention room got up as fast as they could and practically ran out before the teacher could change his mind but Simon and Santana both took their time, they picked up all of their things and then made their way home, together.

Simon kept to his word and walked Santana home. She only lived a short walk away from Coronation Street and on their way she kept asking him a load of questions about what they were going to do on the weekend but Simon didn't answer them, instead he kept shaking his head and refused to say anything.

"Okay… I'm not going to ask anymore." Santana eventually said, reaching down and taking hold of Simon's hand.

"Good." He said, squeezing her hand and smiling fondly at her.

"You know… if me Mum knows about this thing… you could have told her to not let me stay at Charley's instead of acting so oddly earlier." Santana said, thinking about Simon's behaviour.

"Yeah…" Simon nodded slowly, "I wish I had of thought of that earlier." He then laughed as Santana said,

"Ahhh I'm just so excited…" She practically shrieked with glee she was so delighted. "It does make me feel better to know that Carla's in the dark as well though."

"That's if me Dad hasn't told her yet." Simon said as they walked around the corner and approached Santana's house. He knew his Dad had wanted to keep this weekend as much of secret as possible but he also knew that if anyone could get a secret out of his Dad, it would be Carla. His Dad definitely had a weakness in Carla and Simon was sure it wouldn't take much for him to spill the beans if Carla really wanted him too.

"Hmmmm maybe I'll text her and ask… I ave her number." Santana grinned earning a nudge in the side from Simon.

"Oi… don't you dare." He laughed, as they got to her doorstep. They were just about to say goodbye when the front door swung open and there stood Santana's little sister Carmen. "Hello Carmen." Simon smiled down at her, glad to have a change of subject now Santana's little sister was stood in front of him.

"Hi Simon! Hi Tana!" Carmen shouted excitedly, she was wearing her red raincoat along with an adorable white leotard with black leggings. Her brown hair was tied up into two ponytails and as she jumped out of the doorway she said, "Simon look at my gymnastics clothes." Carmen had recently stared going to gymnastics on a Friday evening and as she wiggled back and forth in front of Simon, showing off her outfit Santana suddenly had a thought,

"Simon…" She said in a slight whisper. "Am I gonna be able to see Mum and Carmen… on my birthday that is?" She was so excited for what Simon had planned that she had forgotten about her Mum and little sister. It was always important for them to spend birthdays together, especially since her Dad was in prison.

"Yes." Simon nodded, "You'll see em… course you will." He then looked quickly back at Carmen who was still dancing about in front of them. "So Carmen, how are you liking gymnastics then?"

"I love it!" Carmen shouted jumping in the air, she then looked slightly agitated about something and cried, "Come on Nick… we gon be late."

"Nick?" Simon said and sure enough, Nick Tilsley appeared. For a moment, Simon had forgotten that Nick was dating Santana's Mum and he wondered how on earth he hadn't noticed that Nick's car was parked in Santana's drive way. Nick walked out of Carmen and Santana's house gingerly like he was nervous about something, but he still smiled when he saw Simon.

"Hey Simon." He said nodding towards him. "You alright?" Simon nodded as Juliana then emerged in the doorway. She raised an eyebrow at Simon and then looked at Santana with her head on one side.

"Hi Mum…" Santana said quietly, knowing that her Mum was not going to be best pleased about the time that she had gotten home, she had gotten her phone back from the school office after detention but hadn't actually used it to tell her Mum where she was because she was too eager to find out more about the weekend ahead.

"And just where have you been?" Juliana asked, waiting for an answer from her daughter.

"Detention." Santana said with a sigh.

"Detention?" Juliana repeated with her eyes wide. "And you didn't think you should let me know about it eh?"

"I'm Sorry Mum... I forgot." Santana began, feeling bad because she knew how her Mum worried about her when she didn't know where she was.

"You forgot?" Juliana repeated and then she shook her head. "Why on earth did you get detention anyways?"

"Because I was on my phone in class." Santana mumbled.

"What?" Juliana tutted, "Tan you know better than that."

"I know Mum." Santana nodded as Carmen stamped her foot impatiently and said,

"Can we go now... please?" She was looking up at Nick and it was clear to Simon that Nick was obviously going to be the one taking Carmen to her Gymnastics class.

"Yes…" Nick nodded, he then glanced at Simon as he took his car keys out of his pocket and asked, "Do you need a lift home Si?"

"Errr yeah." Simon nodded, looking at Juliana who was clearly going to read her daughter the riot act in a little while and knowing he should probably make a quick exit. "Thanks Nick."

"Bye Simon." Santana said waving at her boyfriend and wishing he could come in with her, she thought her Mum might go a little bit easier on her then.

"Bye…" Simon nodded with a smile. Santana bent forward and gave her little sister a kiss on the head before saying,

"See ya later Carmen… ave a good time."

"Bye Tanny." Carmen said as Nick opened his car door and he already had a booster seat in place for Carmen to sit on. "Bye Mummy, See you later." Carmen cried waving at her Mum from the car as Nick closed the door after fastening her seatbelt, he had left the window open so that Juliana could say goodbye to her youngest daughter. She kissed her through it and said,

"Bye Carmen, You be good okay. Nick's gonna pick you up after Gym okay?"

"Yes Mummy I will." Carmen nodded smiling at Nick as if he was the greatest man in the world. "Come on Nick... lets go." Nick chuckled at Carmen's bossiness and gave Juliana a quick kiss before saying,

"Come on Si." Santana looked as if she might say something again but she was stopped by her Mother who shook her head and said,

"Right, inside the house you." Santana nodded at her Mum obediently and waved goodbye to Simon one more time before walking inside her house. Juliana then turned to Simon who very quickly said,

"Me Dad's gonna call ya later… just to go over everything."

"Okay." Juliana said with a smirk, she was clearly wasn't as angry with her daughter as she had let on and she waved at Carmen one more time as Simon said,

"Bye…" He then quickly got into Nick's car and sat next to Carmen and as he did so, he couldn't help but grin foolishly to himself because he knew that this weekend was going to be truly wonderful.

* * *

Carla returned home from her meal with Michelle at nine pm. They had gone to their favourite Italian restaurant and spent the best part of three hours nattering away about their lives. Carla spoke about the weekend ahead and how she was seriously excited about whatever Peter had planned whilst Michelle spoke about how she was finding life now that everyone knew she was pregnant.

To be supportive, Carla had drunk soft drinks only and as they left the restaurant, Carla joked that it was probably the first time in many many years that she and Michelle had left somewhere completely sober. Carla then walked her best friend to back to the Rover's Return pub and after that, She actually went back to her own flat and not Peter's.

She hadn't been back to her place now for almost a week but before leaving to meet Michelle, she had mentioned to Peter that she would be going back to Victoria Court afterwards so that she could check her post and sort out some other stuff. Peter normally would have complained for ages upon hearing that Carla wasn't coming back to his place but tonight, he didn't seem all that bothered, which made Carla slightly suspicious. She knew that he and Simon were definitely up to something and as she walked into her building she could hardly wait to find out what it was.

She let herself into her flat and as she pottered around, it took her almost five minutes to notice the white envelope that had been left on her kitchen work surface. She knew she hadn't left it there last week and grinned as she rushed over to it. She tore it open, knowing exactly who it was from because she recognised the handwriting on the front which had said, "Open Me."

**_"Hello Carla… You finding this letter is the start of our amazingly astounding Valentine's weekend. _**

**_Now, I'm gonna need you to pack a suitcase as we are headed on a little trip. I'd recommend a few pairs of flat shoes and make sure that have your passport too._**

**_Don't bother calling me up &amp; asking a whole load of questions about all this because it's still a surprise, just be ready at six thirty am tomorrow morning. _**

**_Yes, I know that is ridiculously early… As I write this I can practically hear you groan about it but trust me, it'll all be worth it._**

**_See you tomorrow beautiful._**

**_ Unless… you want to come over to mine once you've packed that is… either way I can't wait to see ya._**

**_I love you_**

**_Peter xx_**

Carla beamed as she read Peter's letter again and again, she then ran into her bedroom and began to start sorting through her clothes so that she could pack.

She followed Peter's advice and packed the only pair of converse that she owned along with some skinny jeans and some of her best warm jumpers. She tried to rack her brains and figure out what Peter could have possibly planned but she just couldn't and decided that she would try her best not to keep asking so many questions because it was now less than twelve hours before she would maybe find out. She quickly collected some make up and hair products and threw them into a wash bag. She then gathered up some underwear and pyjamas before quickly grabbing her passport too.

It only took her an hour to pack but Carla knew that there was no way she was going to be staying at her place tonight. Sure enough, Peter found that his buzzer was going off at ten fifteen pm. He grinned as he got up to answer it, leaving Simon who had fallen fast asleep on the sofa not too long ago.

"Ello…" Peter said even though he knew full well who it was at his door.

"It's me…" Carla said and Peter swore that he could actually hear the excitement in her voice. He let her up and opened his door to find Carla stood there next to the black suitcase that he had bought her for her birthday. She was smiling from ear to ear and as she wheeled in her rather large suitcase, Peter looked at it and said,

"You know we're only going away for the weekend right?"

"I know… but I wasn't sure what exactly to pack… a girl needs options." Carla said taking off her coat as Peter closed his door behind her.

"Good night with Chelle then was it?" Peter asked, taking Carla's coat and hanging it up for her.

"Yeah it really were actually, Now she's had a good few days to think about it, Chelle's really over the moon." Carla smiled, thinking about how happy Michelle had seemed tonight.

"Ahhh good." Peter said, as Carla pushed her suitcase so that it was out of the way, She then stopped and smiled lovingly at Simon who was lying on his front covered in a blanket that Peter had put on top of him.

"Awww bless him."

"I know..." Peter nodded as Carla stopped in front of him wrapped her arms around his neck like she always did. "He said he wanted to get an early night... ready for tomorrow."

"Hmmmm..." Carla nodded, with a suggestive raise of her eyebrows. "That... sounds like a very good idea... don't you think?"

"Definitely." Peter agreed and with that, he and Carla tiptoed... albeit in a vary hasty fashion that is, towards his bedroom so that they could also get an "early night" too.

* * *

**_If you follow me on twitter you might have read that times have been very hard and long story short, I'm off on a last minute holiday tomorrow so they'll be no updates for a little bit._**

**_I just wanted to say that I'm so glad that there are so many people still reading this and please know that I still really appreciate all of your reviews._**

**_:) _**


	50. London Calling

"Uh... it's way too early to be up on a Saturday..." Carla groaned, pulling the duvet over her head on Saturday morning. Peter was lying next to her and he groaned in agreement, she had just turned her alarm off that had woken them up.

"Shhhh…" Peter said putting his arm around Carla and pulling her close to his body so that her bare legs were pressed against his. Carla kissed him lazily on the lips and closed her eyes again, they hadn't exactly got the early night that they should have and now, after only five or so hours of sleep they were both yawning and wishing that they could go back to sleep.

As they sleepily kissed, they were only allowed a minute of silence before they heard a very impatient Simon call out,

"Come on you two... we're meant to be picking Santana up in half an hour." When he heard no answer from Peter or Carla he called again, "I'm serious... if you two don't get up, I'm coming in there with my water gun."

"Alright kiddo." Peter called back, rubbing his eyes as Carla yawned once more. He then sat up as she groaned again and looked at the clock. It was six fifteen in the morning and it was still dark outside which made Carla wince and shake her head. "Come on you… we better get up." Peter grinned tiredly at Carla who ignored him and rolled over onto her tummy, she then put her head underneath the duvet and said,

"Oh… can we just have a few more minutes?"

"No we can't." Peter said, taking one more yawn before reaching underneath the duvet and patting Carla on the bottom. She let out a muffled squeal but she didn't do as Peter asked. "Come on, trust me… it'll be worth it, I promise." Peter said as he got off his bed. Carla was stubborn and still didn't get up, instead she stayed in the same position until Peter mischievously chuckled and said, "Carla... I'm gonna give you one more chance..." His tone wasn't the least bit threatening and it actually had Carla excited as to what he might do, so excited that she didn't move a muscle. "That's it..." He cried, taking the duvet cover and yanking it straight of Carla's body.

"Peter!" She shrieked as he got back onto the bed and began tickling her mercilessly.

"Seriously baby, get up. We can't be late." Peter said as Carla writhed underneath him, she cackled loudly and nodded at Peter who eventually stopped tickling her and said, "Trust me... it'll be worth it."

"Hmmmm." Carla smirked, still laying on her back with an almost naked Peter practically sat on top of her. As he looked down at her admiringly she said, "Y'know maybe I'd be more inclined to move more quickly if I actually knew where we were going?"

"Yeah yeah... Nice try." Peter nodded, he was only wearing a pair of boxers and bent down to kiss Carla once more, he had only meant it to be a peck but her tongue had very quickly slid into his mouth. Once again they were very quickly interrupted as they heard Simon shout out,

"Dad! Carla! Come On! Get up... I'm on me way to me bedroom to get the super soaker as I speak..." Carla sighed as Peter reluctantly got off her and as he pulled on his dressing gown she got out of bed too. She was wearing Peter's T-Shirt from the night before and after stretching, they both walked out of the bedroom to find Simon already dressed, stood by the front door where they had left their little suitcases the night before.

"Finally!" Simon beamed, he was even wearing his coat and had a woolly black hat on as he typed away on his Iphone.

"Good morning Simon." Carla said as Peter walked past them both. He went and put the kettle on as Simon slid his phone into his pocket and said,

"Morning Carla." Carla put an arm around him and yawned again, Simon looked at his Step Mother lovingly and asked her, "Are you excited?"

"Totally." Carla nodded with a smile as Peter looked at the clock and suddenly said to Carla,

"You better get a move on love... the Cab's gonna be ere in a bit."

"Me?" Carla said with her eyebrows raised, "N what about you?" She asked looking at her husband who was still in his underwear.

"Well I only ave clothes to chuck on but you…" Peter chuckled, putting coffee into the mugs he had set out as he looked Carla up and down. "You have to sort that hair out for a start." After a night in bed with Peter, her shoulder length brown hair had seen better days and looked like it could definitely do with a good brush.

"Cheek." Carla grinned, "I mean who's fault is it that me hair looks like this eh?"

"Don't need to hear that..." Simon said shaking his head and hoping that Carla wouldn't continue. She nodded at him and then let go before heading towards the bedroom. She very quickly had a shower and then got dressed as fast as she could too. After seeing her hair in the mirror she rapidly ran a straightener through it and by some miracle, It was only ten minutes later when she returned into the kitchen and living room.

Carla had chosen to wear a pair of black skinny jeans and a navy blue top that she had just recently bought in her favourite shop, Zara. She had her make up bag in one hand, a hairbrush in the other and had a pair of black converse shoes on her feet as she walked back towards Peter and Simon. They both stared down at Carla's shoes in shock as seeing her in flats was a very rare occasion.

"You said dress comfortable didn't ya?" She said, wondering if maybe this was too comfortable after all, especially from the way that Peter and Simon were looking at her.

"Yes I did…" Peter nodded, walking over to Carla and handing her a cup off coffee. "You look perfect." He smiled dotingly as she stood before him.

"You better not ave me going on some sort of camping trip or out like that..." She smirked, taking the mug off him. "I mean it baby, Valentines Day or not I will kill ya if I see even a hint of mud..."

"Don't worry…" Peter chuckled at Carla before kissing her gently on the lips. "It's nothing like that I promise."

"Good..." Carla replied happily and when it looked as if she might receive another kiss, Simon intervened again.

"Oh go n get ready Dad!" He wailed, rolling his eyes and going to sit on the armchair. He was so excited about the weekend ahead that he was almost on edge. He had been waiting for this for ages and now it was here he couldn't actually believe it. He had also barley slept last night because he was so excited and he had been up since six, getting ready and texting Santana to see if she was awake too.

"Okay..." Peter nodded, leaving Carla be before heading towards his bedroom. He also came back rather quickly, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a white T Shirt. He also had a rather smart black sweatshirt in hand as he approached Carla who was sat on the sofa doing the last bits of her make up and taking sips of coffee at the same time.

"Ave you spoken to Santana this morning?" Carla asked Simon, powdering her face as Peter sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Yeah, she's ready to go, sat in her living room as we speak." Simon said, checking his phone once more as Carla closed her powder and chucked it into her make up bag. "She's well excited."

"Yeah she's not the only one." Carla said with her eyes wide, closing her make up bag and putting it into her suitcase, which she had wheeled over to where she was sitting, she started brushing her hair as Peter pulled the smart black sweatshirt over his head and then very suddenly, the buzzer went off.

"It's the cab!" Simon cried, jumping out of his armchair and answering the buzzer as fast as he could. "We'll be right down..." He slammed the intercom back down and looked at Carla who still had a hairbrush in hand. "Carla you can finish your hair in the cab, let's go."

"Alright…" Carla said with an eyebrow raised, standing up and gathering all her bits and pieces together. Simon had grabbed hold of his backpack and also his suitcase quickly as Peter slowly got up and said,

"Si… calm down mate. We ave plenty of time."

"I'll calm down once we're on the way there Dad." Simon said, opening the front door and leaving Peter's flat. He was so used to things going wrong that he was determined to get things right today. He just wanted to board their train to London on time and then he was sure that he would feel a lot better.

"So where exactly is this cab taking us?" Carla asked as Peter downed the rest of his coffee.

"To Santana's." Peter grinned, going over to his plug sockets and checking that every thing was turned off properly.

"Obviously…" Carla replied rolling her eyes and also walking around to make sure everything was off. "I mean where we going after that? Oh my god is it the airport?" She asked excitedly.

"Just wait n see." Peter laughed as she grabbed hold of her suitcase, she also had a backpack like Simon, but this one was very stylish and had a gold zip detail.

"We are going to the airport, aren't we?" Carla asked, as Peter grabbed his case and held the door open for her. "I mean why else would we need our passports."

"Come on… out." Peter said, shaking his head at Carla who was smiling elatedly, thinking that she had obviously sussed it all out.

"Ahhh I'm so onto you…" She teased as Peter closed the door. He just shook his head and as they made their way down the stairs in the building. Carla then added, "That's why you're not saying anything init… I've guessed." Peter laughed but kept quiet as he and Carla got to the bottom of the stairs and when they got there they saw that the front door was wide open. Simon was stood right outside the building, talking to the cab driver who had already heaved his suitcase into the boot. The driver then smiled at Carla and Peter before also helping them to put their suitcases into the boot.

"Cheers mate." Peter said to the driver before he Carla and Simon got inside the cab. It only took five minutes or so to get Santana's house because it was so early and there was no traffic, so they arrived at her place earlier than they had anticipated at six fifty am.

"It doesn't matter, she's been ready for ages." Simon said as he jumped out of the cab quickly. He ran up the bath to her house and knocked on Santana's door excitedly.

"Don't wait for me will ya Si." Peter said as he shook his head. He had actually wanted to go with Simon so that he could just go over a few more things with Santana's Mum, he turned to Carla and said, "You stay ere okay." She had been sitting in the middle of him and Simon and as Peter climbed out of the cab, she frowned at him and said,

"How comes?"

"Because, Juliana knows what's happening and I don't want you finding out a single thing." He grinned before leaving Carla in the back of the cab. She watched as Santana opened her front door, she was smiling from ear to ear, clearly delighted about the day she had ahead. Then came Santana's Mum, who had her daughters suitcase in hand, she was also smiling and waved at Carla who waved back. Peter took the suitcase off Juliana as the cab driver quickly got out to assist once more. Santana hugged her Mum goodbye and shortly after that she was then sent over to the cab to sit with Carla.

"Morning…" Carla said as Santana opened the door and climbed in next to her.

"Morning…" She breathed, wearing her warmest, black fluffy coat. She had her long brown hair hanging past her shoulders like Carla had done but she had added a little and delicate french plait which ran from ear to ear at the front. She was also wearing jeans but she had on a pair comfy Ugg boots as Simon had revealed that she also needed to keep comfortable. "Do you have any idea where we are going?" She asked as she and Carla watched Peter and Simon talk to Juliana.

"Nope although I'm thinking the airport…" Carla began, "I mean why else would we need our passports right?"

"I guess..." Santana began, "Unless they are just trying to throw us off the scent…" She added as the cab driver got back in the car. Santana thought for a moment and then smirked at Carla who was on the same wavelength.

"Excuse me mate…" Carla said nonchalantly, leaning towards the cab driver and smiling. "Don't suppose you could tell us where we're headed next?"

"I couldn't tell ya love, I've been told not to say a word." The driver replied, making Santana giggle and making Carla rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on… I won't say you said anything." Carla began but she was very quickly interrupted.

"Don't even try it Carla…" Simon said, appearing very suddenly next to her as Peter got in the front of the cab and sat next to the driver. He chuckled at Carla who sat back in her seat properly looking defeated.

"Right..." The driver said putting his seatbelt back on. "Are we ready to go?"

"Absolutely." Peter nodded and with that, the driver started the ignition and they were en route to their next destination.

* * *

It didn't take long for Carla and Santana to realise where they were going next. It also didn't take long for Carla to realise that they were not on their way to the airport. The journey to Manchester Piccadilly was one they had all made often and as the cab driver pulled up outside, Santana cleared her throat and said a very uncertain,

"Okay…" She then pondered for a moment before turning to Carla and saying, "Maybe our passports were a diversion after all."

"No... I don't think so." Carla replied sure that Peter had something that required them leaving the country up his sleeve.

"Honestly… can't you two just go with the flow eh?" Peter said as he paid the driver, he also gave him a tip for being so helpful and for keeping the secret of where they were headed from Carla and Santana. "Thanks a lot mate." He added before opening the door.

"Yeah thanks Mr." Simon said as he also got out of the cab, The driver insisted on helping them all get their suitcases out of the car, there was only the four of them but as they all had a little suitcase each, it was rather good that Peter had ordered a people carrier cab to take them all to the station because a normal cab wouldn't have had the room.

"Have a good weekend." The cab driver said with a wink, before getting back into his cab and driving off, leaving Carla, Simon, Santana and Peter stood outside the station. Carla and Santana were both watching Peter and Simon in anticipation as they both looked down at their phones and checked over the times of their trains.

"Right… is one of ya gonna tell us what's happening next or not?" Carla asked, Santana nodded along with her as Simon put his phone away, shortly followed by his Dad who did the same.

"Well…" Simon said, looking at Peter for instruction. "We do ave a train to board soon…"

"But I think that's all we'll say for now." Peter smirked, before taking hold of his suitcase and starting to walk to the entrance to the station. Simon quickly joined his Dad leaving Carla and Santana slightly behind as they rolled their eyes at each other and started walking too.

The entered the station at Seven thirty and very soon they all decided that they should find somewhere to sit until the time came for boarding their train. As it was still early they had their pick of all the seats in the station. They eventually chose some, which were upstairs and had plenty of space for all of their luggage. Once they were settled, Peter then went off to get everyone some well needed breakfast as none of them had time for it earlier and soon after that, Carla was rifling through her backpack when she decided that she needed to go and get something too,

"I'm… gonna quickly pop to boots." She said getting up out of her seat, "Do you two need out?"

"No thanks." Santana said smiling at her, Carla then looked at Simon who at first shook his head too but then he thought about things and quickly added,

"Get some sweets n stuff… for the journey you know… n maybe some crisps… oh and some drinks..."

"Just how long is this journey?" Carla laughed taking her purse out of her backpack. Simon just shrugged at her with a grin and then said,

"I ave no idea…"

"Yeah yeah…" Carla said, shaking her head in amusement as she began to walk away from him and Santana.

"Come on..." Santana said with her phone in hand,"I wanna take a selfie for Instagram…" She said, holding up her phone in front of them and smiling. Simon nodded and smiled happily for the picture too. After Santana took a few photo's of them both they discussed which one they liked the most and then Simon asked,

"What did you say to Charley in the end then?" referring to the girl whose house Santana was supposed to be staying at last night.

"Oh... I told her that you had a massive surprise planned for me and that My Mum said I couldn't stay over because of it… she acted as if it was nothing but I could tell that she sounded jealous." Santana said with a grin as she looked down at the photo she and Simon had chosen as their favourite. She was still busy editing it when Peter eventually returned, holding a cup holder that had four drinks in it from Starbucks. Simon, who was now a lot calmer now they were at the station and that everything was going according to schedule, got up and helped his Dad and said,

"Thanks Dad." He took the drinks off his Dad who said,

"Santana... I remember you saying that you liked hot chocolate so I got you one of those, is that okay?"

"Of course… Thanks so much Mr Barlow... for all of this." Santana said gratefully, she put her phone away and smiled as Peter handed her a bacon roll.

"You're more than welcome and how many times? It's Peter." He smiled as Simon sat down and handed her the hot chocolate which also had a huge heap of whipped cream on top. Santana nodded sheepishly at Peter as Simon placed the drink holder on the spare seat and helped himself to the other hot chocolate which was for him. Peter sat down on the chair next to his son and then he realised that Carla was missing.

"Where is she?" He asked, holding onto two bacon rolls and gazing around the station.

"Gone to Boots…" Simon said as he bit into his breakfast roll.

"Why?" Peter asked looking a little concerned now as Boots was a chemist store, the kind of place where you bought medicines and stuff like that.

"I dunno…" Simon shrugged. "She was looking in her bag and then decided she needed to go."

"Oh right…" Peter nodded, taking the lid off his coffee. Five minutes went by before he craned his neck and wondered why Carla wasn't back yet. "You know what? I bet she's comes back with at least four shopping bags…" Peter said and sure enough, Carla returned minutes later, she was holding a whole load of bags as she walked towards them. "How did I guess eh?" Peter grinned as Carla sat down next to him and put the bags onto the ground next to her black suitcase.

"What?" She asked, as Peter handed her the bacon sandwich he had bought her.

"Nothing…" he laughed looking down at all the bags that Carla had come back with, "Only you could turn a trip to Boots into some shopping spree."

"Errrr actually Si asked me to get stuff for the journey." Carla said as Peter then handed her the coffee he'd bought for her.

"What journey?" He smirked, "This is it, your surprise is a trip to Piccadilly station..."

"Oh ha ha…" Carla said as Peter took a smug sip of his drink. "Spose you got us ere for some high quality train spotting eh?"

"Exactly." Peter nodded.

"Imagine…" Santana said shaking her head at the thought. "I'd seriously hurt you Simon if you got me up this early on a Saturday for train spotting."

"Forget hurt… We'd both be on the run by the time I was done with the pair." Carla said as she unwrapped her bacon roll. "Thanks for this darlin..." She said before taking a bite.

"You're welcome." Peter replied, So why'd ya go to Boots?" he asked.

"To get some cold medicine, I still have a bit of it lingering about n the last thing I want is it coming back with a vengeance... I also got some throat sweets too, just in case." Carla replied and somehow, on cue she sneezed twice. She saw the slightly concerned look on Peter's face after she had sneezed and then she smiled said, "Trust me baby… I'm fine."

* * *

After breakfast, time seemed to go incredibly slowly. Much to Simon and Santana's disagreement, Carla and Peter thought it would be funny to take their own selfie to rival the one that they had previously taken and then Carla uploaded it to Instagram. Soon after that of course, came a competition as to which photo would get the most likes. Simon said it was pretty obvious that he and Santana's picture would get the most likes as Santana had hundreds of followers from school but then when he actually went and looked on Carla's page, he saw that she had just under a few hundred too.

"Wait… how ave you got so many followers?" He asked, staring down at his phone in awe. "I mean you're…" He was going to cheekily say old but he very quickly thought against it when he saw Carla's face.

"What you saying?" She asked slightly offended.

"Nothing…" Simon giggled, "Do you actually know all those people?"

"Course I do, they're old mates n friends from L.A n stuff… why are you worried me n your Dad's picture will actually beat you now?" Carla laughed wickedly.

"You should ave uploaded it Dad." Simon smirked, going onto his Dad's page and seeing that he had only fifty followers. "If you even know how..."

"Don't be mean Si…" Santana said, looking over his shoulder and also down at his phone. "See your Dad has loads of pictures on there." She said, smiling at the pictures that Peter had on his page because a rather large chunk of them were of Carla and Simon.

"It's okay Santana…" Peter grinned, "It's only cause he feels threatened." He took hold of his son and got him in a headlock as Santana laughed.

"Right..." Carla said competitively as Simon was in fits of laughter as he struggled to get out of his father's arms. "Whoever gets the most likes by eight pm tonight is the winner."

"Okay." Simon nodded as his eventually Dad let him go.

"Hold on, shouldn't we get an extra half an hour seeing as their photo had been uploaded before ours?" Peter asked.

"Oh that doesn't matter…" Carla shook her head with a grin, "We'll wipe the floor with these two no problem."

"Oh yeah?" Simon laughed as he looked down at his watch, It was now almost eight am and He and Peter knew that they still had an hour or so left until their train but of course Carla and Santana were still clueless as to what was going on. Like most teenagers, Simon and Santana soon became restless so it was there turn to venture away from their seats for a bit, they walked off together, hand in hand whilst Carla and Peter said they'd wait with all the suitcases.

Peter then went outside for a smoke and returned with a copy of the paper. After he sat down, Carla rested her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes as she made her self comfortable.

"Love you." He said quietly, kissing her on the top of her head gently when he was halfway though his paper.

"Love you." Carla replied softly, her eyes were still shut but she was smiling happily to herself. "Peter... where we going?" She asked after another ten minutes had gone by.

"You'll find out soon..." Peter replied as he closed the paper.

"When are we going?" Carla asked, opening her eyes but not moving from her spot.

"Not long now… I promise…" Peter said, putting an arm around Carla who was still nestled against him. She looked down at her phone which had just lit up and then smiled up at Peter again before saying,

"Chelle just left a comment on our picture."

"Oh yeah? What did she say?" Peter asked curiously.

"That she reckon's we're the most attractive couple that she knows… and that she hopes we'll ave a good time where ever we're going." Carla said, smiling as she replied to Michelle's comment.

"Well... I won't lie... we are pretty damn attractive..." Peter joked as Carla finished typing. Afterwards she snaked an arm around Peter and then craned her neck so that she could reach his lips, they had only managed to kiss for about three or four seconds before they heard Simon say,

"And so it begins…" Carla pulled away from his Dad as he and Santana sat back down on their seats and smiled. "I wonder how many times I'm gonna have to ask you two to get a room." Simon teased.

"You won't ave to if you carry on." Peter began with an eyebrow raised, "You can always stay ere n me n Carla will do this on our own." He joked as Carla rested back against him lovingly, she took hold of Peter's hand began stroking it softly as Simon said,

"I was only messing Dad." He was peering over at bags that Carla had left in front of her suitcase and then he said, "So what snacks did ya get in the end Carla?"

"A whole load of stuff… you can have a look if ya want..." She said, Simon pulled the bag towards him and found that Carla had stocked up on two tubes of Pringles crisps, three packets of sweets and some mints too, she had bought bottles of water and she also had four magazines packed in there too.

"Blimey Carla, It's only going to take a few hours to get to London… not a few days." Peter said absent-mindedly, looking in the bag also. He hadn't realised what he said until Carla sat up right and stopped stroking his hand. "Uh oh..."

"London?" Santana repeated, in shock.

"London…" Carla said uncertainly, "We're… going to London?"

"No…" Peter said annoyed with himself for ever so slightly spilling the beans, he wasn't at all convincing as he spoke but then again he hadn't planned to be.

"But you just said London." Carla said grinning as Simon tutted at his Dad and said,

"Nice one Dad."

"Well we were going to find out soon enough anyway…" Santana said trying to keep calm but she was clearly thrilled. "Oh my god… I've never been to London before." She said over excitedly. Simon desperately wanted to tell her London was just a stop over and that she wouldn't actually be seeing anything outside of the station but then Peter grinned and said,

"Okay… the secret is out… we are going to London for the weekend and our train leaves at Nine so we better get up because it will be boarding soon." Santana beamed at Peter as she got up and took hold of her suitcase. Simon joined her as they started walking in the directions of the platforms, Peter and Carla also got up too and as they walked, Peter caught the suspicious look on Carla's face,

"What?" he asked, as they pulled their suitcases along with them.

"Nothing… I'm just not sure I believe this whole London thing..." Carla replied casually, smiling as She and Peter reached the lift they needed to take down to the platform. Simon and Santana were already stood there and in their own conversation when Peter chuckled and said,

"Eh? Why not?"

"Maybe because you said we needed our passports." Carla said as the lift opened in front of them.

"Well… I said the whole passport thing as a red herring." Peter said with a sly smirk. "It is London… that's the surprise."

"I know you Peter Barlow... well enough to know that you wouldn't have been acting shoddy for weeks over a simple trip to London." Carla said as they walked into the lift.

"Simple..." Peter said, glancing at Santana who was still in deep in conversation with Simon. "Santana's never been to London... she's always wanted to go so me n Simon organised it for her... Look... She's well excited n so should you be."

"Still don't believe ya..." Carla said as they lift they were in reached the ground floor and let them out. The four of them, made their way to the correct platform and soon enough they were able to board their train. They put their suitcases in the luggage section and sat in their seats, Peter next to Carla and the both of them opposite Simon and a very very excited Santana.

* * *

An hour into the journey and Carla's snacks and treats had been opened. They were scattered all over the table that was in between them all and had been well delved into. Carla was deep into a copy of Cosmopolitan, whilst Simon and Santana both had headphones in and were listening to music. Peter had been reading another paper when he received a text message. He gave his phone a confused look when he actually read the message on screen and saw who it was actually from, it was an odd look, one that Carla noticed and one that led her to ask,

"Who is it?"

"Kelly." Peter replied slowly, reading the message again to make sure it made sense.

"Kelly?" Carla repeated, "That woman from the leisure centre?"

"Yeah." Peter said.

"So what's the face for?" Carla asked almost amused.

"I'm still wondering where she got me number from that's all." Peter said as Simon and Santana both took out their headphones.

"What did she want anyway?" Carla asked, closing her magazine and linking her arm into Peter's.

"She's asking why I wasn't at the pool this morning." Peter said. Normally he went for an early morning swim on a Saturday and his absence had obviously affected Kelly, so much so that she had texted him. "How do I reply and find out where she got me number from without sounding rude?" He laughed,

"Just ask her outright Dad..." Simon said, shaking his head, "I mean you ave every right to." Peter nodded and wrote back a friendly reply which asked where she had got his number from. He didn't have to wait to long for his reply and when it came then whole table became silent as Carla said,

"Ohhh, what did she say then?"

"That she got it from the system... on the day of the Swimathon..." Peter said slowly, "She also said that she just wanted to check I was okay because I hadn't missed an early Saturday swim since before I had my tattoo."

"She wanted check that you were okay?" Simon cried. "That's… a little odd."

"No... it's sweet... shows she cares about her job right?" Santana said all be it a little awkwardly, Carla on the other hand just scoffed and said,

"Awww Peter... she misses ya…"

"She proper fanicies you Dad... I've told ya this before." Simon said, taking the Pringles and helping himself to some more.

"No she doesn't…" Peter replied but he didn't seem too sure.

"Oh come on baby, it's clear that she must have a little crush on you… n who could blame her eh?" She said nudging him in the side.

"You should report her Dad..." Simon said, looking deadly serious as both his Dad and Carla laughed.

"Oh stop it Si... I'm sure she's harmless." Carla said, "Although make sure you tell her you're whisking me away for a dirty valentine's weekend away... y'know... just to make sure she gets the message."

"Erggghhh." Simon winced as Peter chuckled. He sent his reply explaining why he was absent from the pool and then put his phone away. Then before putting an arm around Carla and holding her close. He kissed her on the cheek and as she turned to kiss him properly on the lips, Santana and Simon both giggled at each other and quickly went back to their headphones.

* * *

The journey to London was only two hours and as the train stopped in Euston, at around ten past Eleven, Santana got up excitedly and said,

"Oh my god I can't believe it… We're in London... they have the biggest TopShop here ever..." She ran over and took hold of her suitcase enthusiastically and as Carla followed, Simon leant over to his Dad and said,

"I feel really bad Dad… She's well excited to be here and we aint even staying."

"I know… but imagine how excited she'll be when she finds out where we're really going..." Peter said, nodding towards Carla and Santana who were etching to get off the train. After showing their tickets and leaving the platform, Peter and Simon told Santana and Carla that they were getting a train to London's St Pancras station. Carla was starting to think that Peter and Simon were playing some sort of trick on her and Santana and once they had gotten off the train at St Pancras and were off that platform, Santana impatiently asked,

"So are we here now... like in London properly?"

"Yes." Simon laughed,

"So... where are we going now?" She asked brightly.

"Nowhere." Peter said, looking down at his watch and then back up at Carla and Santana who were now stood next to each other.

"Nowhere?" Carla repeated with a smirk, Santana was still smiling although not so brightly now because Peter smirked back at Carla and said,

"We're staying ere... at least for a little while..."

"What do you mean?" Santana asked her smile now very thin because it looked as if she wouldn't be going to the biggest TopShop after all.

"Well we're here for... an hour or so... until our next train that is..." Peter explained as Simon nodded.

"Another train." Carla groaned, "Really?" She didn't actually know what she had been expecting but getting on another train was not it.

"Yes really…" Peter nodded smugly, as Carla rolled her eyes. "Unless you don't want to go to Paris that is..."

"Paris... as in France." Santana cried at Simon, as Carla's jaw dropped wide open.

"Yep." Simon nodded, as if it was nothing.

"No..." Carla gasped, almost speechless as her Step Son and husband stood proudly before her.

"Yes." Peter said certainly.

"Wait... we... as in the four of us… are going to Paris?" Santana asked with glee as Carla shook her head at Peter who was grinning from ear to ear. "No way... it's too much... I mean London is enough."

"Well it is your birthday... your thirteenth birthday..." Simon said smiling with a nod.

"And Valentine's Day." Peter added also nodding in unison with his son.

"Exactly... it has to be special... so we sure are going to Paris On the Eurostar in about fifty minutes time..." Simon said, he had barley finished his sentence when Santana flew towards him and threw her arms around his body. They embraced in a state of laughter as Peter stood before a still stunned Carla.

"Well?" Peter said smiling. "What do ya think?" Santana was already talking nineteen to the dozen and still had her arms around Simon as Carla moved closer to her husband and said,

"I knew it wasn't just going to be London..." She put her arms around Peter's neck lovingly as Santana pulled out her phone so she could call her Mum,  
"I wasn't expecting it to be Paris though... that bit really was a surprise..."

"Good..." Peter said as Carla kissed him softly on the lips, "And trust me... there are few more surprises to come..." He added, knowing that Carla and Santana had absolutely no idea what and who else, this weekend was going to include.

* * *

**_Sorry for the rather long wait between updates._**

**_I'm going to try really hard to go back to this being an every weekend fic._**

**_Don't forget to review :)_**


	51. Je t'aime

"I can't believe it… I can't believe any of this." Santana gasped, stood outside the hotel that Peter and Simon had booked for them all to stay in. The Weather in Paris was glorious and as Carla climbed out of the cab they had taken to the hotel, she squinted up at the sun and said,

"Woah… I should ave brought me shades..." Even though it was cold, the sun was shining brighter than Santana had ever seen it and as Simon also got out the cab, she turned to him and said,

"I seriously cannot believe this Simon."

"Me neither." He grinned as Carla and Peter started to gather together everybody's suitcases.

The journey to Paris on The Eurostar from London had been a fairly pleasant one, Carla and Santana were still in shock when boarding and spent most of the journey asking Simon and Peter how on earth they managed to keep all of this a secret.

It took just over two hours to get into Paris and as it was Valentines weekend, it seemed as if there was a lot of couples who had chosen to come to Paris for it which meant that Peter, Carla, Simon and Santana had a bit of a wait for a cab.

The cab driver that they had eventually found could speech perfect English and had driven them all to their destination in no time. Santana spent the majority of the cab ride, gazing out the window and trying to see which famous landmarks she could spot, Simon joined her in this but Carla just smiled quietly to herself and watched Peter who was sat happily in the front seat. She still couldn't quite believe what he had done today and was already racking her brains to think of a way to pay him back.

Their hotel was located right in the heart of Paris and as the cab pulled up and Santana looked at the building ahead of her, she gasped and couldn't believe how beautiful it was. It wasn't like the hotels she had seen before, the huge and basic ones that they had in Manchester, which probably had hundreds of rooms, this one could only have been six storeys high and it had large white columns, which had been adorned with garlands of roses.

The doors to the hotel where huge and made out of glass and as Carla pulled her suitcase over to a stunned Santana she nodded towards them amused and said,

"I wonder how many people have gone smack and walked straight into them." Santana giggled whilst Peter joined them all on the pavement and said,

"Right… shall we go in then?" Carla nodded and kissed him on the lips whilst Simon and Santana looked away sheepishly and took hold of their suitcases.

"Let's just leave em out ere…" Simon grinned as Peter and Carla for that matter, seemed to forget that they were in public. Peter let go of his suitcase and put both hands around Carla's waist in a passionate embrace.

"Yeah good luck with that one kiddo, but you'll be leaving me credit card out ere too." Peter said, taking his lips off of Carla's and grinning. Simon nodded and laughed as Carla gave Peter a nudge and said,

"Let's go in… you two can show off your French skills at the front desk." She grinned from ear to ear when she thought about the fact that Peter could speak French and how Simon also took French at school but when they entered the hotel, they found the woman at the front desk also spoke good English.

"Oh… I thought I'd get to hear you say some fancy French words." Carla moaned after they had been handed their room key and when they were on the way to the lift.

"Calm down love." Peter chuckled as he watched Carla's disappointed expression, "You'll ave plenty of time for that." Santana was still very quiet as they all got into the lift, still in shock from this surprise trip to Paris. They got out on the fourth floor and took the very short walk to room four zero four. Peter had the room key and smiled before opening the door. He hoped that the hotel was just as beautiful as it had been on the website.

For a moment Carla, Peter, Simon and Santana all stood in the doorway in awe. With paisley blue and white wallpaper and a soft grey carpet, the room that they were about to walk into truly was stunning. It was a rather large room, one that had a glass coffee table in the middle of it and two grey luxury armchairs in front. To Carla's delight, at the very end of the room was a set of white doors, which led out to a balcony.

There were more of the flowers that they saw outside and they were placed in large glass vases in each corner of the room. There was also a few framed portraits on the wall and it was clear that they were all walking into the living room of their suite because it also had a large grey sofa, which had fluffy grey pillows on it to match.

"Wow…" Simon said as he, his Dad, Step Mother and Girlfriend all plied into the room.

"I know…" Santana gasped, pulling her suitcase along with her slowly, she was treading carefully as if she was scared her ugg boots would make a mess on the ultra soft carpet.

"You two are amazing…" Carla breathed as Peter closed the door behind her. He smiled happily at her as he also gazed around the room. Santana just stood in the middle of it whilst Simon walked around and stopped by some doors, which were just a little further up from the balcony.

"This must be one of the bedrooms." He said, pulling it open and looking inside. Sure enough there were two single beds next to each other, both with blue and white bedding. Each bed had a bedside table next to it and then another vase with flowers in. "I'm guessing this is me and Tan's room." Simon said as she walked over to him.

"You two ave your own room?" Carla said, with a raised eyebrow, she looked at Peter who nodded and said,

"They sure do…" He didn't look completely happy about the situation but it was clear by the look on his face that there wasn't much he could do about it, Santana took off her coat as Carla and Peter both opened the doors to the balcony. Carla practically skipped through the doors and was soon joined by Peter who just watched her smile and stare at the view from their room. Her green eyes were wide as she stared ahead of her and she looked so content that Peter didn't want to disturb her at all. Santana followed Simon who had wheeled their suitcases into the room and then returned back into the main room with a grin.

"This place is dead nice init." He said walking around it one more time before stopping at another set of doors. These doors were also white like the balcony ones but they were sliding doors and they were almost right on the other side of the room, Simon took hold of the handles and pulled them both sideways to reveal another bedroom.

"Woah!" He cried, staring into the bedroom that he had just discovered.

It was rather spectacular, there was a large four-poster bed in the middle of it, which had slightly transparent grey curtains that had been tied together at each post. The bed also had a lot of cushions and at the end of it there was a fluffy white rug. Again there were bedside cabinets and other decor but this particular bedroom also had a large wardrobe too.

"This room is insane." Santana said, following Simon into it, he stared ahead at the amazing bedroom he had now found him self in and then said,

"Carla… Dad… I think I found your room."

"Oohh let me see…" Carla said, almost coming running from the balcony that she and Peter had been stood on but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the bedroom she and Peter would be sleeping in. "Flamin hell…" She said as Peter joined them all.

"Wow." Peter said as Carla's jaw had once again, dropped open.

"This place is incredible." Santana said, "I wonder what the bathroom is like?"

"Let's find out…" Simon said, walking out of Carla and Peter's bedroom, Santana went with him and left Carla and Peter stood in their stunning bedroom.

"Peter… how much did this place cost?" Carla asked, pulling off her black coat and staring at him as he did the same.

"Never you mind." Peter said with a smirk as Carla hung up her coat on the hooks that had been fastened to a wall.

"Peter… seriously… it's beautiful ere… it must have cost a fortune… I feel bad…" Carla said shaking her head as he walked back into the main room so that he could get their suitcases, when he returned he saw that Carla was still waiting for a response.

"Trust me love… it really wasn't that bad… we got a very good deal… and anyways, You're worth it." Peter said, resting their suitcases against the wall and then walking back over to Carla. She smiled at him lovingly and was about to give him another kiss when they both heard Simon and Santana say,

"The bathroom is amazing!" Carla and Peter both left their room and rushed over to the bathroom. It was covered in white marble and it had a large white bath tub placed right in the middle. There was a shower in the bath tub too and when they got closer, they saw that the bath could also double up as a jacuzzi.

"How posh is this place?" Simon laughed, shaking his head as he circled the bath room and felt the fluffy white towels that were hanging up.

"I've never been anywhere as nice as this in my life." Santana gasped, "Thank you so much you two." She was looking at Peter and Simon with such admiration that she almost had tears in her eyes.

"You don't need to say thank you, honestly. This is just as much a treat for me n Si as it is for you." Peter said with a soft smile, "Now, what do you say we stay ere for half n hour or so, have a little rest and then go and get a coffee somewhere before we decide what to do first?"

"Good idea Dad." Simon nodded, leaving the bathroom, Santana nodded too and smiled before leaving the bathroom with Simon.

Fifteen minutes later and whilst Peter had a sneaky cigarette on the balcony, Simon and Santana were charging their iPhones and messing about when Peter walked back into the room. He smiled happily at them and walked into the bedroom to find Carla sprawled across the large four poster bed, she had kicked her converse off and was staring up at the ceiling with some music playing off her phone. Peter walked towards the bed and sat down on it, watching Carla as she looked deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" Peter eventually asked, Carla turned over so that she was now laying on her side and smirked at Peter before saying,

"I'm… thinking that it's a shame there are two twelve year olds in the room next door." She was staring suggestively at Peter and pulled him towards her by his jumper.

"Yeah… Me too." He chuckled before placing a lazy kiss on Carla's lips.

"Love you baby." Carla said when they had eventually stopped kissing.

"Love you too." Peter replied, putting an arm around Carla and cuddling her close to him. It was almost another half an hour before Simon and Santana realised that they hadn't seen Peter and Carla in rather a long time.

"Maybe they're sleeping…" Santana said, biting her lip as Simon approached the bedroom.

"Maybe…" Simon said awkwardly, he and Santana both knew what Carla and Peter were like and they both knew that what the pair could be up to in their rather spectacular bedroom. Santana got up too and walked towards the bedroom and giggled.

"What should we do?" She asked, making Simon stifle a laugh too.

"I dunno..." He said shaking his head, "We can't just stay ere though...I'll… knock." Said Simon before knocking on the sliding doors to Carla's bedroom.

It turned out Santana was right because when he knocked, nobody answered and after a second knock, Simon gently slid open the door to see a fast asleep Carla and Peter.

"Awww... they are so perfect." Santana whispered as Simon smiled at the sight before them. He very gently closed the door, deciding that for now, they would leave Carla and Peter asleep.

* * *

"Okay… so, what d'ya wanna do first?" Peter asked, he Carla, Simon and Santana were all sat in a Parisian coffee shop that was just ten minutes away from their hotel. Simon and Santana really had left them sleep but Carla had woken up about twenty minutes later and had woken Peter up straight afterwards because she had been excited to see the city.

"I have no idea…" Santana said, her arms rested on the table, she had lots of things that she wanted to do but she didn't want to ask because she wanted to keep polite.

"Obviously we're going to do the Eiffel tower and other touristy stuff like that but is there anything specific you want to do?" Peter asked there was a silence at the table at first and eventually Santana said,

"Erm… can we go to Notre Dame? I've always wanted to go there… it's the Disney geek in me." Simon and Peter both smirked at each other after Santana said Disney geek and Carla caught their smirk instantly, she knew they were still up to something but once again she wasn't sure what.

"What's that look for?" She asked amused, Peter and Simon both tried to look nonchalant whilst Santana just looked confused.

"What look?" She asked smiling.

"Yeah, What you on about?" Peter asked Carla, trying not to look suspicious. She just laughed at him and was about to question Peter and Simon again but then their drinks were brought and Peter had both ordered coffees, Carla's being a fancy cappuccino whilst Peter ordered a black coffee. Santana and Simon both ordered Hot Chocolates.

"Merci." Peter said as the waitress placed their drinks on the table earning a grin from Carla who then said,

"Don't even try it Barlow, I know you and Simon are still up to something."

"We are so not..." Simon said insistently.

"You know what, I'm not even gonna ask anymore." Carla said, smiling at the waitress before she left. "So what else should we do today then?" She asked, going back to the conversation they had been on just before hand.

"Oh we have to go to that art gallery Dad… you know… where that big glass... triangle thing is." Simon said vaguely.

"You mean the Lourve?" Santana said as Peter chuckled amused.

"Yeah… that one." Simon said as he picked up his drink. "Can we?"

"Yeah we can go there… is there anything specific that makes you want to visit there Si or have you just taken an interest in art without telling us?" Peter asked as Carla began licking the froth off her drink.

"We got some art homework to do a presentation on a famous art gallery, might as well get a bit of that done whilst we're ere." Simon said although Carla didn't look too thrilled at the idea of an art gallery.

"Oh yeah… good idea Si." Santana nodded because she and Simon shared an art class and she had that homework too, "We will have to get some notebooks so we can get some notes."

"Okay… I'm down for all the touristy stuff n that but please tell me we're going to hit the shops whilst we're out ere right? I mean I can hardly come to Paris without visiting the Louboutin shop can I?" said Carla with her eyes wide at the idea of not going shopping at all this weekend.

"Oh my god... I'd love to go there... not that I can afford anything in there of course." Santana said, she had opened an envelope that her Mum had hidden in her suitcase and it had Euros in although obviously not enough to buy a pair of expensive french shoes.

"You already ave pair of those don't you?" Simon asked.

"And?' Carla scoffed, "Si a woman can never ave too many pairs of shoes, especially designer shoes for that matter. Oh I can't wait, I'm gonna need a least an hour in there..."

"An hour?" Simon cried, "That's crazy?"

"I wonder what time the shop even shuts?" Carla asked looking at her watch.

"And where it is..." Santana said to which Simon rolled his eyes.

"Oh do we ave to... I didn't come ere to watch you lot eye up shoes." He began but Peter intervened.

"Don't worry we'll ave plenty of time for everything Si... How about we do the tourist stuff today and the shopping tomorrow?" He suggested, Carla seemed satisfied with this answer and went back to drinking her cappuccino although she and Santana couldn't stop talking about shoes.

Their drinks were almost finished and Simon was in the toilet when Santana took another opportunity to gaze around her surroundings, she was still in shock and when she looked back at Carla and Peter she said,

"God this place is too beautiful… I have to make sure I take loads of photos… Me Mum won't believe it."

"Has she never been?" Carla asked finishing her drink and putting the large mug down on to the table. She was sitting next to Peter and had rested a hand casually on his knee whilst he finished his own drink, he was leaning gently against her and loved how it felt to be sat with his son and wife on a little holiday. This was something he, Simon and Carla hadn't done before and he really hoped that nothing would spoil it.

"Nope… never… we always end up going on holiday to Spain, that's where my Grandma comes from… She has a house out there n so it's a cheep holiday... have you been ere before?" Santana asked Carla.

"Yeah a few times… I was ere a couple of years ago actually." Carla replied, off handily at first but when she thought about the last time she had been in Paris she felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, she hoped the conversation would stop there because she knew what would come next.

"Oh really? Were you there too Peter?" Santana innocently asked, not understanding why Peter had suddenly become very stiff and why Carla was staring down at the hand she had placed on his leg. She had felt the shift in how he was sitting and was chewing her bottom lip as she wondered what he was about to say.

"Err no…" Peter replied his voice actually breaking when he spoke. He cleared his throat and then gently patted Carla's hand off him before saying, "I'm gonna go outside for a smoke." He got up casually but Carla knew his mood had suddenly been dented.

"Did I say something wrong?" Santana said worriedly as Peter opened the door to the coffee shop and quickly went outside. Carla had watched him walk out in anguish and turned back towards Santana with a forced grin, trying to make sure that she didn't let anything on.

"No… course not love." Carla said taking a deep breath and shaking her head as Simon returned to the table. He sensed the atmosphere immediately and looked between his girlfriend and Step Mother before saying,

"What? What's happened?"

"Nothing…" Carla said as casually as she could, Santana didn't say anything and clasped her hands together in her lap nervously as Simon said,

"Well… where's me Dad gone then?"

"Oh only outside for a smoke…" Carla explained, craning her neck to see If she could still see Peter. "Don't worry Si..." There was an uncomfortable few moments before Carla sighed and said, "You two stay ere yeah…" She got up and quickly made her way towards he exit.

"Right what happened?" Simon asked, turning to Santana who still looked rather worried that she had done something wrong.

"I dunno… I mean I asked Carla if she'd been to Paris, she said yes and that it were a few years ago. Then I asked Peter if he went cause I know they were together a few years back but he just went all odd and said no, Then he got up to go outside…." Santana paused and watched Simon's reaction as he tried to piece everything together. "Si… what did I say? I mean do you think I've caused an awkward situation?"

"I can't see why you would ave?" Simon began, "I mean Carla did go to Paris… Yeah... it were when she were with me Dad cause he stayed behind n was helping out at the factory… I remember cause there were one day I were off school sick n he couldn't look after me so he called Tina and…." Simon trailed off. He knew exactly why everything had suddenly become awkward for his Dad and Carla.

Meanwhile, Carla had approached Peter slowly and joined him as he stood against the wall that was opposite the coffee shop. She didn't say anything at first and just let Peter have a few moments to sulk because she decided that he needed it but once he got half way through his cigarette, she gave him a playful nudge with her elbow and said,

"It doesn't matter you know…"

"What?" Peter replied, acting as if there was absolutely nothing wrong.

"You know what..." Carla sighed, watching Peter adoringly as she spoke. "The last time I were ere… I mean I didn't even think about it until now."

"Yeah… until now." Peter said shaking his head and detesting himself, a feeling he hadn't felt in such a very long time.

"Oh come on baby… don't do this… don't let thoughts of the past spoil this for us… please…" Carla begged, looking anguished as Peter took another drag of his cigarette.

"I won't…" he began, sighing as he exhaled. "I just… I dunno… I got this disgusting feeling in me stomach when Santana mentioned you being in Paris last time."

"Yeah me too…" Carla nodded understandingly.

"It's just a shock to the system that's all… I'll be fine... We'll be fine." Peter nodded, trying to be as convincing as he could, unable to think about how low he had sunk, cheating on Carla when she had been away for work and how at the time, he hadn't even felt all that guilty, although now he felt enough guilt to make up for all that time.

"Good." Carla said, smiling at him and placing a kiss on his cheek. "Right… what do you say I go n grab the kids and we get started on all this tourist stuff eh?"

"Sounds perfect." Peter said nodding once more, Carla nodded back at him excitedly and gave him a quick kiss. Then she ran back towards the coffee shop so that she could get Simon and Santana.

* * *

"I am so sorry about earlier." Santana sighed.

"Eh? What did I tell you about that?" Carla asked, she had Santana sat on the posh black armchair in her and Peter's bedroom and she was in the middle of curling her long dark hair after a very full afternoon of sightseeing.

When Carla had gone back into the coffee shop, she had been met by a very apologetic Santana who must have said about one hundred sorrys for making things awkward. Carla told her that she had nothing to worry about and they made their way straight to their first stop, which was Notre Damn.

Peter had looked up the directions and they got there in no time. At first Carla had thought she wouldn't have been interested in seeing the grand church but upon arrival she, like everyone else for that matter, had become taken by the exceptional building. After that they went to the Louvre where Simon and Santana got a vast collection of notes for their homework and where Carla definitely didn't take an interest at all. Their next stop was Luxembourg Park which although it had become very very cold, was an utterly beautiful place for the two couples to take a very long walk.

After a couple more stops it became clear that they were all pretty much fed up of walking around and as Simon and Peter said that they wanted to leave the Effiel tower until night time, they all made their way back to the hotel for a little rest.

It was about Seven pm when Peter made the grand announcement that he and Simon were taking Carla and Santana out to a posh dinner at eight pm, which had led to both the ladies banning them from the bedroom whilst they got ready.

They had both decided what they were going to wear quickly enough seeing as they hadn't really brought a lot of clothes along with them, Carla had chosen a black pencil top and a white cropped top to go along with it whilst Santana had chosen the only dress she had brought along with her, it was red, perfect for Valentines Day and as Santana hung it up proudly, Carla couldn't help but smile lovingly at her.

"That's a gorgeous dress…" She said, picking up a brush and beginning to brush her light brown locks.

"Thanks…" Santana beamed, "My Mum got it for me for Christmas… I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, I've been saving it for something special." Carla smiled again as Santana sat down and began undoing the French plait that she had done in her own her during the earlier hours of the day. Once she had done so, she glanced at Carla who was slowly combing her own hair. "Oh… let me plait yours like mine just was earlier… please… Go on…" Santana begged, jumping off the chair and looking excited.

"Really…" Carla frowned, looking in the mirror and then back at Santana who looked very eager to take on the role of hairdresser. "You don't think I'm too old for that?"

"Course not!" Santana cried, "You'll look amazing, I'll only do a little one from ear to ear and…" Santana ran over to her suitcase, which she had pulled into Carla's bedroom so she could get ready. "I'll curl the rest of your hair too." She said after pulling her curling iron out of her suitcase.

"Okay." Carla laughed, smiling at Santana from ear to ear. "Go on then." So after Santana had plaited the front part of Carla's hair and had curled the rest so that she had soft waves falling just above her shoulders, it was Carla's turn to be the hairdresser and just as she had started curling Santana's hair was when Santana had said sorry again.

"I know…" Santana said after being told by Carla that she didn't need to apologise. "I still feel really bad… I mean I shouldn't have been so nosy."

"Rubbish." Carla said, resting a curl of Santana's sectioned hair on her shoulder and starting on the next strand. "You didn't know what you were asking did ya? Don't worry about it… please, Me n Peter are fine." She wasn't being entirely truthful here, whilst she was fine about things, Peter still seemed slightly upset. To the untrained eye he was acting completely normal, laughing and cracking jokes like he always did but Carla could tell he was still a little saddened by what had happened the last time she had been in Paris and by the fact it had sort of come up this time too.

"I'm still sorry though." Santana said, earning a poke from Carla, who hoped that next door, where Peter was with Simon, that he wouldn't be sat there, still thinking about it but he was.

"Dad…" Simon said, sitting in a pair of smart black jeans and a black shirt. "You okay?"

"Yeah… fine." Peter nodded, pulling on a black blazer and sitting opposite his son. They had been dressed for ages now and knew that it would still be a while before they saw Carla and Santana again.

"Are you sure… Tan told me what happened?" Simon explained quietly.

"Nothing happened Si… it was just an innocent question… one that I just got way too affected by that's all." Peter promised.

"Carla doesn't seem like she got affected." Simon said, thinking about how content Carla had been all day. "She really doesn't."

"I know…" Peter nodded, "That… makes it worse in a weird way."

"Okay… you've lost me there..." Simon said with an eyebrow raised and making his Dad chuckle.

"If Carla had been upset then I could totally understand it but the fact that she's been able to get past everything that I've done is…. Incredible… she's incredible… I don't know how she does it... and I certainly don't deserve her." Peter said, not in a completely sad way though, because he knew he wasn't going to let thoughts of all of this ruin their trip.

"Yes you do Dad… you really do." Simon said sternly, "You've really shown everyone that you've changed... You're incredible too Dad." He smiled at his Dad who gave him a thankful nod

"Thanks Si." Peter smiled back before looking down at his watch, it was only seven twenty but by seven forty five, Carla and Santana still showed no signs of leaving the bedroom.

"Seriously... how long does it take to get dressed?" Simon asked, rolling his eyes and looking over at the sliding doors that Carla and Santana were behind.

"I knew this would happen… Why do you think I told em dinner was at eight instead of half past eh?" Peter grinned craftily. Another fifteen minutes had gone by when the sliding doors had finally opened and Santana appeared.

"About time…" Simon had said, getting up but being momentarily diverted when he actually saw Santana. She was smiling sheepishly in her new red dress, which stopped just above her knees, she was wearing a pair of black ballet pumps along with it and was clutching a black cardigan. Her hair had been curled by Carla and she had clipped it so some of it was off her face. "Wow…" Simon said whilst his Dad was stood out on the balcony on the phone to Ken. "You look really really beautiful." Simon gasped, almost whispering as he approached Santana.

"Aww thank you Simon." Santana almost giggled, he could tell she was trying to keep her cool as much as she could. Simon quickly moved forwards and kissed Santana before he could be interrupted by his Dad or Carla and as he let go of her, Peter made his way back inside and said,

"Your Granddad says hi…" He stopped when he saw Santana and smiled at her warmly. "You look lovely Santana."

"Thank you." She said, almost giggling again. She looked behind her at Carla and Peter's bedroom and then said, "Si… come and take some pictures of me in the lobby for my Instagram." She picked up her mobile phone and took Simon by the hand so that they could leave whilst Peter closed the doors to the balcony.

He was only left alone for a minute or so because soon enough, Carla made her way out of the bedroom. Wearing her sky high black heels that she had got for Christmas, the black pencil skirt she had picked out and the white crop top. She beamed at Peter and said,

"So… what d'ya think?" She had outlined her green eyes with black eyeliner and as Peter walked slowly towards her he was stunned into silence. "Peter… say something…" She laughed as he kissed he on the lips without saying anything and put both arms around her waist.

"You… look… un… explicable." Peter began, having to slightly look up at Carla's face because she was taller then him in her heels.

"Is… that a good thing?" She half laughed as Peter let go of her but still clung onto her hand.

"Definitely…" Peter breathed, shaking his head as he looked Carla up and down, the crop top she was wearing stopped so that she was showing off just a little bit of her midriff.

"Well... you don't look half bad your self." Carla smiled, as Peter ran a hand down her back gently.

"I know..." He grinned, his eyes bright showing that he really was almost over what happened earlier. "I love your hair."

"Thank you... Santana did it." Carla smiled, squeezing Peter's hand tightly and looking him up and down also. "Where are they?

"Downstairs, taking photos." Peter said with a suggestive grin before kissing Carla again and passionately at that.

"Mmmm..." Carla softly moaned, knowing that if they didn't stop soon they'd end up getting carried away. "Peter..."

"I know... I know..." He nodded, letting go of Carla and letting her get her leather jacket. She put it on and then joined Peter by his side once more before grinning at him excitedly and saying,

"Hey... guess what?"

"What?" Peter asked intrigued.

"Je t'aime." Carla said carefully with an un-stoppable grin as she did so. Peter chuckled and put an arm around her as he said,

"I love you too." he kissed her on he cheek and then asked, "Where did ya learn that then?" They were walking towards the door to their hotel room when Carla just shrugged and said,

"Off me Iphone... downloaded an app didn't I?"

"Oh yeah..." Peter asked, opening the door in front of them with a cheeky grin, "What else did ya learn?"

"Hmmm you'll find later handsome." Carla said with a suggestive wink and with that, they both left their room so that they could meet the other two for dinner.


	52. Ready?

"Mmmm... I feel like I'm in a fairy tale."

"Really? And what kind of kinky fairy tales did you read as a kid?" Peter asked with a chuckle, looking at the state he and his wife were in right now.

"You know what I mean…" Carla giggled, sat on top of Peter in only her bra whilst he was lying flat on his back. They were both on their luxurious bed in their hotel bedroom and they had the curtains on each post pulled closed so that they were in total privacy. "It's the curtains…" Carla said, gazing around at them "I dunno... I feel all magical n stuff… Like I'm a princess or something.."

"Hmmmm Princess Barlow…" Peter grinned as Carla bent forwards and kissed him on the lips. He was utterly naked underneath her and after their rather steamy kiss, Peter smiled, slightly out of breath and said a very soft, "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Right back at ya..." Carla replied, moving each leg and repositioning her self so that she was now laying on top of Peter. "I love you so much baby." She said as she rested her head on his chest. She smiled as Peter gently ran a hand through her long hair and down her back,

"I love you too." He replied, just as Carla raised her head so their lips could meet again.

The night before had gone like a complete and utter dream. Like a real fairytale in fact. Simon had insisted on getting his own table with Santana once they had gotten to the posh french restaurant so Peter and Carla ended up sitting on the other end of the restaurant to them and were able to actually enjoy some time quality time on their own.

Whilst at the meal, they had both discussed what had happened earlier on that day with Santana. Carla asked Peter if he really was over the whole thing and Peter said yes, in fact he promised it and insisted that Carla changed the subject so they did. They talked about everything and anything and ended up spending almost two and a half hours in the fancy French restaurant, chatting away and smooching when ever they had gotten the chance.

By the time the four of them had reached the Eiffel tower it was too late for them to actually go up it or anything like that because it still closed rather early at this time of year but it didn't matter because they were still able to gaze enchantedly at it nearby. Santana must have taken over a hundred photos of it on her camera and also of her, Simon, Carla and Peter. She had even convinced a stranger to take a photo of them all stood with the Eiffel Tower in the distance and said she was going to get that picture especially printed as soon as she got back home.

They had all gotten back to their hotel at around eleven thirty pm and after a little conversation and look at the photo's that Santana had taken, they had decided it was time to head off to their bedrooms and get some sleep. Peter gave Simon a look of warning before he and Santana entered their bedroom even though he was sure that his son and Santana did nothing but kiss. It hadn't taken anytime for Santana and Simon to get into their single beds and fall fast asleep but the occupants in the other bedroom were doing the exact opposite, although they tried their very best to make sure that they were as quiet as possible.

As the sun shone through the window which was on the left side of Carla and Peter's bedroom, he kissed her tenderly on the head as she lay on his chest and after sighing serenely he said,

"Ahhhh I could stay here for ever y'know."

"Yeah me too…" Carla said dreamily, "It's so beautiful ere..."

"Like you." Peter said earning another kiss from Carla, after kissing his lips, she placed some soft and gentle kisses on his naked chest, she had gotten half way down his body when she heard the sound of laughter come from the living room. "Sounds like Santana and Simon are awake."

"Yeah..." Carla sighed, moving back up Peter's body albeit a little reluctantly, knowing she couldn't continue now that the two kids with her were clearly awake. She rested her head back on Peter's shoulder as he pulled her close and they lay silently for a while. Then Carla's eyes widened and she added, "We are going shopping today right?"

"Yes." Peter chuckled, yawning afterwards and then turning his head so that he could see the time. It was just gone nine in the morning and when he did the maths, he knew that they'd all have to get up soon if Carla wanted to get some shopping done before the next surprise he and Simon had planned. "We better get up." He said, patting Carla gently on her bare back.

"Why?" She asked, "It's only early."

"Yeah but we ave lots to get done today love…" Peter explained as Carla sat up and stretched. "Me n Si ave plans..."

"You n Simon always ave plans these days..." Carla said, smiling excitedly as she scrambled around the bed in search for the rest of her underwear, Peter pulled on his boxers which had been left down the bottom of the bed and after opening one set of the curtains, he quickly found Carla's black knickers on the floor with her skirt and top which had been practically torn off her the night before.

"Incoming..." Peter called from outside the bed as he threw Carla's underwear towards her. She smirked suggestively at him as she caught them and pulled them on as Peter bent down and rifled through his suitcase for something appropriate to wear, he eventually pulled out a T-Shirt and pyjama trousers and put them on, then waited for Carla to also get dressed before sliding open the doors to the living room.

They both found Santana sat down on the sofa talking nineteen to the dozen on the phone whilst Simon seemed to be in the bathroom. Santana was already dressed in a pair of black jeans and a fluffy white jumper. She smiled at Carla and Peter excitedly as she spoke and it was obvious that she was talking to her Mum and little Sister because their voices could be heard on the other end.

Peter and Carla both waited for Santana to finish her conversation and when she hung up they both simultaneously cried,

"Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you." Santana beamed as Simon appeared from the bathroom. He was also already dressed and looked as if he was ready to leave as Carla and Peter stood before him in their version of pyjamas, they on the other hand looked nowhere near ready to go out.

"Morning." Simon smiled walking over to Carla and kissing her on the cheek lovingly, it was a sight that Peter always loved to see and as Carla put her arms around Simon he took a moment to remember just how lucky he was to have them both. Santana was smiling too and when Carla let of Simon she suddenly looked as if she had forgotten something and said,

"Oh... Santana..." She very quickly ran back into the bedroom and returned with a present in hand. It was wrapped in white wrapping paper with pink polka dots and it also had a silver ribbon tied lovingly around it. Carla handed it over to Santana excitedly along with a card as Peter sat down on the arm chair opposite them.

"What's this?" Santana asked as Carla sat down next to her on the sofa.

"It's your present." Carla said with a chuckle.

"But… you've brought me here…" Santana began, opening the card which had a sparkly thirteen on it. She smiled down at the message Carla and Peter had left and then shook her head, "This is too much...

"No it's not..." Peter said, "You deserve it for putting up with our Si..." He joked.

"Oi!" Simon said but he laughed all the same.

"Go on then, Open it." Peter nodded, and Carla did the same. Santana smiled gratefully over at Peter as she put her card down on the table in front of her and tore open the present which Carla had ever so carefully wrapped the day before to find a very stylish and very furry backpack, it had silver zips and a large pocket at the front too. Carla and Peter had seen it whilst out shopping during the week and had both decided it would be the perfect present for Santana.

"Wow…" She said genuinely, running her hand back and forth over the furry fabric. "I love it!" She cried as Simon took a closer look at what Santana had been bought.

"You sure?" Peter asked watching Santana closely to make sure she wasn't just being polite, "We've got the receipt if you wanna take it back when we get back home."

"No… I really do love it…. thank you so much Carla and Peter." Santana said and she got up and put her arms around Carla, then after that she got up and hugged Peter too. "I really wasn't expecting a present… not after all of this."

"Speaking of presents…" Carla said with a smirk and she disappeared off to the bedroom again, when she returned she had another parcel in hand but this one was clearly for Peter. "Happy Valentines Day baby."

"Ahhhh…" Peter gasped as Carla leant forwards and kissed him on the lips. Simon pretended to be grossed out as they kissed whilst Santana admired her brand new bag. Simon had bought her a delicate silver necklace for her Birthday and a matching ring for Valentine's Day which she wore with pride on her middle finger, Whilst she had bought Simon a very snazzy looking watch for Valentine's Day, one which he was wearing on his right wrist, also in pride. "I thought we said we weren't doing presents this year?" Peter said, referring to a conversation he and Carla had a few weeks ago, they had both been sat at Carla's flat and after watching about fifty adverts to do with Valentines Day, they had decided that they weren't going to buy each other fancy presents after all because they felt like they didn't need to do something like that to prove their undying love.

"Yeah yeah, I know but you've brought me ere and anyways, it's only little so… go on, open it." Carla smiled giving him a quick nudge, clearly excited to see what Peter thought of her gifts.

Peter opened the package Carla had given him and couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. Not only had she bought him a humours book, which was called, _"101 things that a man should say to his wife.." _which seemed to be full of hilarious antidotes but she had bought Peter a beard grooming kit too, something he had seen in a shop whilst out with Carla and had mentioned that he had wanted a while back.

"Do you like em?" Carla asked, leaning on the chair Peter was been sitting on. He nodded at her and then chuckled as he opened the book and as he flipped through some of the pages.

"Yes, I do… although I kind of feel bad because I didn't get you anything." Peter then said pouting slightly, in a jokey fashion.

"Errr you've brought me ere, that's more than enough... darlin." Carla said, running a hand through Peter's hair lovingly, she was sitting on the arm of the armchair now and left her hand resting gently on the back of his head.

"Yeah but still…" Peter said, "I feel bad..." Simon watched as Carla shook her head insistently, he was about ninety nine per cent sure that his Dad had bought something for Carla and that once again he was playing games with her, he wondered if she was maybe going to get her present later, and he could barley contain himself when he thought about where they would be headed later on that day.

"Don't worry about it… just don't go too mad with the beard grooming kit okay.. y'know I love this rugged look you've got going on…" Carla said affectionately, she then leant forward and kissed a rather flattered Peter again before looking over at Santana, "Was that your Mum on the phone Santana?"

"Yeah… and Carmen…" Said Santana and it was only then she looked a little downbeat, clearly a little upset to be spending her birthday without her Mum and baby sister. Simon and Peter both exchanged looks and then quickly looked away from each other when Carla had noticed what they were doing.

"Don't worry…" Simon quickly said, "We can find an internet café later and Skype your Mum and Carmen then." He suggested.

"Yeah that sounds like a fab idea." Peter said, taking the presents that Carla had bought him and putting them down on the coffee table in front of them.

"So… what's happening this morning then?" Simon asked enthusiastically.

"Well… it looks as if you two are pretty much ready." Peter said, looking at Simon and Santana who only had to put on their coats to be ready for a day out.

"Yeah…" Simon said, "We were thinking… cause it's Valentines Day maybe we should spend sometime y'know… like just as a couple."

"But we don't mind spending time with you two of course." Santana quickly added because she didn't want to seem rude, especially after Peter and Carla had been so generous.

"Well…" Peter said, "I mean, where did exactly did ya both plan on going?" He asked, not so sure about the idea of letting Santana and Simon roam around Paris on their own.

"Dunno really..." Simon said shrugging, "We just thought you n Carla might like some alone time that's all."

"And... I wanted to take some more photos on my camera…" Santana added, "But nowhere in particular, I can just take em anywhere really, If you wanted us all to stay together." She said smiling.

"I've got a map on my phone Dad." Simon said, "I'll make sure we don't go too far… I promise… and after all, Santana is thirteen today… we're teenagers now Dad... we're very responsible."

"Errr I think you'll find Santana is a teenager…" Peter replied but Carla took hold of Peter's shoulders and said,

"Yes and a very sensible one at that… I think Santana and Simon will be fine to have some time on their own…"

"Yeah I bet you do…" Peter smirked, being the only person in the room who could hear the suggestiveness in Carla's voice when she spoke. She pursed her lips together as Simon and Santana both looked hopefully at Peter who eventually caved and said, "Okay… you two can go out… but stay safe, don't go too far and make sure you're both back ere by one pm."

"Why what's happening at one pm?" Santana asked smiling as she stood up, thrilled that she and Simon were going to be allowed out on their own after all.

"Nothing…" Peter said, ignoring Carla's intrigued stare and smiling, "Just make sure you're both back ere okay?"

"Okay." Simon nodded, he got up and got his coat on as Santana took all of the things out of her black handbag and put them in the new fluffy back pack Carla and Peter had bought her. She looked really pleased with her present and smiled as she chucked her old bag to the side.

"Seriously, thanks so much for this… I really do love it." She said once she had put all her stuff it, She put it on both shoulders as Simon pulled on his trainers and asked,

"What are you two going to do this morning then?" It was an innocent enough question but Carla and Peter didn't dare to look at each other before answering. Instead they just shrugged their shoulders in sync.

"Shopping…" Carla eventually said, as Santana bent down and pulled on her Ugg boots.

"Oh Simon we need to do some shopping too, I need to get some souvenirs for me Mum and Carmen." Santana said, trying not too look or sound too upset at the idea of not seeing them on her birthday.

"Errr okay..." Simon said, glancing at his Dad and then looking back at Santana. "Ready?" He asked, as she checked her hair in the mirror.

"Yes!" She beamed with her camera in hand, "Bye Carla, Bye Peter."

"Bye." Carla smiled, sitting down on the sofa again.

"Ave a good time and remember… one o clock." Peter reminded.

"Bye Dad, Bye Carla." Simon said before leaving the hotel room with Santana hand in hand. There was a silence between Carla and Peter at first, one where Peter joined her on the sofa and kissed her very softly and slowly again before saying,

"I can't believe it… I mean our Simon… walking around Paris with his girlfriend."

"I know… he's so grown up now… Sometimes I still think of him being about this high." Carla said with her hand raised about three feet off the ground with a sigh.

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, "He's growing up so fast… it's like… he's not a kid anymore y'know, before we know it he'll be moving out n getting married… then it'll just be us eh?"

Carla nodded but then she bit her lip slightly at what Peter had just said, looking so anxious about something that Peter frowned and said,

"What? What is it?"

"Nothing… well nothing bad…" Carla said watching Peter's worried expression.

"Go on then…" Peter chuckled but Carla just shook her head and smirked.

"Never mind… it can wait… but you know what can't? wait" She asked, standing up and pulling Peter up with her.

"What?' He asked excitedly as she pulled him towards the bathroom, he knew exactly what she had in mind as they stumbled into it.

"That Jacuzzi bath… that's what." Carla grinned and before Peter knew it, she was undressed, all over again.

* * *

Simon and Santana had absolutely no idea where they were planning on going but they truly didn't care. They just enjoyed having the total freedom to roam around Paris together all alone. They felt extremely grown up and proud that they had been given this chance to prove themselves and as they walked hand in hand down the Parisian streets, every so often, Santana would stop and take a photo. She had recently gotten very into Photography and had said she was going to make a photo book when she got home, filled with all of the pictures she had taken this weekend. She seemed blissfully happy but Simon knew that she was obviously missing her family and as a little girl who resembled her little sister Carmen ran past with her Dad, Santana suddenly looked sad and gave Simon's hand a tight squeeze.

"I'm sorry…" Simon said sadly, watching the little girl run up the street in front of them.

"Simon what for?" Santana cried, shaking her head at him, "You ave done nothing to be sorry for."

"Well… for taking you away from your family on your birthday… I know you miss them…" Simon said as dejectedly as he could manage, "Maybe this was a bad idea." He added, trying to sound really down and dismal when he knew that soon enough, Santana would be seeing her sister and her Mum after all.

"No… don't Simon… I've just never been away from them before that's all but it doesn't matter, this trip has been amazing… totally wonderful." Santana insisted, She hated the way Simon was seemingly feeling guilty and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek there and then. He blushed and smiled at his girlfriend as she took his hand again and as they walked onwards Santana then said, "Hey... do ya think me n you will be together when we're your Dad and Carla's age?"

"Yeah course…" Simon said with a nod, "I just hope we don't have half the amount of drama they've had." He laughed.

"Yeah me too... although they are happy now, that's all that matters." Santana said and when Simon nodded along in absolute agreement, she then said, "I wonder what they are doing right now?" It was a casual question but when Simon raised an awkward eyebrow at Santana she and him both burst into a fit of laughter.

* * *

After their bath, and after getting dressed... twice, Peter and Carla set out on their own little Parisian adventure. Before making their way to the shops, Carla and Peter had visited the coffee shop that they had been to yesterday for a hot drink to take on the go to warm them up. They both had a black coffee in gloved hands as they strolled down the street together.

"So… earlier?" Peter began.

"Earlier?" Carla asked, swallowing down the coffee and looking at Peter sideways. He was wearing his favourite flat cap and a grey coat whilst Carla was wrapped up in her black coat with a matching black scarf.

"Yeah… you were going to say something before our bath..." Peter said, "What was it?" He watched as Carla nervously took another sip of coffee.

"Nothing…" She said, although she knew full well Peter wouldn't believe her.

"Oh don't give me that love..." Peter groaned childishly, "It was something, I know it was." He nudged her in the side with his elbow and then pulled a very unhappy face when Carla shook her head again. "Baby come on…you know you can tell me anything right?"

"I know… I know..." Carla said nodding, she was about to speak when Peter had thought that he'd sussed it out and said,

"It's not about yesterday is it? You know, the whole thing in the coffee shop about the last time you were in Paris? Cause I told you I'm totally over it all."

"No." Carla said firmly, "it's not about that at all actually…" She said poking him gently in the stomach.

"Well? What then?" Peter asked, taking a sip of coffee and waiting with bated breath.

"Well… it's just what you said about Simon growing up n stuff… him moving out." Carla began quietly, "You said it'll just be us two… but… well it won't be…"

"Okay…" Peter began, stopping dead in his tracks. He thought for about a millisecond and then he held his breath. His eyes went wide with shock but Carla very quickly shook her head and said,

"Oh Peter, no… I'm not… pregnant." Peter let his breath go suddenly and smiled at Carla nervously as she continued, "Sorry baby… I didn't mean to make you think…"

"No… no you didn't." Peter began, although she did make him think that she was pregnant, only for a moment but still, it had shaken Peter in ways he couldn't have imagined.

"Yes… I did… and I'm sorry..." Carla said apologetically, she stopped in the middle of the pavement and shook her head again. "It's just we said we'd talk about… y'know baby stuff after Valentines Day and I just wanted to make sure that that conversation is still on the table…"

"Oh right…" Peter nodded, taking another deep breath and stopping alongside Carla. "Well… as I said before Christmas… I'm ready when ever you are…" Carla nodded at Peter and licked her lips as they stood on the cold Parisian street. It was still sunny but it was also still winter and today was a lot colder than yesterday, so cold that they could both see their breath when they spoke.

"I…" Carla began, slightly shaking as she spoke because the subject of their conversation was an incredibly exciting yet daunting one. "I'm... ready."

"You… are?" Peter asked in awe, staring at his beautiful wife who stood before him.

"Yeah… I mean… obviously we'll need to discuss all of this properly when we're back home but… yeah… I mean, you're such a perfect Dad to Simon…" Carla began, only to be interrupted by Peter.

"Hardly…" He said shaking his head in disagreement.

"Oi… yes you are." Carla said, slapping him gently on the arm. "I've told you before, that kid worships the ground you walk on darlin." Peter smiled at Carla modestly and let her continue because he knew that she wasn't finished. "Peter, You're such a fantastic Dad, I really wish that you could see that."

"Thank you… and you... are going to be an amazing Mother someday... in fact you already are really aren't you?" Peter replied. It was Carla's turn to look sheepish now and as she shook her head, Peter leant towards her and said, "I mean it Carla, Simon totally adores you anyone can see that..."

"I adore him too." Carla said smiling, "And you..." She took a deep breath as she moved even closer to him. She smiled dreamily at him and then said, "And even though it scares the hell out of me… I'd be crazy not to want to have kids with you…" Peter grinned at Carla and nodded at her before saying,

"I still want five y'know."

"Peter Barlow… I love you more than anything in this world but even you can whistle if you think I'm going to ave five flamin kids..." Carla laughed, knowing that Peter wasn't being serious.

"Spoil sport." He said and then he suddenly leant forward and surprised Carla with a very impromptu kiss. She giggled into his lips, still clutching the coffee cup in her hands and their kiss was so passionate, that Peter's hat almost got knocked right off his head. "Careful…" She said, raising her free hand and fixing Peter's hat back onto his head.

"Thanks love." He said, before kissing her gently again and letting her link her arm through his as they set off on their journey towards the shops.

* * *

"We are going to be so late…" Peter said, staring out the window of the cab he and Carla were in. Much to Carla's delight they had just finished a rather large and rather expensive shopping trip, After getting slightly lost on the way and having to try and ask someone for directions they had finally reached a rather large selection of shops.

Their conversation about their future had put them in such a lovey dovey mood that they were forever stopping each other for kisses and hugs and had lost track of time.

"It's only just one now…" Carla said, looking down at her watch as the cab driver stopped at a traffic light. She grinned as Peter started to say something to the cab driver in French and then when he was done she asked, "What did ya say?"

"I asked him how long it would take to get to the hotel… he said we've only got a few minutes left but we don't look as if we are anywhere near." Peter said although thinking about it, he actually had no idea where they were either. Carla just nodded happily and looked down at all the shopping bags she had sat next to her, she hadn't spent too much at first, just a few clothes here and there but then they reached the designer shoe shops and she just couldn't help but buy two new pairs of very expensive french shoes.

"It's alright babe… Simon and Santana are probably on their way back too…" Carla said, watching Peter's concerned face and reaching over to take his hand.

"I know… I just don't wanna be late." He said, looking out the window again and holding onto Carla's hand.

"Late for what?" She asked very intrigued as to what Peter planned next.

"You'll see." He replied, shaking is head and causing Carla to roll her eyes and say,

"Oh you are so flamin annoying Peter Barlow." He just laughed out loud as she playfully shoved him but he still wouldn't reveal his surprise. He kept quiet as the cab driver went down a few side roads and was sure that the driver had got lost but within five minutes, he was parking outside the hotel where they were staying. "See… it's only five past." Carla said as they got out of the cab after Peter had paid the driver.

"Come on…" Peter said, pulling Carla and all her shopping bags with him. She giggled as they made their way through the hotel lobby and after almost losing track of time in the lifts and having to go back down a floor, they walked into the room and found Simon and Santana sat on the sofa.

"Be back at one they said…" Simon grinned looking down at his watch, Santana eyes up all the bags that Carla had in her hands and jumped off the sofa saying,

"Oohhh what did ya buy?" Carla excitedly walked over to Santana and set about showing her the things that she had bought but Peter suddenly shook his head and said,

"Eh no time for that…"

"What?" Carla asked, half laughing and half surprised.

"We gotta go… get all your stuff together." Peter said and with that Simon had also got off the sofa too.

"Me and Santana got back half an hour ago… we're already packed n ready to go." He said, Carla's excited smile had soon turned into a frown as she realised what Simon had said.

"Packed… are we leaving?" She asked disappointedly, she looked at Santana who shrugged and said,

"I dunno."

"Peter are we leaving?" Carla asked.

"Sort of…" Peter said, "Come on… in the bedroom… so we can sort out all your bits n bobs."

"Oi…" Carla giggled, as Peter took her by the waist and ushered her towards their bedroom. "Baby what's the rush?"

"You'll see…" Peter said, taking the bags off Carla and pointing her towards her suitcase which was open and on the floor. "Start packing."

"You are so bossy this weekend." Carla smiled, bending down and picking up the clothes she had left on the floor last night, Peter gave her a little smack on the bottom as she did so and said,

"Yeah well it makes a change from being you doesn't it." Carla laughed loudly and packed all her things together as fast as she could but as she walked back into the living room, wheeling her suitcase as she went, she said,

"You know I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting something…" She glanced around her as Peter also left the bedroom and said,

"No… you're not." He also had his suitcase with him and was reading something on his phone, he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention and crashed straight into Carla.

"Woah!" She cried, "Watch it Barlow." She nudged him in the side as Simon picked up his backpack and said,

"Are we all ready to go then?" Santana nodded and got up from where she was sitting with her new backpack in hand and said,

"Is one of you going to tell us what's going on now?"

"Nope." Peter and Simon both said in unison, As Carla picked up her own hand bag and rolled her eyes.

"Honestly… you two are like a pair of secret agents…" She said, looking around the beautiful hotel room they had all been staying in.

After they had all piled out of the room and had checked out, Peter had organised another cab. It took them back to the train station and when Carla got out and realised where she was she said a very sad,

"Are we going home?"

"No…" Simon began, looking at his Dad with a smile.

"So where are we going?" Santana asked, Peter and Simon both smiled at each other mischievously and started walking again.

"Peter!" Carla cried rolling her eyes and running after him, Santana ran too and although they kept asking, Peter and Simon would not reveal where they were headed next.


	53. Happy Tears

_**Warning: Prepare yourself for a lot of Disney...**_

* * *

Simon Barlow had never been so happy in his life.

He was just overjoyed at how this weekend had gone so far. Every moment had been practically perfect and even the moments that had been slightly awkward had gone pretty well considering.

As he, his girlfriend, his Dad and his Step Mother sat on the train that was headed towards their next surprise he still couldn't stop smiling. He was so happy, that he didn't even mind Carla and Peter's public displays of affection.

They were sat opposite, and they romantically kissed like a pair of teenagers whilst the real teenagers sat hand in hand and tried not to pay to much attention to it all.

Their suitcases were left in one corner of the train where a few other people had left theirs also and as the train got closer and closer to their destination, Simon could hardly wait for Santana and Carla to find out exactly where they were now going.

"Hey…" Santana said, half an hour into their train journey, smirking as she pulled out her phone from the pocket of her jacket. "We forgot to see who had the most Instagram likes yesterday." She said, referring to the photo's she and Carla had posted on their Instagram profiles. They'd had a competition to see who could get the most like on their selfies with their other halves and had forgotten to check last night and see who was the winner.

"Oh yeah…" Simon said, chuckling as Santana went onto her profile to see how many likes she had.

"One hundred and eight likes… not bad." She said smiling at the photo she and Simon had taken at Manchester Piccadilly yesterday morning.

"Go onto Carla's… see how many she n me Dad got." Simon said, excitedly. Santana nodded and clicked on to Carla's profile, which since yesterday had been updated with more pictures from Paris. There was one of the four of them outside Notre Dame, one of her and Simon stood near by a historic bridge, one of the new shoes she had bought this morning, another one of her and Peter in the restaurant last night and one of them both near the Eifel tower. "Ahhhh no way!" Simon cried when Santana got to the photo from Manchester Piccadilly that Carla had taken.

"What?" Came Peter's voice suddenly. He and Carla had stopped kissing and were now intrigued as to what made Simon so outraged.

"You won." Santana chuckled,

"Won what?" Carla asked, her arm linked into Peter's as she sat cuddled up next to him.

"The selfie contest." Santana said, holding up her phone and showing Carla and Peter just how many likes their photo had received.

"Wow…" Peter nodded, "One hundred and thirty likes." He said, looking at the phone before smirking at Simon.

"Ahhh yay." Carla cheered. "How many likes did you two get then?" She asked, as Santana stopped holding up her phone.

"One hundred and eight." Said an amused Simon, he smiled at his Dad and Carla who couldn't help but look proud of their achievement. "It is a really nice photo of you two though… I'll admit that."

"Thanks Si, yours is gorgeous too." Carla replied, as the train they were on stopped at a station. Three very excitable kids got on, along with a man who looked slightly out of his depth with all these children. The children were all wearing backpacks, hats, gloves and scarfs as they sat down right opposite Peter and Carla.

The man who was with them, sat down too and Carla, Peter, Simon and Santana had guessed that he was the three children's father. They all started chatting loudly in French, whilst the man next to them sat quietly occupying himself on his phone.

"Wonder where they are going?" Santana said, watching them all with a smile. Simon and Peter both exchanged looks. They both had an idea of where the man and his three kids seemed to be going and as the train went further and further towards their destination, it seemed like they were right.

One of the kids, the youngest who had blonde shoulder length hair, was wearing a bright pink jacket with matching boots and she started to sing a song from Frozen at the top of her lungs, her Dad leant over and told her something in French but she didn't stop singing and as she got to the chorus, her Dad looked apologetic and said,

"Sorry if she is bothering you." Carla, Peter, Simon and Santana where surprised to hear that this man could speak English and as his little girl continued to sing, Peter shook his head and said,

"No, she isn't… don't worry about it." He smiled warmly at the girl who was sitting opposite, knowing that she must be so excited about where she was headed and unable to control her excitement. Carla smiled at the man too and then at the children who looked delighted to be on the train and who were still chatting away loudly.

"She reminds me of Carmen." Santana said to Simon looking at the little blonde girl who was still singing, "She's always bursting into song like that, she did it in church once, Mum was mortified when she just started singing a Little Mix song during Father Richards service." Simon chuckled at the image of Carmen suddenly singing in the middle of a church service whilst the man who had got on with all the kids, went into his bag and pulled out a camera.

"Could you… take a picture of all of us please?" He asked, holding the camera towards Peter.

"Sure…" Peter nodded, he leant forward and took the camera off the man, and after the man said something in French to his kids, they all stopped talking and singing. They all smiled at the camera and from their smiles, it was obvious to see that these people really were all related.

"There…" Peter said, handing the camera back to the man.

"Merci." The man replied, taking the camera off Peter and smiling broadly down at the photo Peter had taken.

"Where are you all off to?" Carla asked, watching the children who still looked excited.

"Disneyland." The man answered, unknowingly making Carla and Santana aware that the train they were on, was indeed headed to none other than Disneyland Paris.

"Disneyland…" Carla repeated, turning to Peter who was trying desperately hard to look as innocent as he could.

"Yes… it's the last stop… not long left now, thank goodness." The man nodded as Santana looked up at the map and saw that they were now only three stops away from the last one, which stopped at a station called, _Marne-la-Vallée. _

The man smiled at the photo on his camera again before turning to take more pictures of his children and it was then that Carla and Santana both grinned at each other.

"You avent?" Carla said, shaking her head as she turned to Peter again, Santana was staring at Simon who rolled his eyes at his Dad and said,

"Come on Dad… I think we've kept it quiet long enough."

"Oh my god!" Santana cried, cupping her hand over her mouth as Peter nodded proudly and said,

"Okay… Yes we are going to Disneyland."

"Are you serious?" Santana asked, she had tears in her eyes and still had a hand risen up to her face as Carla shook her head again, still in awe of everything they had done this weekend.

"Yep" Peter said with a nod, he turned to Carla to see the look on her face but she kissed him full on the lips before he could see how completely happy she looked.

"I can't believe any of this…" Santana said, she gazed at Simon before throwing her arms around him, looking like she might burst into tears at any moment.

"We could hardly come all the way to Paris without going Disney right?" Simon said, beaming once again as Santana let go of him. "Are you excited?" He asked, watching Santana.

"Of course." She nodded, her mind was going a mile a minute and as she thought about everything Simon and his family had done for her this weekend, a tear ran down her cheeks.

"Hey… what is it?" Simon asked concerned as Santana wiped her eyes.

"Nothing… I'm happy." Santana said with a sniff, Peter and Carla had parted lips by this and were also watching Santana.

"Good…" Peter nodded, "It is ya birthday after all."

"Yeah… Happy Birthday Tan." Simon nodded proudly, Carla smiled at him lovingly as Santana sniffed and said.

"This is the best birthday ever… I mean it…" She trailed off slightly and Simon knew exactly why she trailed off. He put an arm around her as she sniffed again and said,

"Don't worry…" He said shaking his head, "It's okay for you to miss your Mum n Sister… y'know."

"Carmen's going to ave a field day when she finds out about this…" Santana said, thinking about how her little sister, would feel when she found out exactly where her big sister was without her. Carmen was an avid Disney fan and Santana knew that she'd have to buy her little sister a really special present to make up for being in Disneyland without her… or so she thought.

* * *

After getting off the train at Marne-la-Vallée station, Peter, Carla, Simon and Santana were stood nearby the platform with their suitcases in tow. The man with the three children, nodded at them and wished them a good trip whilst his kids had charged ahead and as Carla and Peter wished him well, Santana frowned down at her phone.

"What's up?" Simon asked her, whilst Peter also had his phone in hand.

"Well… it's just… I texted Mum earlier, to tell her we were on our way somewhere else and she hasn't texted back…" Santana said, "Normally she texts back straight away." Simon didn't reply at first, he just kept quiet and tried not to let on that he knew exactly why Santana's Mum hadn't replied.

"Maybe she's driving…" Carla said, she had been listening to the conversation whilst Peter had been texting someone, he put his phone away quickly and then nodded at Simon with a wink. Simon grinned from ear to ear and as he did so Carla looked at Peter and said, "What on earth ave you two got up your sleeve now?"

"Come on…" Peter chuckled, dodging out of the way as Carla tried to poke him in the side. He took hold of his suitcase and began wheeling it in the direction of the exit, Simon ran after his Dad, whispering something as he did so and as Carla and Santana took hold of their suitcases, Santana said,

"Those two are thick as thieves."

"I know…" Carla said, watching them fondly. "But I wouldn't ave it any other way." She loved how close Peter and Simon had become since Peter had moved back up to Weatherfield from Portsmouth and as they both walked side by side, they simaltaneously turned to look back at their other halves.

"Come on you two…" Peter called, waving his hand, as he stood right at the exit of the station.

"Yeah… hurry up Tan." Simon hollered excitedly, Santana couldn't help but wonder why Simon was singling her out but as she got closer to the exit, she saw why.

"Oh… my god!" Santana stuttered, staring ahead of her. There, stood a few feet away from the exit of the train station, was her Mum and her little sister Carmen.

"Tana!" Carmen cried, shooting towards her big sister so fast that when she reached her, she couldn't help but fling her arms around her big sisters legs.

"Carmen…" Santana laughed in shock, looking down at her little sister who was already decked out in a pair of Minnie Mouse ears that her Mother had bought her from the Disney Store once they had arrived earlier on that day. "Hi…" Santana said, bending down and kissing her sister on the forehead, she then turned her head and beamed at her Mum.

"Happy Birthday." Juliana said, reaching over and hugging a still stunned Santana.

"Happy Birthday Tana!" Carmen said, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Thanks… what are you doing here?" Santana said almost in tears once again, after everything, she couldn't believe that her Mum and baby sister were here, in Disneyland. "I'm so surprised!"

"Well, when Peter and Simon told me about your big birthday surprise… I couldn't help but muscle in on it." Juliana said, smiling at Peter who was stood hand in hand with Carla who had been rather quiet during the whole situation.

"Amazing… Now this really is the best birthday ever!" Santana said shaking her head as Carmen went and hugged Simon. She then hugged Peter and then Carla who afterwards bent down to Carmen's level and said,

"I love your Minnie Mouse ears…"

"Thank you." Carmen said a little shyly even though she was very fond of Carla and vice versa. "I getted them from that big shop over there…" Carmen said, pointing into the distance at an enormous sign, which indicated the Disney Village.

"Well, I'm gonna ave to get a pair of those." Carla said standing upright, Peter chuckled at the image of Carla in a pair of Minnie mouse ears, an image which he had first thought of when Simon had mentioned coming to Paris before Christmas. He couldn't help but kiss her on the cheek as Santana looked back at her Mum and said,

"When did you two get here then?"

"This morning… we haven't done too much though just looked around the shops for a bit and ate lunch, Carmen wanted to wait for you guys to arrive before we went in which was good." Juliana said smiling at Santana lovingly, "It's been so hard to keep it a secret from you for so long darling… I'm so glad you're here now, I know it's only been one day but I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." Santana nodded. Carmen who had been chatting away to Simon about what she had done so far, suddenly turned to her big sister and said,

"Did you miss me Tan!" She had her brown eyes wide and was staring up at Santana who just grinned and said,

"Of course I did." She bent down and kissed her sister again, whilst Peter looked totally thrilled about things, he looked at Carla and asked,

"Are you happy?"

"I'm ecstatic baby." She said with a nod, "Honestly." She added with a look of pure enthusiasm on her face, she then threw her arms around Peter again as Carmen said,

"They have a special fire work show here later… The man in the shop told me so, Didn't he Mummy."

"She sure did…" Juliana said nodding as Carla let go of Peter. "It's supposed to be breathtaking."

"Uh I can't wait!" Carla cried, still grinning from ear to ear at the situation she was in. Loving Peter more and more each second, which she didn't think was possible.

"Me neither." Juliana laughed, shuffling from side to side in an impatient fashion.

"Look at us, more excited than the kids..." Peter said as Carmen, Santana and Simon were now the only ones stood still.

"I know and I reckon we're way too old this kind of behaviour." Juliana added with a slight sigh.

"Not at all…" Carla protested shaking her head, "You're never too old for Disney."

"Yeah too right love." Peter said in agreement, "Right… how about we take our stuff to the hotel?"

"Are we staying?" Santana asked after hearing what Peter just said, her face full of so much happiness it was a wonder her jaw didn't ache from all that smiling.

"Yes." Simon nodded, "Just for tonight, we are headed back to Manchester tomorrow night." He explained, Carla who also still in such shock from seeing Santana's family outside the train station, sighed deeply and said,

"I can't… I honestly feel… speechless."

"That's a first." Peter quipped, earning a nudge from Carla who then pulled him towards her and planted yet another quick kiss on his lips, Simon raised an eyebrow and turned to Juliana, who once again had an arm around Santana and said,

"Yeah… they're always doing that."

"We heard that Si…" Peter said, smirking and taking hold of Carla's hand. She held it tight and pulled her suitcase along with her as they headed towards a kiosk, Peter started explaining that they were all here to check in and sure enough, they were given their tickets to the parks and directions to their hotel.

"We're staying in a big princess castle!" Carmen cried, walking hand in hand with Simon and her sister as they headed towards their hotel.

"Really?" Santana gasped, smiling down at her little sister lovingly and as they approached their hotel, Santana and Simon knew exactly what she meant.

They were staying in the main hotel of Disneyland, the one right in the centre, which was the closest one to the parks and as they walked inside, Carla couldn't help but wonder how much this whole weekend away must have cost.

"Don't worry…" Peter said, after they had checked in and after he had seen Carla gazing at her new and very costly looking surroundings. "It really wasn't that much… I told ya, we got a really good deal."

"Still…" Carla said, walking towards him. "I owe you big time…" She kissed him gently on the lips and looked over at Simon, Santana and Carmen who were sitting on a sofa whilst Juliana was taking photos of them.

"No… you don't." Peter replied softly to Carla, putting an arm around her as they began to walk over to the sofa, which is also where they had left their suitcases. "Right, we're all checked in, which room are you in Juliana?"

"Three hundred and six." Juliana replied, "How about you?"

"Three hundred and twenty four." Peter said.

"Ahh that's good, we're on the same floor then." Simon said standing up. He then looked at Santana, who had her sister sat on her lap and smiled whilst Juliana took hold of Santana's suitcase and said,

"Come on… let's get you lot all settled into your room."

* * *

An hour and a half later and all six of them were thoroughly enjoying Disneyland.

After dropping off their bags, they walked back on themselves, back over to the Disney Village and into the shop where Carmen insisted that Santana bought a pair of ears to go with hers.

There were a few different choices on offer so they didn't have to have the same ones and as Santana opted for a sequined pair as opposed to Carmen's original ones, Carmen then looked up at Carla hopefully and said,

"You too Carla… you need to be a mouse too."

Santana had expected Carla to say no to this request, as she always saw her as someone who was quite serious but Simon and Peter both knew that deep down inside Carla was a big kid.

She beamed down at Carmen and selected a pair of ears just like hers whilst Simon picked up a blue light saber from Star Wards and said that he just had to have it. Peter picked up a red one frantically and he and Simon had a mock light saber fight whilst Carla, Juliana, Santana and Carmen explored more of the vast shop which was full to the brim of Disney goodies. After a good ten minutes had gone by and after seeing about a million things that they all wanted to buy as presents, they all vowed that they would come back to the shop tomorrow before they left.

Once all of the different character ears had been purchased, Carla very quickly placed the Minnie Mouse ears on her head and adjusted her hair so she looked as perfect as possible.

"You look adorable." Peter said, beaming at her with pride as she playfully grabbed his hand as they left the shop. Soon after that they began walking towards the main Disneyland Park but of course, on the way Santana stopped every so often and took lots and lots of photos.

"Alright everyone…" Peter said whilst they were still on their way to the main Disney park. "I ave a question, What's your favourite Disney film?" Simon and Carla both laughed at Peter who looked deadly serious and then said, "I'm not joking y'know, I'm curious. So go on…"

"Frozen!" Carmen cried, as if she was going to answer something else. "I love Frozen!" She said, Peter nodded at her with a warm smile and then pointed at Juliana. "What about you Juliana? Which film is your favourite?"

"Snow White... the original and the best."

"Toy Story!" Simon cried when his Dad pointed at him, Peter nodded and could have guessed Simon would have said that because he knew exactly how much his son loved all the Toy Story movies, even now at the age of Twelve Simon still had his Toy Story action figures in his bedroom and Peter knew that his son would never even dream of giving them up.

"Santana, Which film are you choosing?" Peter asked, looking at Santana who seemed deep in thought.

"Tana choose Frozen." Carmen begged as if it was some sort of competition, but Santana shook her head and said,

"Beauty and The Beast… I've always loved that one haven't I Mum?"

"You sure ave, You even had the dress when you were Carmen's age." Juliana said reminiscently. Peter smiled and then turned his attention onto Carla before asking,

"Go on then love, What's your favourite one?" Carla grinned at her husband dotingly and didn't have to even think about which movie she was going to pick.

"Mary Poppins." She said with a nod, as they were almost approaching the entrance.

"Ooohhh good choice." Peter nodded, being a real fan of that particular movie also.

"I dunno…" Simon frowned, "I kinda think that one is boring."

"Boring?" Carla exclaimed, "Wash your mouth out with soap young man." She said, reaching over and getting him into a jokey headlock. Simon comically groaned as Peter and everyone else laughed at his predicament, when Carla eventually let go of him, he laughed and said,

"I don't actually remember much of Mary Poppins… I think I watched it when I was about eight."

"Well in that case, as soon as we get back home me n you will be watching it." Carla said smugly, She then turned to Peter and said, "Go on then Barlow, Your favourite Disney Movie is…?"

"Peter Pan." Peter said certainly.

"Oh well doesn't that make sense… a film about a boy called Peter who never wants to grow up, suits you to a T." Carla grinned, nudging Peter and then taking hold of his hand once again.

"Pretty much." He chuckled at her as Simon and Santana started their own conversation and as Carmen was in deep conversation with her Mum too, he looked at Carla and said,

"So… Mary Poppins… then… what makes you love it so much?" Carla bit her bottom lip for a moment and looked down a little sadly at her feet before returning her gaze to Peter and saying,

"Me n Rob… it was our movie. We… used to watch it all the time. Rob just loved all the cartoon stuff but me… I used to watch it religiously from beginning to end… In the hope that a magical nanny would come n take care of us instead of My trainwreck of a Mum... I even wrote a letter requesting one, just like Jane and Michael Banks did in the movie."

"Oh Carla… that is so flaming sad." Peter said, his voice and face full of pain as Carla shook her head and said,

"Don't… I'm fine Peter... Honestly." Peter nodded at his wife who was still smiling even though she had just been talking about some of her painful childhood memories, she squeezed his hand tightly as they reached the barriers for the Disneyland park and as Peter went into his pocket and pulled out their tickets Simon excitedly said,

"I cannot wait to get on the rides!"

"Me too…" Santana said, "The Tower of Terror is supposed to be terrifying."

"Yeah I really don't like the sound of that…" Juliana said as they began making their way through the barriers.

Once they were through, it was hard for them all not to get slightly overwhelmed at the sight before them.

There was a long pink road, which stretched before them, and in the distance they could see lots of shops, even further up they could see an enormous castle, which Carmen instantly spotted and said,

"Look! That's where Cinderella lives!" She didn't look as if she knew where to stare first as Carla, Peter, Santana, Her Mum and Simon continued to walk forwards.

Disney music was blaring as they descended further into the park and there was a man dressed in a bright yellow uniform, waving his arms saying,

"Come on… if you hurry, you will catch the start of the parade."

"What's a parade?" Carmen asked, looking up at Simon who smiled down at her and said,

"It's like a show with music and stuff… you'll probably see Minnie Mouse there."

"Wow! Can we watch?" Carmen asked turning to her Mum who was walking behind with Carla and Peter and even though, they were actually on their way to getting on the rides, not one single person could say no to Carmen.

There were hundreds and hundreds of people all stood behind a temporary barrier which some Disney staff where holding and after they had finally found a spot with space to stand, Juliana bent down and picked up Carmen up.

"Hey…" Peter said, nudging Carla who had been rather quiet. "You okay?"

"Yeah course…" Carla insisted, "I know I've been a little quiet, I'm just… really overwhelmed to be honest…" She trailed off when some exciting music started playing and it looked as if the parade was just about to start, the people stood around them all turned their heads in the same direction as there was announcement saying that the parade was beginning.

"Look!" Carmen screeched, craning her neck and pointing wildly as she spotted something happening in the distance, she looked so excited and was clinging onto her Mum tightly.

"Oh… I don't think I'm going to be able to survive this weekend…" Carla said, watching as Carmen's eyes went wide with delight. "She's just the cutest thing isn't she?"

"She is…" Peter nodded, "But she's not as cute as our little one is gonna be." He kissed Carla on the cheek gently as Carmen cried out,

"Tana look!" Santana moved closer to her little sister who was still in her Mum's arms and gazed in the same direction as her, in the distance a float was slowly making it's way towards them and it had flowers on it and two women dressed a fairies. There was a wizard behind them and as that float began to draw nearer Carmen looked behind them and cried, "Sleeping Beauty!" Sure enough there was a carriage behind the first float and sat on it was a princess in a pink dress, she had long blonde hair and she really was Sleeping Beauty sitting next to a Prince.

"Wow!" Santana said, not all humouring her sister in anyway because she was actually taken by the sight before her. Peter put his arm around Carla as the parade got under way, more Disney Princesses and their princes passed by in similar carriages to the one Sleeping Beauty had been in.

Carmen was silent until she looked past the last carriage and saw what was coming next, not what... Who.

"It's Elsa and Ana!" She cried loudly, pointing frantically as her favourite two princesses were making their way towards her on their own special Frozen float. It came closer and closer and the two princesses on it waved at all of the people around them, The Blonde one, seemed to look directly at Carmen and waved over at her, smiling widely as she sang along to the song which was playing through the speakers.

Carmen was so over whelmed by the experience of being waved at by her most favourite Disney princess of all time, that she suddenly burst right into tears.

"Carmen…" Juliana laughed, all though she was almost in tears too just from seeing her daughters so happy.

"Elsa waved at me!" Carmen cried, still smiling even though she was in tears. "Did you see it Tana!" Carmen cried, Santana who had already cried today, nodded with tears in her own eyes and said,

"Yes I did, you're so lucky." Juliana was in tears which then made Santana tear up again too. Peter grinned at Santana, Her Mum and Carmen as the parade continued. More Disney characters appeared on different floats and when the Toy Story float appeared, Simon was the one who was overwhelmed now.

"That is so sick!" He shouted, pointing at it as it drew nearer, a giant book with all of the Toy Story characters on it and waving, he got his phone out and videoed it as it went past, even though Santana had been filming the entire thing on her own camera. Peter watched his sons face and couldn't help but feel emotional because Simon looked about eight years old again as he watched the parade continue.

"Look at his face eh?" Peter said with a sniff, he looked at Carla who also looked emotional, she leant against Peter as more and more Disney characters passed by, each one getting pointed out by Carmen who looked as if this was the best day of her entire life.

A few of the characters were on foot and one of them, a bear from the Jungle Book even came towards Carmen and shook her hand over the barrier.

"Woah!" Simon said with a pang of jealously because that bear was also one of his favourite characters. "I can't believe Balloo just shook your hand Carmen, you're so lucky."

Carmen giggled happily in her Mum's arms and as the parade went on, she kept turning and looking into the distance to see what would be coming next and after the Lion King float she reached over and tugged Peter hard on the arm saying,

"Look Peter Look! It's the Peter Pan boat!" Peter craned his neck and sure enough around the corner came a large ship with Peter Pan on top, waving and also singing along to the song that was playing.

"Now that is pretty cool." Peter said, smiling, as the ship got closer to them and when he could see that it actually had a smoking cannon on it. "Seriously... Imagine that being your job eh?" He said pointing at the actor playing Peter Pan.

"Shhhh..." Carla said, pointing at the kids who were around them, believing that the people around them really did exist. As the ship actually went past them they saw that on the back of it, was a carousel, the very same carousel from the film Mary Poppins and there she was, sitting on a horse that moved slowly up and down.

"Hey look, it's Mary Poppins." Peter said, nudging Carla, "Fancy our favourite films being on the same float." He nudged Carla again but she didn't answer. "Car..." Peter turned to look at Carla and he saw that she was now the one in tears. "Oh Baby…" he said, putting both arms around her and holding her close as Mary Poppins went past along with some dancers who were dancing and singing just like everyone else.

"I'm okay... These are happy tears." Carla said, she quickly wiped her eyes before Carmen or anyone else saw her crying. She wasn't exactly sure why she was so overcome, but all she knew was that she was incredibly lucky to have Peter Barlow back in her life.

"You sure?" Peter asked, smiling at her as if his heart was aching.

"Yeah..." Carla nodded and as Peter let go of her she sniffed and said, "There must be something in the air..." She added nodding towards Santana who was also in a state of happy tears.

"Women..." Simon laughed rolling his eyes as he looked between Santana and Carla. Peter just chuckled at his son happily and put both arms around Carla again, not afraid to shed a few happy tears, all of his own.

* * *

_** Hope you enjoyed that Chapter. I was going to do the whole of the Disneyland trip in one but I decided it would make it way too long.**_

_**I should have the next update up either tomorrow or Monday and then after that we'll have Carter and co back in Weatherfield with plenty more to come, it's not going to be perfect for long, trust me.**_

_**Don't forget to review if you liked this and Why not add your favourite Disney Movie in there as well ha ha :) **_


	54. The Happiest Place On Earth

_**Apologies for how late this is, Like a dingbat, I didn't save this chapter and I had to re-write it...**_

_**Enjoy.**_

* * *

After staying till the end of the magical parade and after a few more happy tears, Peter, Carla, Simon, Santana, Juliana and Carmen decided it was time to hit the rides.

It was hard to know where to begin, so they just got on the first ride that was near by. Even though it was Valentines Weekend and even though it was also going to be half term this week, Disneyland wasn't actually too busy considering and they didn't have to wait too long for the rides, especially since they were able to get fast passes for a lot of them because of the hotel they were staying in.

They went on the smaller rides all together in groups such as the flying elephants and teacups, they also went on the Pirates Of Caribbean ride together but when it came to the ones that Carmen was too short and or young for, Peter, Carla and Juliana all took turns in waiting with her outside.

Carmen was not impressed to see that there were more than a few rides that she was too little for, so each time she had to wait with one of the adults they made sure she was highly distracted for the entire time.

Whilst everyone went on a ride called Space Mountain, Carla took her into a nearby arcade where they played some video games and tried to win some Disney toys.

When it was Peter's turn, he and Carmen had gone for another go on the teacups, which didn't really have much of a queue and afterwards they went to get an Ice Cream from a nearby stall, as the vendor handed a large ice cream cone to Carmen she said a very polite and very precocious,

"Merci."

"I didn't know you spoke French Carmen?" Peter chuckled, sitting down on a wall outside the Indiana Jones ride, which Simon, Santana, Juliana and Carla were currently queuing up for, a good twenty minutes had gone by so Peter assumed they must be near the front by now.

"Only a little bit of French... I know Hello, Goodbye, Thank you and some other things." Carmen said, licking her rather large whippy ice cream happily. "You know lots of French don't you Peter."

"Yeah quite a bit." Peter nodded, smiling at the little girl who was sat next to him. She was still wearing her Minnie Mouse ears whilst Peter was clutching onto, Carla and Santana's ears because they didn't want to lose them on the ride, which had a huge loop the loop half way through it.

"Peter do you know Nick?" Carmen asked, taking a break from her Ice cream and staring up at Peter.

"Yes, Yes I do." Peter nodded, wondering where the four year old he was sitting with was going with this question.

"He's my Mummy's boyfriend..." Carmen said, smiling at Peter widely. "Do you like Nick?" She then asked.

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, although he couldn't help but smirk because he was hardly Nick Tilsley's biggest fan. "Do you?" He asked, licking his own ice cream and smiling back at Carmen.

"Yes… I like Nick lots, he's funny." She nodded at Peter and went back to her Ice cream for a minute, Peter couldn't help but wonder how on earth Nick Tilsley could be even remotely funny and Carmen was half way through another lick when she slowly turned back to Peter and said,

"Daddy's coming home soon…" She looked half excited and half scared about her Dad coming home and for a minute, Peter had to think about where Carmen's Dad actually was, then he remembered that he was in prison.

"Is he?" Peter asked, Carmen nodded rapidly and said,

"Yep, Mummy said he's gonna be back in March… I think that is soon… it is isn't it?"

"Yes, It's next month actually." Peter said with a nod. "That's great news to hear he's coming home, I bet you've missed him so much."

"Yep… he's been working lots and lots…" Carmen said nodding, because from what she knew, her Dad had been away for work, not in prison for something Peter still wasn't sure about because even Santana didn't know. "I don't think my Daddy will like Nick very much." Carmen said quietly, looking up at Peter again but this time with concern.

"Why not?" Peter asked, not sure about to go about this situation as Carmen was only four and it seemed even she had clocked on to how awkward it might be when her Dad comes back to find her Mum with someone new, even though they had broken up years ago, It seemed that Nick was the first man Juliana had dated since.

"Because… Daddy and Mummy used to be married, like you and Carla are… Daddy will be sad to see Mummy has a new boyfriend." Carmen said.

"Well…" Peter said, clearing his throat a little. "I don't think he will be sad…" Carmen stared up at Peter in such an adorable way that made him move closer to her because he wanted to be as comforting as possible. "Trust me… I've been away for work before…" He said cleverly, "And I came back to find that things were a little bit different too but you know what, I was fine in the end… I was just happy to be home to see Simon and I'm sure you're Dad will be happy to see you all too." Carmen smiled at Peter sweetly and took another lick of her ice cream before changing the subject randomly, like most four year olds did.

"Have you and Carla got any babies?"

"No." Peter said, shaking his head and grinning, he knew which question was going to come next.

"Why?" Carmen said, in a true child like fashion.

"Because…" Peter said shrugging, taking a lick of some of the ice cream that had melted down his cone. "We will ave one soon though..."

"You ave to put it in her tummy..." Carmen said with a nod, as if it was really that easy, Peter grinned at her and then she asked, "Will you have a boy or a girl?"

"Erm… I don't know, you can't really choose, It's a surprise..." Peter explained.

"Why?" Carmen asked curiously with her head on one side.

"Because you can't." Peter chuckled. "That's just how it works."

"I think you and Carla can have a girl… Then Simon can have a sister, sisters are better then brothers." Carmen said, simply because she had sisters and no brothers so she assumed sisters were better. Peter nodded at Carmen with a sad smile because Carmen saying that she thought he and Carla should have a girl meant that Peter couldn't help but think about the daughter he and Carla had lost almost two years ago. Carmen watched Peter for a moment, she was only four but she was able to tell when someone was sad, she smiled at him and then said, "You can have a boy if you really want to... I think Simon would be kay with a brother too."

Peter laughed silently at Carmen and was just about to speak again when Santana, Simon, Juliana and Carmen appeared, they were walking out of the ride's exit and when Santana saw them, she jumped off the wall crying,

"Look I got an Ice Cream."

"I hope you said Thank you to Peter..." Juliana said, as Carla walked ahead, she reached the wall and sat down next to Peter, before he could stop her she had bent her head and took a great big lick of his ice cream cone.

"Oi…" Peter chuckled, "Help your self why don't ya?" Carla giggled and linked her arm with Peter's as he asked, "How was the ride?"

"Horrendous." Carla replied, as Simon bounded over to them and shook his head in disagreement.

"It was so good!" He cried, "Me n Carla sat next to each other… she screamed most of the way through it."

"Yeah as I said, horrendous." Carla added with a nod. Peter smiled at her and tenderly placed her Minnie Mouse ears back onto her head because he still loved how she looked in them. "Thank you baby."

"You're welcome…" Peter replied, raising his ice cream to Carla's lips and as she took another lick, Santana, Carmen and Juliana stopped at the bench.

"Right, what's next then?" Simon asked, looking down at his watch. "They ave rides in the other park… should we head over there now?"

"Yeah there is, that's where that lift one is that we have to go on." Santana nodded, she had heard about this ride from one of her friends at school who had visited the theme park at Christmas and had been desperate to get on it ever since.

"What is this ride you two keep on about?" Carla asked, standing up and pulling Peter up with her.

Santana just smiled and decided not to say any thing, she decided it was better for them to find out when they got there. So they started the walk to the Disney Studio Park and on the way, whilst Carla strolled ahead with Simon, in a deep in conversation with him, Santana smiled kindly at Peter and asked,

"So other than her conning you out of an Ice Cream, what did you and Carmen do whilst we got on the ride?"

"We went on the tea cups again…" Peter chuckled, "Then we had a chat… about... well about your… Dad."

"My Dad?" Santana said, surprised because Carmen wasn't the type of kid to randomly talk about her Dad to anyone, she mostly only mentioned their Dad to Santana or their Mum and it rather stunned Santana to hear that she had mentioned him to Peter.

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, smiling at Carmen who was walking hand in hand with her Mum.

"Well… what did she say?" Santana asked intrigued.

"Just that he was going to be coming home soon." Peter explained, "And that she wasn't sure he'd like Nick."

"Oh…" Santana said, shaking her head. "She's probably right there to be honest."

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, "Although that's not what I told her of course."

"Well what did you say?" Santana asked as they continued through the crowds towards the Disney Studio Park.

"I just told her that your Dad is going to be really happy to come home… that I'd worked away from home before and I know how it feels, I said he'd be fine."

"I… was going to ask you about that actually…" Santana said nervously, "I just didn't want to do it here y'know… cause we're having such a nice time."

"No… go on." Peter said, putting his hands into his pockets as the cold weather had begun to pick up again, especially as it was getting later in the day.

"Well I was just going to ask you how it was… y'know, leaving prison… I mean I know it must have been so difficult… but how on earth did you manage to get your life back on track?" Santana said, knowing exactly what Peter had been through because recently, Simon had told her pretty much everything.

"It was difficult, really difficult and it takes time getting used to the real world again it really does but trust me, having family support really does help... as long as you and your sisters are there for him, he'll be okay... I promise." Peter said warmly, Santana nodded slowly at Peter and then she bravely asked,

"What would you ave done Peter? If you had come out of prison to find that Carla had moved on?"

"Well… she had done… sort of." Peter said, "I mean she didn't have a boyfriend or anything but at the time, she really was done with me."

"Really?" Santana asked, thinking about how clear it was that Carla was besotted with Peter and vice versa. She had spent the day watching the pair of them and It was hard to imagine either one of them not wanting to be with the other.

"I know it sounds mad…" Peter said, knowing exactly what Santana was thinking, "But it's true. She wasn't ready to get back together with me back then… no matter how much I begged and believe me Santana, I begged."

"Wow…" Santana said, nodding slowly.

"I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason…" Peter said, as they were almost close to the exit of the Disneyland Park that they were currently in. "and I believe that me n Carla needed all that time apart to be where we are today… maybe that's the same for your Mum n Dad?"

"I dunno…" Santana said shaking her head. "I mean at first I wanted them both back together but now…" She was watching her Mum stroll forwards happily with Carmen in tow. "I don't think I've ever seen me Mum so happy… I think it's probably best they don't get back together… maybe they could just be mates?"

"Well… I'm not sure about that…" Peter said with a raised eyebrow, he of all people knew how just being "friends" didn't work, especially since he and Carla had tried that at one point.

"Well I just hope they can get along at least." Santana said with a smile. Peter nodded at her as Simon and Carla turned around to look at them both.

"What?" Peter grinned at them, because it looked like they were both amused but Simon and Carla very quickly turned back around and continued their own conversation.

"I'm having the best time." Simon said, still unable to believe this pipe dream of his had actually come true.

"Me too." Carla nodded, "I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day. I mean I would never ave imagined coming to Disneyland but now I'm ere I don't wanna leave."

"I know right, It's going to be a killer going back to Weatherfield aint it." Simon said and for the first time this trip, he looked a little downtrodden.

"Yeah it will…" Carla nodded "but we'll have to book another holiday asap, maybe one for the summer, me, you n your Dad, how does that sound?"

"That sounds amazing!" Simon said excitedly, "Where should we go?"

"Oh I dunno, anywhere hot where I can get a tan will do." Carla said, "Maybe me n your Dad can finally take you to L.A."

"Yes!" Simon nodded, "Hey maybe we could go to a theme park there too?"

"Hmmm I dunno about that…" Carla laughed shaking her head.

"Why not?" Simon asked, "You've been getting on all the rides here."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I've enjoyed em… I just like the adrenaline rush." Carla laughed, she turned to look at Santana and Peter who had caught up to Juliana and Carmen and as they all laughed about something, Simon looked proud and said,

"I'm mega glad you guys get along with Santana and her family so well…"

"Yeah me too… but how could we not eh, they're so lovely." Carla said, nodding and draping an arm around Simon lovingly.

"They really are… Santana is so special… I'm so lucky." Simon said almost dreamily.

"Awww Simon's in love…" Carla teased, pulling Simon even closer. She couldn't believe he was only twelve because he was acting as if he was deeply deeply in love with Santana.

"Stop it." He chuckled, shaking his head and blushing whilst Carla continued,

"Simon's in love, Simon's in love."

"Shhhh!" Simon cried, nudging her in the stomach and not wanting Santana to hear.

"Alright…" She laughed as she let him go. She took another look behind her to see that Peter was carrying Carmen on his shoulders whilst Santana was now talking to her Mum. Carla smiled at the sight of it and turned back to Simon who said,

"Me Dad is well good with Carmen."

"Isn't he just..." Carla said, shaking her head wistfully, Every time Peter and Carmen had interacted over this trip made her heart ache, she thought about the old her, the one before Peter and she knew that she would never have been bothered about kids back then but now she could barley watch Peter with any child, let alone one as cute as Carmen without actually wanting to melt.

"You're good with her too." Simon said smiling at Carla sincerely. "She really really likes you y'know... Santana says she always talks about you."

"Awww bless her." Carla said, "Thanks Si." She then said smiling fondly at Simon as they continued walking on towards the Disney Studios Park, when they were nearly there and when Carmen had finally wanted to get down, Peter had sped up and snaked an arm around Carla's middle. "Oh ello…" She said, smirking before also saying, "I'm surprised you avent done your back in, carrying Carmen for that long... at your age."

"Hey…" Peter groaned leaning to the side and kissing Carla on the cheek. "Don't be mean."

"Y'know I'm kidding…" Carla said, as they approached the entrance to the Disney Studios Park. "Or am I?" She teased, nudging Peter before they all got their tickets out to they could get in.

Once inside, Santana and Simon insisted they made their way over to the Tower of Terror instantly and once they were stood outside of the very tall building, which resembled a hotel, Juliana shook her head and said,

"Yeah I really really don't like the look of this one… I'll stay out ere with Carmen."

"No… I will." Carla said, also not liking the look of the building which had lights that flicked on and off, every so often you could also here the screams from people who were on whatever happened inside and as a few people exited the ride, they looked very flustered by what they had just experienced.

"No way." Simon said shaking his head, "You're so getting on this one Carla." Carla gazed up at the building nervously as Peter chuckled and said,

"I dunno… even I'm a little worried about this one."

"I don't like the sound of those screams…" Carla said, biting her lip as more screams could be heard from the building, Carmen didn't look as if she liked the sound of them either and edged towards her Mum who said,

"I haven't waited with Carmen yet, it's only fair…" Juliana said smugly, knowing this would mean she didn't have to get on he ride after all. "Go on you lot… ave fun."

"Come on!" Santana cried, her and Simon already on their way into the building to get in the queue. Carla rolled her eyes and followed although she was more being dragged towards the building by Peter.

Once inside, things didn't get much better, the queue of the ride took place in a hotel lobby and it was made to look as if it was all abandoned, the ride was obviously very popular because this was the longest queue they had been in since they had got there.

"I hate this kinda thing." Carla said, walking hand in hand with Peter as the queue had moved up. The further they got in the queue the darker it got and as they walked again Carla shuddered and said, "What is this place? I mean I thought Disneyland was meant to be all happy n magical… right now I feel like I'm in some sort of horror movie or summat."

"Awww don't worry…" Peter said nuzzling Carla softly on the neck with his nose, "I'm ere, I'll look after you."

"As if…" Carla grinned, the feeling of Peter's nose on her neck being a very very pleasant one. "I know you Barlow and you're just as scared as me." She nudged him in the side and as he dodged it, Santana stared ahead at their rather dank and depressing surroundings and said,

"It's dead creepy in ere."

"Yeah I love it." Simon grinned, he wasn't like his Dad and Step Mother, he loved stuff like this and as they got further into the building, he was in his element, every so often they would come across people dressed in a hotel uniform and it was obviously their job to freak out the guests who were bravely queuing up to get on the ride.

One of these people actually looked rather scary and tried to stare Santana and Simon down as they got closer to the start of the ride, they both just laughed and continued walking but Carla and Peter on the other hand, held tightly onto each other.

Then they had to watch a video about the "history" of the hotel they were in about how five people had gone missing one night in the lift, the lift that they were going to be getting into very shortly. The video was meant to obviously scare people even more and it worked because Carla cringed and said,

"Oh I so don't wanna get on this." Peter nodded and also looked worried, Simon rolled his eyes at them both and said,

"Oh come on you two, its not that bad…"

"I beg to differ…" Carla said, shaking her head as they stopped walking again, they were now almost at some doors, which looked like they might lead to a lift and it seemed as if that would actually be the ride. "I'm starting to feel rather claustrophobic in ere if I'm honest."

"Yeah me too." Peter nodded.

"Oh please, you're such babies…" Simon scoffed, he only started too look scared once they had entered the lift doors. "Wait…" He said, looking down at the seat he was supposed to sit on. "Are we only seat belted in... is that it?" He asked nervously as Santana sat straight down and clipped her seat belt on.

"Looks like it." She said excitedly.

"I'm guessing it can't be that bad, if we've only got seat belts on to keep us safe eh?" Peter said, trying to act positive, sure that the queue for the ride was just there to scare them silly and that the ride wouldn't be too bad.

"Hmmm…" Carla said, sitting down next to Peter and Simon because she had insisted she didn't want to be on the end. "I'm not so sure." She turned to Simon who looked rather worried now and he actually went as far as taking hold of Carla's hand. There were other people in the lift ride with them and as they sat down too, it seemed everyone was rather nervous about what was to come.

"Ere we go…" Santana said, when the doors to the lift closed and everything actually went pitch black.

"Uh oh." Carla cried into the darkness. "I don't like this at all." There were soon words in French, words that Carla couldn't understand. "What did he say?" She asked but Peter, who had understood the words just shook his head and said,

"You don't wanna know love." Suddenly the ride they were sat in started to rise upwards then, there was a video played right in front of them. Carla and Peter couldn't help but laugh nervously this time, especially when some supposedly scary music started playing but then, when everything went dark and when it was clear something was about to happen, their laughter soon died down especially when the ride once again went zooming upwards.

"Oh god…" Carla said as the ride continued to get higher, "It's going to drop us down to the bottom isn't it." but when the ride stopped another video started up and it was one that made it seem as if they were down looking down a long hallway.

There were flickering lights, a few strikes of lightening and then, down they went, just like Carla had guessed. Every single person sat on the ride, screamed out loud as they sped downwards, their stomachs dropped and they barley had time to register what was happening because suddenly they were going back up again.

"No!" Peter cried because he knew that what goes up must come down and as the ride kept going higher and higher, they all tried their hardest not to think about just how high they probably had gotten.

Unfortunately, the ride stopped in front of a window, a window that let them see over the entire Disney Park for miles and that let them see just how high they had become.

"Oh my god!" Santana cried not able to believe what she was seeing.

"Nah…" Carla said, her eyes snapping tight. They all knew what was coming and sure enough the lift they were in suddenly, shot down wards but only slightly because it then brought them back up again, as if it was teasing them all.

"I hate this!" Peter cried although he was laughing and so was Simon, who still had a very tight grip on Carla's hand, then the lift dropped once more, faster than the speed of light, so fast that they were all being lifted right out of their seats and it really did feel like they might fall right out of them. Just when they thought they must be near the bottom, the lift went up once again, right up to the top so that they were looking out at the Disney Park once more.

There was no time for anyone on the ride to prepare them self for anything because the lift made one more steep drop, faster than all the others and took them right down to the bottom of the building.

Once the lift had thankfully stopped, a video was playing and someone was talking over it but Carla, Peter, Simon and Santana were all in fits of uncontrollable shock and laugher so they pretty much missed it.

The seats they were sat in had stopped at a set of doors and when those doors opened, it was clear that the ride was over. Peter undid his seat belt faster than anyone else and was already up and out of his seat whilst everyone else did undid their seat belts.

"You okay?" Peter asked Carla as she walked towards him.

"No I'm flamin not." She said, shaking her head as Peter gave her a comforting hug. "That were awful."

"That was incredible!" Santana cried, smoothing down her hair, which had become rather wild whilst on the ride.

"Definitely." Simon agreed, as they walked through the exit and into the shop. Whilst in the shop they found that their entire experience on the ride had been videoed.

"Uh did they ave to?" Carla groaned, looking up at the screen, which played their ride experience in slow motion.

"That is pretty hilarious." Peter said grinning as it showed their appalled faces during the big drop, as much as she didn't want to, Carla couldn't help but laugh at the video as well.

"We ave to buy it." Simon said amused.

"No we don't." Carla said shaking her head but she knew that look Peter had on his face and of course, he had to buy a copy of their ride video.

"How was it?" Juliana asked, sat with Carmen on a wall that was nearby the hotel's exit. Carmen was playing a game on her Mum's phone and smiled when she saw them walking towards her.

"Amazing!" Santana and Simon cried in unison but Juliana could tell by Carla and Peter's face, that they didn't enjoy it as much.

"Horrible." Carla said with a very insistent nod. "I can honestly say that's the worst thing I've ever been on."

"Was it scary?" Carmen asked, looking up at the building and then back at Carla.

"Yes." Carla nodded but when Simon scoffed at her she said, "Eh don't look like that Simon Barlow, You had a pretty firm grip on my hand back then."

"It was so creepy Mum, oh we have to go back on it again tomorrow and you can come too." Santana said still grinning from ear to ear because she had thoroughly loved the ride they had just been on.

"Yeah we ave to go on it again." Simon nodded, looking in his Dad and Carla's direction. Peter still hand an arm around Carla who was stood, leaning against him. "What d'ya say Carla?" Simon smirked.

"Not flippin likely." She cried.

* * *

"So what's been your favourite part of the day so far?" Peter asked everyone.

It was six thirty pm and they were sat in one of the restaurants in the Disney Village. It was an diner and it really captured the essence of a true American restaurant. The waiters and waitresses were actually on skates and there was a jukebox playing some old tunes from the fifties.

They had all been sat in a booth one with two sofas on each side of the table. Carmen, Juliana and Santana sat on one side, Peter, Carla and Simon on the other and after they had all ordered their food, Peter was intrigued to find out just how much fun everyone had had throughout the day.

"The teacups… and seeing Elsa and Ana!" Carmen cried, she was making her way through a extra thick chocolate milkshake.

"Of course." Santana said with a nod, she was drinking a coke float, a drink that consisted of Cola and a rather large scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.

"I'm going to see them again tomorrow." Carmen said with her eyes wide.

"Really?" Santana asked, looking at her little sister who nodded excitedly.

"Yes, Mummy said, there's a princess place, I'm going to wear my Frozen dress and get a picture with all the princesses, specially Elsa and Ana." Carmen explained before taking another sip of her milkshake, which she had to get up on her knees to reach because it was in such a large glass.

"We saw it earlier, when you lot were on one of the rides. You queue up at this special building and then you get to talk to each princess in her own little room and you can take a picture with them. Carmen's going to adore it." Juliana said, going into more detail than her four year old daughter had done.

"That sounds like fun." Peter said nodding, he had chosen to drink a coffee and was halfway through a sip when Simon said,

"My favourite part was the Tower of Terror ride."

"Yeah me too." Santana said reaching over the table and high fiving her boyfriend, She grinned as Carla grimaced and then said, "What was your favourite part of today?"

"Not that ride that's for sure." She smiled, she had ordered a milkshake too and was fiddling about with the straw as she tried to pick out her favourite part of the day. "D'ya know what, I can't actually pick, I think I've loved every minute of it… even that horrid hotel ride." Carla eventually said.

"Yeah me too." Juliana said, "Although I'm glad I didn't get on that ride, I'm petrified of heights as it is."

"Oh come on Mum, Please, it's not that bad, Carla and Peter are just overreacting." Santana said, Peter frowned at her in a jokey fashion whilst Carla poked her tongue out.

"Yeah." Simon nodded, "Me and Tan are deffo getting on it again tomorrow, you should come with us."

"You should actually, seeing as you're the only one other than Carmen who hasn't been on it." Carla said with a smirk. Santana seemed to agree with this idea and nudged her Mum in the side saying,

"Carla's right Mum, you have to, it's only fair…"

"Hmmm we'll see." Juliana said, although she was determined not to be getting on this ride that her daughter had seemed to love so much because by the way Carla had explained it, it sounded awful.

"What else is happening tomorrow then?" Carla asked.

"Well there are still a few rides we haven't been on yet." Simon said slurping up some more milkshake.

"We're going to watch a special show too aren't we!" Carmen cried, remembering the sign she had seen earlier for a special stage show which of course, featured various members of the Disney cast.

"Yes definitely." Simon nodded, he then looked at his Dad and asked, "What time are we getting the Eurostar back tomorrow?"

"Our train leaves at eight pm, so we have plenty of time." Peter said and as he said it, a waiter sped over to their table on skates, holding some steaming hot plates of food.

"Wow!" Carmen cried, looking at the burger and chips she had ordered. She licked her lips comically as the waiter placed the plate in front of her and as more food was placed on the table, Santana said,

"I meant what I said earlier… this really has been the best birthday ever." Her Mum, boyfriend and his parents, smiled at her gladly and after the waiter had left, Peter said,

"Right, let's get stuck in shall we?"

* * *

"Hurry up you lot, we need to get a good spot for these fireworks." Simon called, walking at a rather fast pace with Santana by his side. Carmen was trying her best to keep up, clutching onto a flashing wand, which she had just been bought upon their entrance back into the Disneyland Park.

"Calm down Si, the fire works aren't due to start for another forty five minutes." Peter said walking hand in hand with Carla. Simon and Santana insisted that they got as close to the big castle as possible and it seemed as if they weren't the only ones who had this idea as lots and lots of people were en Route to the castle, many of them children who were holding on flashing ones just like the ones Santana had in hand. and as they walked ahead Carla groaned and said,

"I can barley walk I'm so full up." They had all eaten rather a lot in the restaurant and they had even had very large puddings too. Peter grinned at her and gave her hand a tight squeeze as he said,

"Have you had a good time?"

"Of course I ave." She said, staring at him in shock. "As if you ave to ask baby." She pulled Peter towards her by his jacket and full on kissed him in the middle of main street USA which was currently the name of the place that they where were walking.

"Oh get a room will ya!" Simon called but when Peter and Carla pulled away from each other, they saw that he was smiling at them. He then waved at them to hurry up because he was determined to find the right spot for them all.

Eventually, after rather a bit of polite pushing and shoving, Simon and Santana were satisfied with the spot they had chosen, it wasn't far away from the gigantic castle but it also wasn't too close either, because they'd guessed you had to be far enough to be able to see everything properly.

It was pretty cold by this point, bitter in fact. Carmen had pulled off her Minnie Mouse ears and put on a black woolly hat with a matching set of gloves, whilst everyone else shoved their hands into the pockets and tried their best to keep warm. Eventually, after ten minutes or so Peter decided to run off and see if he could find somewhere that sold hot drinks and he made it back to where they were stood with ten minutes to go before the display was about to begin.

"Thank god!" Carla said, taking the coffee he had bought her off him. "I thought you were gonna miss the beginning."

"Same." Peter breathed, handing a drink to Juliana. Simon and Santana had said they didn't want any hot drinks and so had Carmen. She was stood mesmerised by her flashing wand and every so often she would say a magic spell and turn someone around her into something else. Carla looked down at her and then smiled.

"I ave such déjà vu right now..." She said, looking back up at Peter.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, as she leant against him.

"Yeah, of the last time we were at the fireworks back in November. It were such a perfect night... n Carmen had one of those flashing wands back then too." She said reminiscently.

"But this one is much better." Carmen said, waving it around back and forth excitedly.

"Yeah and a hell of a lot more expensive too." Juliana laughed. It was so cold that they drank their hot drinks very quickly and as Carla very quickly ran off to find a bin, Simon put his arm around Santana and said,

"Happy Birthday Tan."

"Thank you Simon." She gushed, kissing him whilst her Mum and Sister were busy chatting away to Peter. Carla returned just in time as a voice suddenly announced the start of the Disney Dreams show.

There was an eerie silence as everyone waited with bated breath for the show to begin and the atmosphere was so electric as every single person stood in front of the castle, prepared to be amazed.

"When's it gonna start?" Carmen impaitently asked but just as that sentence had left her lips, music started playing and the castle before them, came to life.

The top of the castle lit up and then you could see something flying, it was a projection made to look as if that something was flying around the castle, as soon enough Peter Pan appeared, Carla gave her Peter a little nudge as he put both arms around her from behind, and hugged her close for warmth.

"Wow!" Carmen cried, as more and more Disney characters appeared on the front of the castle, Santana watched her little sister lovingly and then turned to Simon to say,

"Look at her face please." Simon leant forwards and took a look at Carmen's enchanted face and smiled as Santana said, "I am so glad you n your Dad invited her and me Mum… I couldn't ave done this without em… Carmen's been so good since me Dad went… you know where… she really deserves this."

"So do you." Simon nodded, holding onto Santana's hand tightly, she smiled down at quickly before turning her gaze back to the display that was ahead of them, with each song came a different set of fire works and there was even jets of different coloured water too.

It was impossible for anyone not to get taken by the sight before them and whilst stood in Peter's arms, Carla felt him push something into her hands. She looked down and saw that he had placed a white box within her fingertips.

"What's this?" She asked as he stood behind her.

"It's your Valentines Day present." Peter said, smiling as Carla gazed down at the box that she was holding.

"But I thought we said..."

"I know what we said..." Peter nodded, "But still... I wanted to get you something special... to show you how happy I am to be your husband again." Peter said into her ear as the Disney Dreams show that was happening around them continued.

"Have you just been carrying it around with you all day?" Carla asked, turning slightly to look at Peter who still had his arms around her.

"Yes." He nodded sheepishly. Carla breathed out excitedly and opened the white box Peter had given her. Inside was a very delicate silver chain and on it, was a little sliver heart, it was such a simple necklace yet at the same time it was beautiful.

"Peter..." Carla gasped staring down at it in awe.

"Do ya like it?" he asked, watching Carla for her honest expression.

"Peter it's gorgeous." Carla said honestly, shaking her head down at it in awe before looking up at Peter. "You... are too good to be true, y'know that?" She said, closing the box and sliding it into her pocket because she had on a thick scarf and decided she'd get Peter to put it on her later.

"I love you... so much." Peter said as Carla put both arms on his shoulders and around his neck.

"I love you more." Carla insisted, kissing him softly on the lips whilst another set of fireworks went off behind them. "I'm so happy."

"Well... you know what they say..." Peter grinned, "This is the happiest place on earth." he said referring to Disneyland. Carla smiled at him but then she shook her head.

"The happiest place on earth is here alright... but it's not Disneyland... it's this... being in your arms."

"Awww how cheesy..." Peter grinned as Carla nodded and kissed him again, only this time in a much more passionate fashion.

* * *

**_As always thanks for reading &amp; Reviewing (and also thumbs up to those who reviewed "You" that I posted Yesterday._**

**_Oh also, I didn't mean to scare some of you with the last bit in my last update where I wrote that "it won't be perfect for long" I just meant that there is plenty of drama to come, some bad but mostly good. I saw a few people on twitter who had got a bit worried about it and I just wanted to say sorry._**

**_:) _**


	55. Back To Reality

_**Sorry for not updating last week, Been very very busy. **_

_**I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**_

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Carla cried loudly. She was stood in the middle of Underworld and she had just been forced to get involved in an extremely petty argument between two of her employees, Eva Price and Beth Sutherland.

After a blissful weekend in Paris and in Disneyland, Carla had returned to work on Tuesday morning to find a huge spat happening in the middle of her factory floor. Santana and Simon had ended up spending Sunday night in Juliana and Carmen's hotel room, leaving Carla and Peter truly alone for the night and after a pretty perfect night together, they spent Monday more in love than ever. They got on some more rides and saw some stage shows, Carmen also queued up along with her Mum and Sister to meet the Disney princesses whilst, Simon, Carla and Peter went shopping for presents. Time to go home had come way too soon and upon leaving Disneyland, Carla couldn't believe that the next day she'd have to be back at work.

At the factory, She rolled her eyes when she had walked in to see Eva and Beth practically screaming at each other and as she approached them, the rest of her staff shot backward to their seats to try and pretend as if they weren't all watching and that they had nothing to do with the altercation that was currently happening.

"Hello Mrs Barlow, I hope you had a lovely weekend." Sally Webster very quickly said, smiling as bravely as she could, in true sucking up mode like she always was.

"I did actually Sally, Unfortunately I'm walking back ere to all of this." Carla replied bluntly as she turned her attention back to Eva and Beth who looked rather worried now their boss was staring at them furiously. All of the Underworld employees knew by now that the last thing their boss liked after a holiday was to come back to a load of drama and as Carla sighed heavily, Beth and Eva both wished they had left this argument to another time.

"Well?" Carla asked, both hands on her hip, staring between a disgruntled Eva and Beth. "Do either of you care to tell me why you're both standing ere at each other's throats instead of aving your backsides plastered to the seats at your machines?"

"She started it." Beth said childishly, shoving Eva on the arm.

"Errr no I did not!" Eva cried shoving Beth back. "You so started this entire thing..." Eva began as if she was about to start ranting. Carla shook her head very quickly and raised a hand to say,

"I didn't ask you who started it, I ask you both why you thought it was appropriate to stand ere bickering when there is work to be done." The telephone in Carla's office started ringing and as Sally ran to get it, Carla then said, "So? Go on then, enlighten me ladies, What's more important than doing your job?" Beth and Eva both looked down at their feet for a moment, gradually realising their argument was rather stupid as Sally appeared out of the office and called,

"It's for you Mrs Barlow…"

"Clearly." Carla said, rolling her eyes at Sally before taking a deep breath in and trying not to lose it. "Can't you just take a message?"

"Well I did try but It's Bradley Denning… he said it's about the order he made... He wants to talk to you... he sounds rather cross..." Sally said delicately. Carla nodded and looked back at a irritated Eva and Beth before saying,

"Right... I'm going to take this phone call… I don't want to hear another word out of you two... What ever happened forget it, Save your petty little spats for your lunch break. Get back to your machines n get on with the jobs I pay ya for." Beth and Eva both glared at each other and turned around to walk back to their stations whilst Carla walked towards her office. She would have been lying if she said she had really wanted to be at work today and as she walked inside her office, She looked around it, saw the pile of paper work on her desk and said,

"Where is Alya?"

"Off sick… apparently." Sally said with an eyebrow raised, "That girl is just taking liberties if you ask me." Carla ignored this comment and picked up the phone. Within minutes she was made even more furious to find that one of their very new and very important clients hadn't received an order that they had been expecting today.

It didn't take long for Carla to promise the client that she would sort out this delivery as soon as she could, She then deeply apologised over and over again and as she hung up, She took another deep breath before starting a quest to find out where the delivery driver Kirk was.

After many, many more deep breaths, Carla was sat in her office with her head in her hands. So far the morning had been a nightmare. She eventually found out that Kirk had broken down on the motorway, which is why he was late and he had been unable to call anyone because he had left his phone at the factory. He had managed to borrow a stranger's phone to call work and explain but he had another delivery which was due this afternoon which obviously meant that that one would be late as well.

Carla then had to phone up the client who was supposed to be getting the afternoon delivery and apologise for the late order and then, Eva and Beth's argument had reignited. Carla had to get up and send the pair of them home, She shouted so loud, it intimidated the rest of her employees so much that they didn't speak again until they were out on their lunch break.

* * *

At around one fifteen in the afternoon, the telephone began ringing again and as Carla reluctantly answered it, she hoped and prayed that it wasn't more bad news.

"Hello Underworld, Carla Barlow speaking." She said, staring ahead at her computer screen, simultaneously reading through her emails as she spoke.

"Hello Mrs Barlow." Said Peter, sat at his own desk where he worked at betting website's head office and he really was making Carla's day by surprising her with a call like this.

"Uh Peter…" She sighed, already feeling a lot cheerier than she had done all morning. "Thank god it's you."

"Hey… how's your first morning back going?" Peter asked, although he could tell she'd had a rather bad morning by the tone of her voice.

"Dire." Carla said, Peter chuckled sympathetically on the other end of the phone and Carla couldn't help but smile to herself at the sound of his husky laugh. "It's not funny baby... I'm this close to walking out of ere and going home."

"Why? What's happening over there?" asked Peter.

"What's not happening? Ahh it's just been one of those mornings y'know, petty arguments left right n centre, late deliveries, broken down vans, ill employees…" Carla said with a light sigh.

"Back to reality eh?" Peter said down the phone.

"Definitely." Carla groaned as the Underworld employees all walked back into their building, she sighed heavily and said, "Oh take me back to Paris Peter… please…"

"I wish I could love..." Peter said apologetically, hearing the desperation in her voice. "I reckon we've both got a lot of work to catch up on..."

"You're telling me, the pile of paper work on me desk this morning today is a joke… Simon is so lucky to be on his school holiday... bet he's sat on your sofa right now playing the Playstation and having a great time." Carla sighed, thinking about how Simon had the week off as it was half term. She had left him in bed after waking up at Peter's flat this morning and was sure he was probably having a much better day than she was. "How's your day going?"

"Pretty good…" Peter said, not wanting to sound too happy with the way things were going with his morning because Carla's was going so badly. He had returned to find his boss offering him a promotion and after accepting it, he wanted to call Carla and tell her the good news.

"Pretty Good…" Carla said with a smile. "What's pretty good about your day then?" She could tell by his tone that he was excited about something and wanted to know exactly what it was.

"Well other than the fact that I'm talking to you…" Peter began with a pleased grin. "I actually got a promotion."

"Really?" Carla cried, actually standing up with excitement and gaining the attention of a lot of her employees because they could see her through the blinds and they were now wondering what was going on.

"Yes." Peter nodded, still smiling and still sat at his desk as he spoke to Carla, he was glad to hear how truly pleased she sounded for him and as she said,

"Congratulations Peter, Awww I'm so proud baby." He couldn't help but chuckle again.

"Thank you, I really wasn't expecting it, Just walked in this morning and found a note on my desk asking me to go see the boss, I'm not gonna lie I thought I was in a bit of trouble or something." Peter explained. "But he said he was really pleased with my work and wondered If I wanted to take on more responsibility... Long story short, I'm the new project manager."

"Oooohh." Carla gushed, sitting back down on her chair and now not paying a single speck of attention to her emails anymore because she was overcome with pride, proud that Peter had been promoted and how well he was getting on at work. "Tell me more."

"Well where as before I was just in charge on helping out with the website's competition now I'm also in charge of a team of people who have to come up with fresh new ideas and games for the site, I can also offer up me own ideas of course… but yeah, It's a really amazing opportunity…" Peter said, sounding pretty chuffed with his new role.

"Baby I am so happy for you." Carla beamed, "I can't wait to give ya a big celebratory snog..." She then looked through the window to the factory floor and saw that Michelle had entered.

"Well as much as I can't wait to receive that snog…" Peter chuckled, "Can we meet in the pub after work? I wanna tell Steve about me new role."

"Yeah sure..." Carla said waving Michelle into her office, "Speaking of Steve, his Misses has just arrived, So I'd better see what she wants... I won't say anything though… I'll let you tell everyone the good news later."

"Okay." Peter said happily, "Well I'll let you go then, meet you in The Rover's at about six yeah?"

"Okay darlin." Carla nodded as Michelle walked into the office. She looked rather pleased and smiled excitedly at her best friend as she got up off her chair, still on the phone.

"Bye Carla, I hope the rest of your day gets better love." Peter said.

"Awww it already has." Carla said with a smile, "Bye Bye." She gushed. Michelle rolled her eyes at how love drunk Carla looked whilst on the phone and as she hung up Michelle said,

"Peter?"

"Yes." Carla nodded in an amused fashion, "Come ere..." She said putting her arms around and hugging Michelle lovingly.

"How was Paris then you lucky cow?" Michelle said, letting go of Carla and sitting down on the chair opposite.

"It were completely perfect." Carla said wistfully, still wishing she was back there with Peter and Simon but also being glad to be back now to spend time with Michelle.

"And how about Disneyland?" Michelle asked with a smile, thinking of all the photos she had seen so far of the trip.

"So much fun Chelle, I honestly could never ave seen me self in a place like that but it was a riot, the rides, the music, the funny little characters running about the place, I loved it..." Carla said, grinning from ear to ear reminiscently.

"Oh ya big kid." Michelle teased, "You all looked like you had so much fun, I'm glad you did, you really deserved it babe."

"Aww Chelle, thanks. How was your Valentines day then?" Carla asked, intrigued to hear what Michelle had been up to on Sunday, sure that Steve must have planned something nice.

"Really really lovely, Steve took me to a day spa, it was really really relaxing actually, which is good given the next nine months or so I've got ahead." Michelle said with an eyebrow raised. "He treated me like a queen, made me feel really special."

"Ahhh, I'm pleased Chelle, You derserved a good day too, I'm glad you both had a relaxing time." Carla smiled, thinking that a spa was probably the perfect thing for someone who was pregnant with Steve McDonald's baby to do.

"Yeah we did, although we got back to the pub to some drama though" Michelle said, now looking as if she had some proper gossip to reveal to her best friend.

"Oh yeah?" Carla said intrigued, "Drama from who?"

"Your delightful sister in law." Michelle said with a dramatic eye roll as she thought about what had happened when she and Steve had returned home from their peaceful day at the spa.

"Tracy?" Carla asked, wondering how she hadn't heard what ever happened in the pub from Beth or anyone else at the factory for that matter, especially since they were such gossips, although given the way she had shouted them, Carla then wasn't surprised her employees hadn't spoken to her about it. "What did she do?"

"Well… It's not something she did as such... She were in the pub on Sunday and everything was okay until… Ken walked in, hand in hand with… Audrey." Michelle explained.

"Really?" Carla asked, wondering if Peter knew about this but deciding that he couldn't because she was sure that Peter would have mentioned it. "What did Tracy do?" Carla knew that Tracy already wasn't happy that her Dad was spending so much time with Audrey so soon after her Mum's death and she was sure that Ken walking in the pub on Valentine's Day with Audrey like that must have made Tracy go mad.

"Well she was outraged as you can imagine, she raised her voice and said that Ken had no right to walk in the pub and make such a statement like that in front of everyone. She said that he was insulting the memory of Deirdre..." Michelle said, looking as if the entire situation was an extremely awkward one.

"What did Ken do?" Carla asked, now intrigued to hear about Ken's reaction because he was normally a very calm man and wasn't the type to retaliate to shouting from anyone, especially from Tracy who was known to be quite temperamental.

"He just nodded and ignored her, Audrey too in fact, the pair of em turned their backs and sat in one of the booths, they left Tracy to it which as you can imagine, made her even more furious." Michelle said.

"Yeah, I can imagine…" Carla nodded, she wondered about maybe talking to Peter about Tracy's behaviour although she knew that once Tracy Barlow was in a mood it was hard to get her out of it.

"Anyways, In the end Liz turfed her out, said she was making too much noise and that she wasn't welcome in the pub on such a happy night because she was spoiling the mood." Michelle smirked, "As you can probably guess Tracy didn't like that either."

"Wow... I bet she's in a right delightful mood eh?" Carla said, then she realised that there were much more important things she and Michelle should be discussing. "Never mind all that though with Tracy... How are you doing?" Carla looked down at Michelle's stomach and smiled at her, still unable to believe that Michelle was pregnant.

"Okay." Michelle nodded slowly, "Stopped being sick all the time so that's good... Although I feel a little iffy right now, it's probably just because I'm slightly nervous..."

"Nervous... why?" Carla asked with her head on one side, after knowing Michelle for practically her whole life, she could tell that whilst her best friend looked very cheerful and happy, she also looked truly anxious about something.

"Y'know I was supposed to ave a scan on the twenty ninth, well they had to move my appointment so they phoned me this morning, Anyway it turns out they had a closer spot so I took it..." Michelle said slowly.

"And… when is it?" Carla asked, absentmindedly fiddling about with a pen she had just picked up.

"Today… at two thirty pm." Michelle said.

"Wow…" Carla said, stopping what she was doing and moving closer to her friend. "Are… you looking forward to it?"

"Yeah course… it's just… seeing the kid on the screen… it makes it more real doesn't it? Scary eh?" Michelle said, Carla nodded slowly at her and put the pen down on the desk next to her as Michelle then asked, "So… what's happening with you n Peter then? On the baby front? It is after Valentine's Day after all." Michelle had remembered Peter saying to Carla that they'd need to wait until after Valentine's Day to talk about the prospect of a Barlow Baby.

"Well… we spoke about it a little bit in Paris… I dunno... I mean, I think we'll just wait n see… maybe? I need to speak to him about it again I think..." Carla said vaguely, thinking about Peter's new promotion and wondering if it would be the right time for her and Peter to talk about possible babies after all because he was bound to be highly busy these days because of his new job role.

"You sure you don't wanna get pregnant now?" Michelle grinned, "At least we can get fat together that way."

"Yeah you'd love that wouldn't ya." Carla said with a perfectly raised eyebrow.

"Yeah I would actually." Michelle chuckled, "Our kids could be best mates then, go to the same school and everything."

"You've thought this all through haven't ya?" Carla grinned.

"Yeah… I don't know any other babies... I want me n Steve's kid to ave a best mate for life, Y'know, so they can grow up together like we did." Michelle said wistfully.

"N I spose you'd want me n Peter's kid to marry you n Steve's eh?" Carla teased, making Michelle laugh and say,

"Yeah that would be amazing..." She then looked over at the clock that was on Carla's wall and then said, "Well... I guess I better head back to the pub, me n Steve ave to leave for the hospital soon."

"Ahhh…" Carla nodded, getting up and hugging Michelle again. "I'm dead sure everything is going to go fine though... Me n Peter will be in the pub later so you can fill me in on it all yeah, plus I'll bring your present from Paris too."

"Alright then." Michelle said with a nod, she let go of Carla and then took a nervous breath before saying, "Goodbye babe."

"Bye…" Carla said, waving at her best friend with a sad smile. She knew how it felt to be headed to a baby scan and knew exactly how nervous Michelle must be about things, she also knew that the next few months would fly by and that their would be a new baby on the street before they knew it.

* * *

Carla walked into the Rover's Return at five minutes past six to find Peter sat at one of their favourite tables in the corner, he was already drinking a orange juice as Carla approached him and as she happily sat down next to him she said,

"Ello handsome."

"Evening..." Peter said leaning forward to give Carla a quick kiss. She moved up and sat right next to him, still pressing her lips against his and as she let go Peter asked her, "How was the rest of your day then?"

"Not bad…" Carla said, taking off her black jacket and scarf, "I think I scared everyone half to death when I shouted earlier so I didn't hear a peep for the rest of the day... It were almost too quiet." She said putting her coat and scarf down next to her bag, She then smiled at Peter proudly and said, "I'm so glad to see you though... Congratulations Mr Project Manager." She leant in and kissed Peter again only this time she let her tongue slide into his mouth and her arms go around his neck.

After a rather passionate few moments, Carla and Peter both let go of each other and it was then that Carla saw Peter had already ordered her a glass of her favourite wine. At first she couldn't help but wonder how if felt for him to sit in front of alcohol like that when he couldn't drink it but then she quickly smiled gratefully and picked it up. She then remembered what she had wanted to talk to Peter about since lunch time.

"Have you spoke to your Dad since we got back?" she asked, after taking a sip of wine.

"Yes." Peter said taking a quick breath, the look on his face let Carla know, that he knew exactly what he was going on between his Dad and his sister. "He told me about Sunday… about an hour ago... He's absolutely fuming with Tracy."

"Right..." Carla nodded, "So ave you spoken to her at all?"

"No…" Peter said vaguely, not letting on whether he was going to say anything to his little sister about her behaviour or not.

"And… are you planning to speak to her or...?" Carla said, staring at Peter who took a drink of juice and said,

"Well yeah… I... dunno I just don't know how to go about it, I mean I really get why she is upset… Deirdre was her Mum..." Peter's voice broke when he had said Deirdre's name and he took a quick moment to mourn as Carla took hold of his hand silently. "I'm slightly upset too... Just because it's sad that Deirdre's not around anymore... she really was the light of me Dad's life."

"I know..." Carla said softly, nodding at Peter who sighed.

"This isn't about me n Tracy though, I mean as I said I'm sad but me Dad deserves happiness N I think Tracy needs realise that."

"I thought she was okay with things though... I mean we had that chat around her place on Rob's birthday and she really seemed to hear what I said and as if she understood your Dad y'know." Carla said, leaning against Peter and on cue, Tracy walked into the pub with a very miserable look on her face.

"I guess she was okay when me Dad and Audrey were just mates… but now they're more than that… I guess she's finding it difficult again..." Peter said, watching as Tracy leaned against the bar and said something to Sean.

"Yeah but would she really rather your Dad be alone?" Carla asked, linking her arm into Peter's and resting her head against his shoulder.

"This is Tracy love, I mean she's hardly known for being sympathetic is she?" Peter sighed, along with another sip of juice.

"Well I still think someone should speak to her, let her know that her behaviour is only going to push your Dad away." Carla said, also watching Tracy and shaking her head.

"Yeah me too…" Peter said dejectedly, "Although I really don't think she'll listen… not to me anyway…" Peter was looking at Carla intently, in a way that told her exactly what he was thinking.

"Wait… oh no…" Carla said, shaking her head adamantly. "You want me to speak to her?"

"Well why not? You were so good with her last time, you said so yourself." Peter said encouragingly.

"Yes but it were different then, we were just chatting in general and your Dad and Audrey came up in the conversation we were having…" Carla said, remembering how much she and Tracy had unexpectedly bonded over Rob and remembering how she saw a side to Tracy she'd never seen before, only now Carla wasn't sure that she'd get to see that side of Tracy again, especially if she stuck her nose into her business out of the blue.

"I know, but you and Tracy get on alright these days… maybe you could just slip it into the conversation..." Peter said, looking pained at the thought of his Dad and Tracy falling out properly because right now, life was so good, he couldn't stand the idea of things going wrong.

"How exactly?" Carla asked, she looked up at Peter who was watching her so adorably and so irresistibly that she knew she'd end up caving and being the one to talk to Tracy.

"I dunno…" Peter said with a little shrug, "All I know is that things are really going well at the moment… y'know with us n Si… Life's pretty much perfect I'd hate me Dad n Tracy to start drifting apart..."

"Peter they won't..." Carla said shaking her head, she couldn't stand the look on her husband's face for a moment longer because she got up and sighed, "Uh… You are so lucky I love you so much Barlow." Before Peter could say anything, she had approached Tracy who was stood at the bar with a drink in her hand. "Alright Trace…" Carla began, not quite knowing how to approach the situation because Tracy wasn't the sort of person who was the approachable type.

"Oh… Hi." Tracy said, slightly taken aback by Carla's sudden presence but the smiling at her all the same.

"You alright?" Carla asked trying to act completely natural and trying not to look at Peter directly who she knew was watching her from a far.

"Yeah…" Tracy said slowly, "Why?" She suspiciously asked.

"Just asking." Carla shrugged, she let her eyes travel over to Peter who was staring over at them and then quickly turned her attention over to Tracy. There was an awkward silence between them and then, thankfully Amy Barlow appeared. She walked up to her Mum in a pair of leggings and a long jumper and as she approached her and stood against the bar, Tracy said,

"Errr Amy, what are you doing out ere? You're not over eighteen?"

"Obviously not…" Amy said, rolling her brown eyes and shaking her head. "I've come to speak to you about tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Carla asked, showing an interest and hoping it would help her think of a way to get Tracy to talk about Ken without it being too obvious.

"Yeah, Mum has to do something with me tomorrow, I spent Monday with me Dad and today practically on me own… All my friends are spending their half term on holiday and I'm ere…" Amy said, looking at Tracy pointedly. "So? What we doing then?"

"Oh…" Tracy said, taking a slow sip of wine as she obviously thought of something. "I'm not sure…"

"How about shopping?" Carla very quickly said, "I'm planning on going over to the Trafford Centre tomorrow for a full afternoon of retail therapy n I could do with some company if you two wanted to come…"

"Aren't you working tomorrow?" Tracy asked, looking over at Peter this time who trying his hardest to nonchalantly sip his juice.

"Well that's the benefit of being boss, you can take as much time off as you want." Carla said smiling as innocently as she could. Tracy looked at her sideways knowing that she was up to something but Amy had become quite fond of Carla over the past few months and very quickly nodded, jumping at the chance to spend a little more time with her.

"Yeah, Let's go shopping with Carla." She said smiling, "I'll make Dad feel proper guilty that he's so busy with Michelle and her pregnancy to spend time with me n he'll give me a ton of money…" Carla and Tracy couldn't help buy simultaneously laugh at Amy's nerve and then Amy added, "And we could get something to eat afterward as well."

"Sounds like fun right?" Carla said, watching Tracy who wasn't exactly full of any other ideas.

"I suppose we've nothing better to do..." Tracy said with a small smile, unable to hide how much she was reluctantly starting to like Carla. "Okay, Let's do it."

"Great." Carla said triumphantly, "Well I were planning to head over there at about one thirty pm so d'ya wanna meet me outside Underworld and we'll drive over there together?"

"Yeah." Tracy said, looking at Amy who looked excited about her new shopping plans.

"Can't wait." Amy nodded and as she turned around to head back to the living room where she had spent most of her days she said, "See ya tomorrow Carla."

"Bye Amy." Carla said after her, Tracy almost chocked on the bit of wine she was drinking and said,

"Oh don't worry about me Amy, I'm only your Mother."

"Bye Mum." Amy chuckled and waved at her Mum before disappearing back behind the bar.

"She's a right little character." Carla said shaking her head and turning her attention back to Tracy.

"You're telling me? I ave no idea where she get's it from..." Tracy said, also shaking her head in unison.

"Are you being serious?" Carla asked with an eyebrow raised, "I mean between you n Steve…"

"Alright alright…" Tracy half laughed, causing Carla to chuckle too. She then looked over at Peter, who looked very pleased and said,

"Do ya wanna come over n sit with me n Peter?"

"Errr and watch you two fawn and slobber all over each other all night? No thanks." Tracy replied, "Besides I'm waiting on Beth."

"Suit ya self then." Carla said, giving Tracy a quick smile before heading back over to the table Peter was sat at. As she sat down Peter gave her a ever so thankful smile and said,

"So… what happened?"

"Well, I aven't mentioned your Dad yet. I've just organised a little shopping trip for me Tracy n Amy… I'll try n slip it in tomorrow or something but there's no guarantee she'll listen to me..." Carla said, rolling her eyes as Peter put an arm around her middle.

"Thank you Carla, I owe ya big time for this..." Peter said, stroking her waist with his thumb and feeling entirely grateful to have her by his side, she was so caring, so helpful and so loving and he even after many months of being back with her, he still felt like the luckiest man alive, especially when they sat close like this and when he had her in his arms.

"No… you don't…" Carla said shaking her head and smiling. Peter nodded at her slowly and placed a tender kiss on her lips before saying,

"I love you n I love how much you care about my lot too..."

"Our lot." Carla said softly, gaining another kiss from a very moved Peter.

Neither one of them noticed that Michelle and Steve had both approached them hand in hand and they continued with their kiss until Michelle cleared her throat very loudly and said,

"Can we have our presents now?" Peter pulled away from Carla first as Steve sat down in front of them and said,

"Yeah come on you two, make with the presents so we can tell you our news." Peter looked confused at first but Carla's eyes went wide as she said,

"Oh yeah… How'd it go?"

"Good." Michelle nodded happily although she also looked a little like she was in shock about something.

"How'd what go?" Peter asked looking at Steve as Carla went into her bag.

"Michelle had her scan today." Steve explained.

"But I thought it weren't for a few more weeks?" Peter asked, as Carla pulled out a carrier bag from Disneyland.

"Yeah it wasn't but they wanted to move it and there was a cancellation." Steve said, "Only found out this morning."

"Is everything alright with the baby? How far gone are you?" Carla asked, her green eyes still slightly wide as she sat opposite her best friend.

"Yes everything's fine… let's get these presents over and done with first because once we get talking about the scan we won't stop." Michelle said holding out her hands excitedly.

"Okay…" Carla replied, intrigued as she delved into the bag and pulled out Steve and Michelle's presents from Disneyland which consisted of a Mickey and Minnie Mr and Mrs Mugs and some special Disney shaped sweets.

"Aww I love it." Michelle said, grinning down at the mug she had just received from Carla and Peter.

"Yeah cheers you two." Steve said nodding appreciatively at his present also.

"We got Amy something too but it's back at my place." Peter said as Carla put her bag back down on the floor. "I'll pop it over tomorrow or something."

"Or you could just give it to me…" Carla said, Peter nodded at her whilst it was Michelle's turn to look intrigued because she didn't know about Carla's plans yet.

"Oh yeah…" Steve said, "I hear you and my daughter are going shopping tomorrow, She just conned me out of a hundred flamin quid the cheeky mare."

"Sounds about right." Carla grinned as Michelle said,

"You and Amy are going shopping? That's nice."

"Yeah… Tracy's coming too." Carla said causing Michelle's eyebrow to rise slightly.

"You n Tracy are going shopping? Really?"

"Long story…" Carla said rolling her eyes, "Come on then, I'm dying ere, how was the scan?"

"Well…" Michelle said, looking at a very very excited Steve and then back at Carla and Peter, who looked as if they were on tenterhooks. "Everything is fine... I'm just under fifteen weeks pregnant."

"What?" Carla cried, "You're that far along already?" She had been expecting Michelle to maybe be eight weeks pregnant or something not already three months gone.

"Yes..." Michelle nodded slowly, smiling at Carla and knowing what she was thinking, "I were sure I were only a month or so gone..." as Steve said,

"Yeah that's not the only surprise…"

"Why? What else?" Peter asked curiously, reading the expression on his best friends face, he was grinning at Michelle so happily that it was a wonder he wasn't actually glowing with pride. Michelle laughed at the giddy look on her husbands face before looking back Carla who was still on edge.

"What Chelle?" She asked anguished.

"Well long story short, I was lying on that little bed chair thingy with my shirt hitched up and we were chatting away with the Doctor about Amy n stuff n then he says… _Oh… _So of course me n Steve are like _Oh what? _N the Doctor says, _I'm picking up two heartbeats_."

"Two?" Carla asked but Peter had already clocked on to what was happening and said,

"Are you two aving twins?"

"Yes." Steve said excitedly, Peter got up and immediately hugged his best friend whilst Carla and Michelle both sat in front of each other in shock.

"You're having twins?" Carla asked Michelle slowly.

"Yes…" Michelle said with a laugh.

"Seriously?" Carla asked again, in awe, almost speechless in fact.

"Yes seriously, I mean it's not what I had in mind at all but y'know what… I'm dead pleased." Michelle said with a truly delighted smile.

"Chelle…" Carla said almost with tears in her eyes. She got up and hugged her best friend too and as Peter and Steve let go of each other, Peter asked,

"What does Amy think about all this?"

"She's over the moon like we are." Steve said, "She said she can't wait n that she's hoping we ave a boy and a girl."

"That's great…" Peter said watching Carla and Michelle in a rather emotional embrace. They both wiped their eyes and as Carla sat back down next to Peter he pulled her close to him and said, "We're really happy for you both aren't we love?"

"Yes." Carla nodded with a sniff, "Happy n Scared for ya..."

"Awww…" Michelle laughed shaking her head, "We'll be fine, and especially since you two are first in line for Godparents." Steve nodded at this comment from Michelle which left Carla and Peter both speechless this time.

"Us?" Peter asked quietly, sure his had misheard.

"Yes you." Michelle said reaching over the table and giving him a nudge. "I mean we know it's a little early to be discussing stuff like this but just know that we definitely want you two as Godparents when the little twins finally arrive… Wow... I don't think I'm gonna get used to saying the word twins." Peter and Carla both beamed proudly as Michelle took a deep breath and Steve was the one to say,

"So what d'ya say? Will you be the Godparents then?"

"Of course." Carla said with a smirk, "Hey... at least now you're aving twins I don't need to get pregnant now so that your baby can have a little mate."

"What's this?" Peter asked, watching Michelle giggle at Carla.

"I wanted Carla to get pregnant the same time as me so our kids could be best friends." Michelle revealed.

"Oh right..." Peter chuckled, pulling Carla even closer. "Sounds like a good plan."

"She were even hoping our kids would get married." Carla said with a laugh.

"I'm still hoping that thanks very much." Michelle said, "Go on Carla, get pregnant, you know you want to." She grinned reaching over the table and nudging Carla who snuggled up against Peter and said,

"All in good time Michelle... All in good time..."

"Yeah." Peter nodded, "Don't worry though, We get in a hell of a lot of practice thats for sure."

"Yeah I bet..." Michelle said, going into her pocket and pulling out a leaflet. "I got this for you two... just in case you wanted it." Carla reached forward and took hold of the leaflet which was titled, _Trying To Get Pregnant._

"Thanks Michelle." Peter said, watching Carla who just rolled her eyes and said an amused,

"Yeah, Thanks Chelle." She knew that her best friend was just trying to be helpful and that this leaflet probably would come in handy soon enough.

* * *

"Hey…" Carla said walking hand in hand with Peter on the way home from a long night in the Rover's. "You never got to tell Steve n Chelle about your promotion." It was ten thirty pm and they had spent the rest of the evening sat at a table with Steve and Michelle, talking about babies and a whole lot of other subjects, When Liz returned home from a day out, It was entertaining to watch Steve tell his Mum the good news and as she cracked open bottles of champagne, the whole pub soon found out about the twins.

"Ahhh well, I'll tell him tomorrow. I mean tonight should be all about him n Chelle's amazing news." Peter shrugged as he and Carla turned the corner on their way to his flat.

"I cannot believe they are aving Twins… how insane is that?" Carla said, squeezing Peter's hand tight. "I mean… Chelle's gonna ave two babies... two babies at the same time."

"Y'know it happens all the time love." Peter grinned earning a nudge in the side from Carla.

"I know..." She grinned, "It's just a shock thats all, I mean it's one thing if you've planned to conceive n stuff but this whole thing has been a shock for Chelle n Steve… I'm dead pleased that they are so happy though… they deserve this after everything they've been through."

"They really do." Peter nodded, he stopped outside his flat and looked at Carla who was still slightly teary in the eyes because she and Michelle had kept happy crying on and off all night. "You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah course." She smiled, "But whilst we're on the subject of babies n stuff… what are we doing? Y'know with the whole baby thing."

"I dunno…" Peter replied, "I mean… Is this something we should be talking about on me door step?"

"Probably not..." Carla smiled, "I just… well I was just wondering if now is actually the right time for us, I mean with your promotion n stuff, You're going to be so busy…"

"Carla we're not having a baby tomorrow y'know..." Peter said softly, taking his keys out of his pocket and smiling at her. "There's plenty of time."

"I know…" She said with a grin, "I just wouldn't want to put any extra pressure on you that's all."

"You n me, adding to our pretty much perfect family is not pressure love... it's exciting." Peter said pulling Carla towards him.

"You sure?" She asked, smiling down at the hand she had rested on his chest.

"One hundred percent." Peter nodded, "Besides with the raise I'm getting with this promotion and with you being a factory owner it seems as if financially, now is the best time for us to do this..." He looked at Carla affectionately before opening his front door and saying, "Come on, let's go in eh?" They both walked inside slowly and after they were in his flat and after Peter had put the kettle on. They both settled down on his leather sofa whilst waiting for the kettle to boil and Peter was the one to talk first.

"So… how d'ya wanna go about this?" He started, "D'ya want to go to do this whole thing properly, Y'know with like tests n stuff or should we just let nature take it's course?"

"I dunno…" Carla shrugged with a giggle, finding this whole conversation alien. "I'm not sure I like the idea of all that planning y'know, like finding out when the best time to ave sex is and all that jazz…"

"Yeah me neither…" Peter nodded. "It seems as if it would be a lot of stress to be honest."

"Besides on that leaflet Chelle gave us, it says that all most couples need to conceive is a happy n active sex life." Carla grinned, having had read part of the leaflet earlier on that evening when she'd been left at the table alone.

"Well..." Peter smirked, "We've definitely got that covered eh?"

"Exactly." Carla said with a grin as Peter put an arm around her and pulled her right up against him as she said, "So... I guess I'll just come off the pill then… and we'll let nature take its course… right?"

"Right." Peter nodded, pulling Carla so that she was practically sat right on his lap.

"Okay then…" She breathed nervously.

"Okay." Peter repeated also a little nervously, he and Carla both smiled contently at each other for a moment until Carla asked,

"Do ya find talking about this stuff as weird as I do?"

"Yes." Peter nodded, "In a good way though right?"

"Yeah... in a good way." Carla nodded, kissing Peter gently on the nose, She then took in a deep breath as she thought about what the future could possibly hold for her and Peter.

"It's okay to be scared y'know..." He said softly, "I'm scared too... but what ever happens, we're going to be alright you n me."

"I know." Carla nodded again slowly, "I know we will." They sat in a comfortable silence together until the kettle that was in the kitchen behind them boiled.

"Do ya want a brew?" Peter asked but Carla shook her head at Peter suggestively and said,

"Forget that… let's go to bed."


	56. New Jobs & New Opportunities

**_There's a long and very boring story about why I haven't updated in so long but I won't get into it on here, just know that I'm sorry and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)_**

* * *

"So what time are you meeting Tracy n Amy?" Peter asked, sitting down on a stool at his breakfast bar along with Carla who was already dressed in a white blouse and black jeans. Peter was wearing a white shirt and black trousers ready for work as well. He and Carla had just spent the morning preparing breakfast for themselves before they both headed off to work.

As it was Half Term, Simon had spent the night at his friend's house, so that meant that Carla and Peter were all alone this morning. Even though they both adored having Simon around, they woke up together, early and at the same time so they could take full advantage of this rare situation.

After a spending some time together in bed, they had an early morning bath and got dressed before heading into Peter's kitchen for some breakfast. Music was switched on and as they listened to their new favourite artist, Peter pulled some eggs and bacon out of his fridge.

It was the sublimely simple moments like these where Peter sometimes still had to pinch himself because he couldn't believe that he and Carla were back together. He watched adoringly as she rolled up the sleeves on her white blouse and said that she wanted to help and as he hung an apron around her neck, he kissed her lovingly on the nose because he knew exactly how much she hated being in the kitchen… well how much she used to hate being in the kitchen, as time went on, Carla was in the kitchen and actually cooking something a lot more often, not as often as a normal person by no means but still, more than she was before.

Peter handled the eggs and bacon whilst Carla did the toast, the beans and made the coffees. Sure enough, at eight am, breakfast was served and as Peter sat down next to Carla with his mug in hand, she told him what time she was planning on meeting Tracy and Amy.

"I told em to meet me outside the factory at one and we'll drive down together. I got a text from Amy last night who said she wants me to drive because and I quote, _My car is a thousand times cooler and more expensive then her Mum's one." _ Carla said rolling her eyes but more at the thought of a shopping trip with Tracy, she actually didn't mind spending time with Amy and she had grown very fond of her recently and vice versa.

"You're regretting this idea aren't ya?" Peter said with a smirk as Carla picked up her knife and fork and began cutting up her bacon.

"No…" Carla said, "It's just the idea of a few hours with Tracy is rather daunting... not coz I'm scared of her or out but it's hard to know what to talk about with her sometimes... I dunno, I'm just glad Amy's gonna be there as well. She wants to get something to eat which is good, I'm thinking I'll mention your Dad n Audrey then, maybe when she's got a large drink in hand or something… What do ya think?"

"Sounds good to me..." Peter said with a nod, "Although are you sure you wanna do that in a restaurant... with all that sharp cutlery around eh?" He grinned as Carla picked up her coffee mug and took a sip, she put her mug back down afterwards and with a little laugh she said,

"Well at least they'll be witnesses."

"True." Peter chuckled picking up a piece of toast and dipping it into his beans. "I'm still really grateful that you're doing this by the way, You really don't ave to."

"Oi, Enough of that, I told ya last night, Yes I do." Carla said with a nod. As she and Peter ate their cooked breakfast and the conversation flowed from Tracy, to Ken, to Simon and then to Peter's new job role. "So are you nervous then?" Carla asked when she was nearly done with her food.

"No… not really?" Peter said shaking his head, "I mean I know pretty much everyone in the building so it's not as if I'm going in to a whole new team, I'm looking forward to it though, It's a new challenge for me."

"Good." Carla nodded with a proud smile, she watched Peter who was finishing his last piece of toast and as he did so, he realised that she was still staring at him intently.

"What?" he asked in amusement.

"Nothing…" Carla said shaking her head. "I'm just proud of you that's all."

"Well…" Peter said, brushing the crumbs off his hands and then turning to Carla. "Do ya know what I'm proud of?"

"What?" Carla asked happily as he gently pulled her off her stool and towards him.

"Us." Peter said complacently. Carla smiled at him before leaning in and kissing him tenderly on the nose, just like he had done to her earlier.

"Me too." She said before putting her arms around his neck, they kissed slowly for a while but then Carla's phone buzzed on the coffee table over by the TV and that interrupted them.

"That is probably a good thing because we should probably get going to work eh?" Peter said when Carla walked over to her phone, He had looked down at his watch and saw that it was twenty to nine and seeing as they both started work at nine, he thought it would be good for them to get on their way.

"Spose so." Carla said a little reluctantly, she looked down at the message, which was from Michelle who said,

**_"Morning babe, I was wondering if you wanted to meet up later? I mean around 7 or something cause I know you're shopping with Amy and Tracy later. Let me know x"_**

Carla bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to reply to Michelle because as much as she wanted to meet her best friend later and fill her in on the shopping trip, she also wanted to make sure she was home for Peter, to find out how his new day at work had gone and to fill _him_ in on the shopping trip too.

"You alright?" Peter asked, pulling his black jacket on as he watched Carla ponder on what to reply.

"Yeah… Chelle just wants me to come over later." Carla said with a sigh.

"And… is that a bad thing?" Peter asked walking over to Carla who decided that she should really stick around and be there for Peter tonight.

"No… it's just I wanted to be ere n spend the night with you. Hear about your new job n stuff…" Carla said as Peter passed her over her black coat.

"Well… I'll probably be there a little late tonight anyways, I mean you could always go there until I finish?" He said, touched that Carla wanted to spend time with him after his first day. "Or I could meet you in there again, I mean I still haven't told Steve about me promotion, I could do it then."

"Yeah… N I guess Amy will be heading back to the Rover's anyway as she's staying there." Carla replied at the same time as typing her reply to Michelle. In the end she wrote,

**_"Morning Chelle. I'll pop over to the pub as soon as I'm done with the shopping okay? x"_**

After sending her text, Carla pulled on her coat and as Peter picked up his car keys they both left his flat. Even though it would probably been quicker for Carla to walk from his flat to Underworld, Peter still insisted on driving Carla to work. As he stopped outside the factory Carla smiled fondly at him and said,

"Cheers for that baby."

"No problem… Ave a good day love." Peter said, leaning forward and giving her a quick kiss.

"You too." Carla said, smiling one more time before making her way out of his car, then she stopped because she had remembered something that she had wanted to talk to Peter about, With the door open, she quickly bent down so she could see Peter and said, "Oh… by the way, just so you know… I Errrr didn't take me Pill this morning..."

"No?" Peter asked with his eyes wide, staring at Carla in awe.

"Nope." Carla said half excitedly half terrified as she thought about how they had spent the morning. "Guess that makes it official eh?"

"It sure does…" Peter breathed with a nervous smile, Carla grinned back at him and nodded before blowing a kiss and shutting the car door. As she walked up the factory steps, Peter honked his horn at her and began to drive away from the factory.

Both of their mornings were spent deep in thought about the future and about babies and Carla was so distracted by the scary thought of becoming pregnant again that she almost forget that she was supposed to meet Tracy and Amy at one.

Even though she had only come off the pill today, she couldn't help but let her mind wonder over to stuff like baby names, colours to decorate the bedroom and where they would maybe live. After her miscarriage she was still totally petrified of becoming pregnant again but having Peter by her side properly this time, she knew that everything should be okay and that there was no reason they shouldn't try again.

Eventually at one fifteen pm, Alya Nazir had come bustling into the office whilst Carla was mentally going through potential places that she, Peter, the baby and Simon could live and said,

"Carla…" She snapped Carla right out of her daydream and then said, "Tracy Barlow is outside waiting for you… She said something about going shopping?"

"Oh…" Carla said, looking down at her watch. "Crap, I was supposed to meet them outside at one." She very quickly got up and pulled on her black coat as Alya looked very shocked.

"Wait… you're actually going shopping with her?" She asked as Carla bent down and picked up her handbag.

"Yes." Carla nodded delving into her bag and looking for her car keys. "Tracy is me sister in law after all."

"I know…" Alya said with an eyebrow raised, "I just can't imagine spending the afternoon shopping with her."

"Yeah me neither." Carla said rolling her eyes a little. "Right, I'll be out for the whole afternoon, You think you can handle being in charge whilst I'm gone?"

"Me?" Alya said, stunned because normally Sally was left in charge when Carla wasn't in.

"Yes." Carla nodded, "If ya think you can handle it that is."

"Yeah of course I can. Thanks Carla, Thanks a lot." Alya said excited at this new responsibility.

"Don't mention it." Carla smiled, heading towards the door to her office. "And if Sally Webster has something to say, tell her to call me." She added because she knew that Sally would not be impressed when she returned from her lunch break to find Alya in charge.

"Will do." Alya grinned from ear to ear as Carla nodded and then left the office. She rapidly made her way outside so she didn't leave Tracy and Amy waiting a moment later and when she got there, She saw Tracy stood with her arms folded looking rather impatient but Amy waved excitedly and said,

"Hi Carla!"

"Yeah… Hi." Tracy said, looking down at her watch in a dramatic fashion so that Carla would see.

"Hiya Amy, Hi Tracy, Sorry I'm late, I was in a right day dream." Carla said as they all began walking to where she had left her car parked the night before.

"About what?" Amy asked.

"Oh… nothing…" Carla grinned. She just shook her head and decided to keep the fact that she had come off the pill a secret because she knew that if she told Amy and Tracy, the news would spread around the street like wildfire.

"Nothing?" Amy repeated with an eyebrow raised, "I bet you were just sitting there gushing over Uncle Peter." Carla laughed at Amy's comment and as they approached her car, she looked at Tracy and said,

"So… is there anything down the shops you've got your eye on?" She was trying to make conversation and make it seem as if she was just going shopping with Michelle or something but she could already see how awkward things could get if Tracy's mood didn't improve.

"Not really…" Tracy said as Carla unlocked her car.

"Well I ave…" Amy said excitedly, she had the money her Dad had given her safely tucked away in her little red handbag and after she, her Mum and Carla had piled into the car, She began talking about all the things that she wanted to buy once they got to the Trafford centre.

Meanwhile, Peter was on his lunch break after a very busy morning as the teams new project manager. His morning had gone very well indeed and he had gone out of the office for lunch even though he had just been invited to lunch with a lot of his colleges.

Peter had just stepped out of the local coffee shop he'd gone to, to have a cigarette when someone said,

"Peter… Peter Barlow." Peter turned his head and saw someone very familiar to him. It was a bearded man called Brian and he used to run the alcohol support group that Peter used to attend many many years ago.

"Brian." Peter said smiling and blowing smoke out of his mouth. "Long time no see, How are ya?"

"Good." Brain nodded also smiling, "But what about you? How are you doing? You look very well."

"I am very well… more than well actually, Life's pretty damn good if I'm honest." Peter said with another grin. "I had a very bad patch but I've come through it better than ever, I've actually been completely sober for almost two years, I'm very happily married n I've actually just started a new job today."

"Wow, Congratulations." Brain said, holding out his hand for Peter to shake, Peter put his cigarette in his mouth and shook Brian's hand proudly and after a little more conversation about his life Brain said,

"You might actually be just the person I'm looking for."

"Oh yeah?" Peter asked, he'd finished his cigarette by this point and was stamping it out as Brian continued.

"Yes, I'm still running the support group as I said, but I've been looking for someone who's been there n done it who could just come along and motivate the members I've got now, Y'know, Show them that there is definitely more to life than booze."

"Oh…" Peter said, getting the idea of where Brian was going with this.

"So… what do ya think? Is it something you'd be interested in?" Brian said, looking at Peter hopefully.

"I dunno…" Peter said. His initial reaction was to say No straight away because he had just started a new job today and he didn't think he'd have time for helping out with the support group and he also wanted to say no because he wasn't sure if he was equipped to start going back to that place every week. It was full of lots of bad memories and as his life was going so well right now he didn't want anything to spoil it.

"It wouldn't have to be every meeting…. And I'd obviously pay you for it." Brain said reading Peter's expression, "How about you just come to one at first, you could just give a little speech and answer some questions, I think it would really help my group members to see someone as successful as you, in fact there are still some people there who used to come when you did, I bet they'd love to see you again."

"Really?" Peter asked, thinking about how it would feel to actually put all his horrible past to good use. He knew how far he'd come over the past few years and how he probably could offer some comfort to those who felt as if they had no way out, after all, he had felt that way one day and now look at him.

"Yes." Brian nodded, "I understand for you to come back to meetings might be a little hard to do and I would understand if you declined my offer but we would be really honoured to have you there."

"Erm…" Peter began, "Y'know what, give me your number Brian n I'll really think about it."

"Okay." Brain said and he gave Peter his number, hopeful that he would say yes because he genuinely thought Peter would be able to help those members of his support group.

"Right…" Peter said as he slid his phone back into his pocket, "I better head back to the office but I'll get in contact with you soon though mate."

"Thanks Peter." Brian said with a nod, and as he began to walk off, Peter turned and walked in the opposite direction, he still wasn't sure what he wanted to do about this whole support group thing, all he knew for sure was that he wanted to talk to one person and one person only about it, Carla.

* * *

By the time, Amy, Tracy and Carla had finished shopping it was five thirty pm. Things had gone rather well and after a few little difficult moments in the car, Tracy's mood had mellowed and she and Carla got on as best as they possibly could.

After hours of shopping, they all settled down in TGI Fridays for some dinner and with all their full shopping bags at their feet, Tracy and Carla both ordered a large cocktail each. Even Amy ordered a non alcoholic one and she was feeling rather chuffed because she had talked Tracy into letting her buy her first ever mascara and was looking down at it excitedly as their cocktails had been brought over.

"Eh, Don't let your Dad see that will ya Amy, I haven't the patience to get lectured by him… not today." Tracy said as a very handsome waiter place the three very large cocktail glasses down onto the table.

He had dark brown hair with eyes to match and a very cheeky smile, which he flashed at the three ladies at the table as he said,

"There are your cocktails, are you ready to order your food yet or do ya need a few minutes?"

"Oh we're more than ready…" Carla grinned and after they all ordered their food, the waiter took their menus and it was then that Carla and Amy had noticed that his arms were covered in tattoos.

"Wow… your tattoos are dead cool." Amy gasped in awe as she looked closley at them.

"Thanks very much." The waiter said cheerily as he finished collecting the menu. "Right, well I'll be back with your food as soon as possible, if you need anything else, just give me a shout."

"Oh, we will." Carla said with a grin as Tracy nodded at him gratefully.

"Can't wait to try this… I feel well grown up…" Amy said as she looked at her bright pink drink with excitement as the waiter walked away.

Carla and Tracy had both ordered the same cocktails as each other in the end and they simultaneously took a sip of their purple cocktails as Amy picked up her mascara again to have a look at it.

"Won't Steve notice if she's wearing mascara?" Carla asked as Amy eventually put it away and went back to her Cocktail.

"What Steve? I doubt it... but just in case make sure you're really subtle with it Amy." Tracy said shaking her head as Amy took another drink of her non-alcoholic cocktail and said,

"Well I am almost twelve, Dad needs to accept that, I'm growing up… I mean I've got a boyfriend for crying out loud."

"What?" Carla cried, "A boyfriend, already." She looked at Tracy who rolled her eyes and nodded as Amy also nodded proudly and said,

"Yeah, his name is Sam, I met him at my violin class… we are so meant to be." Amy began sipping her cocktail as Carla raised an eyebrow at Tracy who sighed and said,

"Honestly… What is the world coming to when my twelve year old daughter has a boyfriend n I don't?"

"Well…" Carla said, "That's down to you isn't it? I mean ave you thrown yourself out there and let people know your available n stuff?"

"Oh yeah let who know?" Tracy said taking a large sip of her cocktail as Carla scanned the room.

"There's a load of potential guys in ere… " She said, nodding over to the waiter, "I mean what about him." Tracy turned her head to look at him as Amy raised an eyebrow this time and said,

"Him? Oh he is way too young for me Mum."

"Oi…" Tracy said nudging Amy who she was sitting next to, she took another look at the waiter who was serving another table full of women and it was clear that he was definitely in his twenties.

"Oh please…" Carla said shaking her head, "Amy when you get older you'll realise age aint nothing but a number… besides, it doesn't matter how old he is, He's bloomin gorgeous."

"Yeah well you would say that, I mean he looks like he could be a younger version of Peter for god sake." Tracy said turning back around and sighing at Carla who seemed to have a one track mind and always had Peter in the background.

"Yeah… but a hell of a lot younger version…" Amy added with a smirk, causing Tracy and Carla to both laugh.

"Oi… leave your uncle alone." Carla said with a grin after having a cheeky laugh, "I'm the only one who is allowed to tease him about his age, alright?" Amy nodded at Carla whilst Tracy picked up her glass and took another large gulp of the cocktail and as she swallowed, Carla wondered just when she should maybe mention Ken because after all, that was the reason she had suggested this shopping trip to begin with. "So…" She said after a few moments of silence, "Come on then, there must be someone in ere you find attractive."

"Do we ave to?" Tracy moaned, "I mean me kid is here for god sake."

"Oh I don't mind." Amy said casually, "I think a new boyfriend would be nice for you Mum."

"See." Carla grinned nodding at Amy who was sipping her non-alcoholic cocktail.

"Look… I really don't want to talk about this okay…" Tracy said sighing for about the thirtieth time at the table. "Besides… How could I even think about another man when Rob… well when I'm still not over him properly." Amy looked sympathetic now and took hold of her Mum's hand whilst Carla nodded slowly and very delicately said,

"I hate to say this Tracy but… Rob's in prison."

"Yeah, I know that Carla." Tracy said irritatedly almost wanting to mention the fact that Rob was in prison due to her and Carla.

"Let me finish." Carla tutted as Tracy drank some of her drink. "What I mean by that is that there is no way the pair of you will ever get back together so… you're really going to ave to try n move on at some point… I know it'll be hard to do but… it'll happen one day..." Carla took a deep breath before then saying, "Look at your Dad for example…"

"Oh ere were go." Tracy said and this time she was almost grinning.

"What?" Carla asked nonchalantly.

"I knew we'd get on this subject eventually, I knew it the moment you suggested going shopping in the pub yesterday." Tracy said rolling her eyes, "It wasn't the most subtle exchange was it Carla? Peter was sat there watching us like a hawk the whole time for god sake."

"I ave no idea what you're on about." Carla said in mock shock, shaking her head and making Amy stifle in a laugh. "But… since we're on the subject of ya Dad… I don't understand what happened, I mean the last time you n me spoke about this we were on the same page, you were okay with your Dad n Audrey."

"Yeah I were n then they got together properly." Tracy said, "They walked into that pub on Valentines Day without a flaming care in the world, they didn't even think how it would feel for me to see someone replacing me Mam like that."

"Oh come on Tracy, You're far too old for all that _She's replacing my Mum_ business aren't ya?" Carla scoffed and Amy nodded. Tracy clearly hated being in this position where her daughter and Sister in law were sat there judging her and as much as she was desperate to run away from the situation, she stayed put.

"Come on Mum…" Amy said, still holding onto her Mum's hand under the table. "I know it's sad… really sad that Grandma Deidre's not ere but don't you want Granddad to be happy? Cause I do."

"Of course I do…" Tracy said, softening at the look on her daughter's face as she spoke about her Grandparents. "It's just, your Grandma hasn't even been gone a year and yet me Dad's just gone and found himself another woman just like that… It bugs me that's all, maybe if he had of waited…"

"Oh be real ere Trace, You would ave been pissed off if it had of been a year or five..." Carla said, "This isn't about timing is it? It's just about you being upset that your Dad has moved on." Tracy didn't say anything and just looked down at the hand she had entwined with Amy's instead, she just sniffed hard so she didn't start crying and when Amy saw her do it she leant forward and said,

"It doesn't mean Granddad didn't love Grandma, Mum. It just means he's lonely… you can understand that right?"

"Yeah I can…" Tracy replied, "I just… I wasn't expecting this to happen so soon."

"I know…" Carla said with a nod, "But you know what, After everything that has happened… your Mum passing away so suddenly like she did… well if anything, it has taught us that you shouldn't take life for granted… you should do things while you still ave the chance… I reckon that's probably what your Dad is thinking."

"Yeah…" Amy nodded, "And I don't think Grandma Deidre would want him to be alone either, she'd want him to be happy."

"I know…" Tracy said sniffing again, she quickly wiped a tear from her eye and smiled at Carla and Amy before saying, "Right… that's enough of all that, We're meant to be having a good time n I don't need any more earache off you two… I will speak to me Dad about all this later… okay?"

"Okay." Carla nodded triumphantly, pretty satisfied because it looked as if Tracy was really going to let her Dad be happy, Amy nodded too and picked up her glass, she very quickly downed the rest of her cocktail and as Tracy and Carla watched in amazement she said,

"Can I get another one of these?"

* * *

Carla, Amy and Tracy had made it back to Coronation Street at seven thirty pm, Carla parked her car in the car park of her building and as they all got their carrier bags out of Carla's boot, Amy smiled broadly and said,

"I had such a great time, didn't you Mum?"

"Yeah…" Tracy said vaguely, Carla grinned at her and closed her boot as Amy said,

"Thanks Carla, We will ave to do it again sometime."

"Yeah definitely…" Carla said she then looked at Tracy suspiciously and said, "I ave a question."

"Go on then…" Tracy said as they began walking towards the pub and towards her home at number one.

"Well if you knew what I was up to yesterday, why did you agree to come shopping?" Carla asked intrigued.

"Because Amy wanted to go…" Tracy said unconvincingly.

"Yeah but you could ave told me not come." Carla said as they crossed the road.

"I could of…" Tracy began but Amy interrupted her and said,

"But you secretly like Carla and you want to be friends don't ya Mum?"

"Oh As if." Tracy scoffed and so did Carla.

"Yeah I doubt that very much." Carla said as they got to the doors of the Rover's. She smiled at Tracy who couldn't help but grin back and say,

"Look… Thanks for today… It was good to get out of the shop for a bit."

"You're welcome." Carla said with a nod, She and Amy were stood in the doorway of the pub and as Carla was going in there to see Michelle, she said she'd take Amy in there with her.

"Bye Mum, I'm gonna stay over tomorrow okay?" Amy said, leaning forward and giving Tracy a hug.

"Okay, Goodnight." Tracy said kissing Amy on the cheek, Amy let go of her Mum and then said,

"You are going to talk to Granddad right?"

"Yes I am." Tracy said rolling her eyes at her daughter, "I promise, Go on you, go on rub your Dad's face in all the stuff you spent his money on." Amy laughed as she opened the door to the pub. "Bye…" She said as Amy walked inside.

"Bye…" Carla said giving Tracy one last smile before she followed Amy inside the very busy pub.

"Well that went a lot better than I thought…" Carla said walking behind Amy who nodded and said,

"Me too, I thought me Mum was gonna get dead angry… she's known to do that a lot."

"You're telling me?" Carla smirked as Liz waved them both over to the bar. Sean and Eva were both working too and there were many people stood at the bar waiting to get drinks.

"Hiya you two, how was your shopping trip?" Liz asked smiling at her Granddaughter fondly.

"Great." Amy said truthfully, holding up all her shopping bags with delight, "I got so much cool stuff."

"Oohh I can't wait to see it, Why don't you take it out back to show your Dad n I'll come out n see it in a minute?" Liz said, Amy nodded and then turned to Carla.

"Bye Carla, thanks so much for today."

"Bye Amy." Carla said with a smile and Amy then actually gave her a rather loving hug much to Carla's surprise and as she ventured out back with her shopping, Liz turned to Carla and said,

"So how was it really?" She knew all about Tracy and Carla's rather temperamental past and wondered how they must have got on together.

"Actually it went really well." Carla said with a nod, "Nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated."

"Oh good." Liz said as she served a few customers. "Amy looks as if she had a really good time."

"Yeah I really think she did, She's a good kid Amy is…" Carla said nodding because the more time she spent with Amy, the more her opinion her changed. Before hand, she used to think Amy was a little brat just like her mother but actually Amy was a lot more than that, she was thoughtful and caring, not to mention Carla found her rather hilarious.

Soon enough, Michelle appeared in the bar, She smiled when she saw Carla and they attempted to find a seat in the very busy pub, eventually they found one in the corner and as Carla sat down with Michelle she said,

"It's packed in ere tonight isn't it?" She tucked all her shopping bags underneath the table they were sat down at.

"I know… crazy isn't it? Tuesdays are hardly our busy nights so I don't know what's going on." Michelle replied, she had a glass of Lemonade whilst Carla had a glass of wine. "So, how was your shopping trip?"

"Really good actually." Carla said with a nod, "There were a couple of awkward moments, one where I forget it weren't you I were with, I was picking out some fancy underwear and I asked, _Do ya reckon Peter will like this?_ As you can imagine Tracy wasn't too impressed with that question about her big brother…" Carla grinned, earning a laugh from Michelle. "Other than that though… it went really well."

"Good, although don't go replacing me with Tracy will ya?" Michelle said with a little pout.

"Oh as if Chelle, You're always going to be me best mate…" Carla said nudging her playfully, she looked down at Michelle's tummy which was definitely starting to look like a pregnant persons tummy now especially since Michelle was carrying twins. "How are you doing?" Carla asked looking back up at Michelle.

"Good." Michelle said with a smile, "It's all starting to sink in properly now, I called Ryan this morning n told him about the twins."

"Awww what did he say?" Carla asked.

"He were really pleased for me, said he's gonna come n visit soon which would be lovely." Michelle said with a happy smile.

"Ave you told ya Mum yet?" Carla smirked.

"No…" Michelle said rolling her eyes, "I'll call her tomorrow, I know she's going to fuss even more, I swear if she comes to visit I'll lose me mind." Carla nodded and took a sip of wine as she thought about what life would be like if Helen Connor came to visit, the last time Carla had seen her things had been very awkward between them all and Carla knew that she really didn't want to see Michelle's mother any time soon.

Carla was so caught up in conversation with Michelle that she almost forgot about how excited she had been to hear all about Peter's day and it was only when she saw him enter the pub, she remembered how much she wanted to hear about everything he had been up to.

"Evening Liz." Peter said, walking up to the bar, at first no noticing that Carla was sat in the corner with Michelle. "Steve about?"

"Yeah he's out back with Amy, do you need him?" Liz asked in the middle of serving another customer, Carla smiled as Peter spoke to Liz and decided to wait for him to approach her.

"Well I just wanted a quick chat really." Peter said, he still didn't notice that Carla was in the corner and went out back to find Steve sat in his living room with Amy who was giving him a full blow by blow account of her shopping trip and modelling a new jacket she had brought.

"Alright Peter?" Steve asked as Peter walked into the living room.

"Yeah I'm good thanks mate." Peter said, "Alright Amy? How was shopping?"

"Great!" Amy said with a nod, "Carla is so much fun."

"Oh I know." Peter grinned as he sat down next to Steve on at the table.

"She was trying to hook my Mum up with this waiter in TGI Fridays, It were dead funny." Amy said, sitting down at the table also.

"Sounds like they had a great time don't it." Steve said, Peter nodded at him and then he realised that as Amy was home, Carla must be back too.

"So is Carla ere?" Peter asked.

"Yeah she's out the front with Michelle." Steve said, "Didn't ya see her?"

"No…" Peter said shaking his head, "Although it was quite packed out there tonight weren't it, She's probably in the corner somewhere, I'll find her in a bit cause I need to speak to her but I just wanted to tell ya some good news, I got a promotion."

"Did ya?" Steve said happily, "Well done mate." Steve gave Peter a pat on the back as Amy nodded approvingly and said,

"Well done Uncle Peter, Did ya get a raise too?"

"Amy…" Steve cried but Peter chuckled and nodded,

"Yes I did."

"Good." Amy nodded earning nudge from her father.

"Eh, life isn't all about money y'know." Steve tutted.

"No buy money helps… a lot." Amy said, Peter chuckled at her again and began telling Steve all about his new role, Amy listened too of course and couldn't help but add her opinion in as well.

"Right, I better go n see the Missus…" Peter said after twenty minutes or so with Steve.

"Bye Peter n Congratulations again." Steve said with a nod.

"Bye Uncle Peter." Amy said and as Peter left the living room he felt very excited to see Carla and tell her all about his day and to also tell her about the decision he had made about the support group earlier.

He walked through the busy pub and found Carla and Michelle sat at the table in the corner, he walked over to them with a grin and sat himself down right next to Carla who raised an eyebrow and said,

"N what time do ya call this?" She nudged him in the side as he leant in and kissed her softly on the lips and when he pulled away he said,

"Hi Michelle."

"Hi Peter, Congratulations on the job, Carla told me." Michelle replied with a smile.

"I couldn't resist." Carla said nudging Peter proudly. He soon began telling Carla and Michelle all about his new job and afterwards Carla told him a little about the shopping trip she'd been on.

"Yeah I can see the damage you must ave done." Peter said grinning at the shopping bags underneath the table. "Did ya get anything for me?"

"Mmmm kind of..." Carla said with a suggestive grin, Peter grinned back at her as Michelle raised an eyebrow and said,

"And with that, I'll be leaving you to it."

"Awww you don't ave to Chelle." Carla began but Michelle stood up anyway.

"Oh yes I do, I can tell you pair are desperate to be alone." She said, smiling down at Carla and Peter who were sat right up against each other. "Besides I wanna go see what Amy's bought."

"You sure?" Carla asked and Michelle nodded. She waved and left Carla and Peter alone and as his wife turned to him lovingly he thought that it was probably time he told her about what Brian asked him.

"So... What do ya think?"

"Erm..." Carla said slowly, "I dunno... I mean what do you want to do?"

"Well..." Peter said with a nervous smile, "I kinda wanna do it, just once." He watched Carla who nodded slowly and tried her best to smile. "What? Do ya not think its a good idea?"

"Honestly?" Carla replied, Peter nodded. "No."

"Okay..." He breathed.

"Baby I'm sorry I just... Well I'm not sure it's a good idea y'know... Being around people... Like that..."

"Carla you make em sound like they're full of disease or something." Peter said as if she was being in fair.

"Oh I don't mean it like that... I just mean it's gonna be hard for ya that's all... N I wouldn't want..." Carla trailed off and looked down at her hands for a moment.

"Carla..." Peter said firmly, gently reaching over and lifting up her chin with a finger, so that she had to look at him. "I won't fall off the wagon just cause I'm around people who still drink."

"I know..." She mumbled, "Peter you hated going to those meetings."

"I know I did." Peter nodded, putting an arm around Carla who still looked a little uncomfortable about the offer Peter had been given. "But I'm a different man now Carla, and I could actually do some good there... I know I can n besides, It's only for one meeting at first n then we'll see how it goes."

"Well it's nothing to do with me is it?" Carla said although she was smiling at Peter warmly, "I mean it sounds as though f your mind is pretty made up."

"It is." Peter said delicately.

"Well..." Carla sighed, "I guess it's up to me to be supportive isn't it?" She said with another smile, she rested a head against Peter's chest as he said,

"Thank you love." He kissed her on her head softly and then added, "And trust me, You ave nothing to worry about... I promise."


	57. Support

Peter did call Brian from his old AA meeting that night and said he would come to a meeting to offer some support. He told Peter that the next meeting was on Friday the fourth of March and as it was a good week or so away, he and Carla didn't need to think about it again that day. They went about life as normal and it wasn't even mentioned again until Peter's phone had rung the night before the fourth. It was Brian and he was just calling to check that Peter hadn't changed his mind about coming along to help.

"Of course not… I'll be there." Peter said, whilst sat at his dining table with Carla and Simon eating Spaghetti which Peter had prepared for dinner earlier on that night. Simon looked at Carla whilst his Dad continued on the phone and said,

"Where's he gonna be?"

"He said he'd help out at an AA meeting." Carla said with her fork in hand, she had been thoroughly enjoying a nice meal with Simon and Peter and had even forgotten about Peter saying he'd help Brain out tomorrow, until now that is.

"An AA meeting?" Simon said confused, he'd heard that phrase before of course but he still wasn't sure what it meant as he hadn't heard the phrase since he was a lot younger.

"Oh… it's an alcoholic's anonymous meeting, basically people who are struggling with alcohol can go to these meetings each week and offer each other some advice... n support." Carla explained, Simon had been mid mouthful of spaghetti at this point but he stopped chewing and swallowed hard. His eyes had gone wide and Carla knew exactly what he was thinking as he shook his head and said,

"Well… why on earth is me Dad going to that? He's not drinking anymore..."

"Yeah I know Si, He's just going to offer support to the people there, that's all…" Carla began, watching Peter smiled triumphantly and hung up the phone. "Aren't you Peter?" She said nodding at him.

"Aren't I what?" Peter asked, Simon looked at his Dad nervously and said,

"Going to this AA meeting to support people... are you?" Peter nodded at Simon assuringly and picked up his fork to continue with his dinner before saying,

"Yes, That's the only reason I'm going Si, To help out, to remind people that it does get better… why else would I want to go?"

"I dunno…" Simon shrugged, looking down at his plate of Spaghetti. "Maybe you're going because you're secretly having some craving for alcohol or something." Simon added quietly, Carla bit her lip and looked away for a moment because she knew Peter wouldn't take too kindly to what Simon had just said.

"Si…" Peter said firmly, "I was approached with this opportunity last week and I want to take it because I feel like I'm in a really good place right now and I want to share that..."

"So… you want to show off to a bunch of people less fortunate than you then?" Simon replied, fiddling about with a strand of spaghetti with his fork.

"Simon…" Carla began, shaking her head because even she could see he was taking this AA meeting situation the wrong way. As much as she didn't want Peter to go to this meeting, she knew he wasn't going to show off in anyway, she knew he really wanted to help people.

"Well that's what he's doing isn't it? There's gonna be people there who are feeling proper low n me Dad's gonna roll in and brag about how good his life is right now, aint that just gonna make em feel worse about things?" Simon said still looking down at his plate, wanting his Dad to agree with him and say that he wouldn't go to this meeting after all because he was worried what it might do to him.

"Not at all." Peter said shaking his head and looking rather hurt by what Simon had just said to him. "I would never show off… Si I want the people at this meeting to see that no matter how low things become, there is always a way out... After all, I should know, shouldn't I?" He stared at his son who still sat looking down at his food rather then up at his Dad.

"So… this isn't because you think you might start drinking again?" Simon asked, looking intently up at his Dad again, he didn't mean to make it sound as if he didn't trust his Dad, he wanted to show him that he was only worried but it was clear by the look on his Dad's face that Peter now felt a little disheartened about things.

"Listen to me Simon…" Peter began, "I've already had this discussion with Carla… I am not going to drink again… never, I promise."

"I know…" Simon began, nodding slowly. "And I'm sorry… I just think it's going to be hard for you that's all... Really hard."

"It will be hard but it will also be very rewarding..." Peter said softly trying not to show Simon how upset he had become because he didn't think his son's words were intent to hurt him. "I'm not gonna change me mind about this, So… let's change the subject eh?"

"Yeah…" Carla said with a quick nod, reaching underneath the table and giving Peter's knee a comforting squeeze. Simon nodded too because he didn't want to talk about the subject much longer either, he very quickly went back to his Spaghetti but he didn't say much else for the rest of the meal, which is odd because before Peter's phone had rang, he was chatting non stop about school, Santana and about the football team he was on.

After dinner, Peter and Carla said that they were going to watch a movie on the sofa and normally Simon would jump at the change to join them but tonight, he said he was really tired from school and he actually went straight to bed, leaving Peter and Carla alone in the living room.

"He doesn't believe me does he?" Peter asked after clearing up all the plates from dinner and sitting down next to Carla who had already settled on the sofa with a tub of cookie dough ice cream. She had kicked off her shoes and was bear foot as Peter sighed and shook his head.

"He does…" Carla nodded as Peter put an arm around her and pulled her close to him, She delved her spoon into her tub of Ice Cream and then said, "He's just a little concerned about you that's all… just like I am…" She spoke that last bit quietly before eating some Ice Cream and as she did so, Peter shook his head slowly and said,

"Well you ave no need to be worried… trust me ere Carla… Please?"

"I do trust you Peter." Carla said sternly, turning to face him properly so he couldn't mistake the look on her face. "I trust you when you say that you're never going to drink again, I really really do because right ere right now… I know that's how you truly feel… but baby you can never tell what's going to happen in the future… I mean look at us? I told you we were never ever getting back together and at the time, I was sure of it… things change Peter."

"So what are you saying? That in the future I'm going to just... change my mind about drinking?" Peter replied with a slight tone of anger to his voice, he was just starting to feel really good about himself lately but after Simon's reaction he was starting to doubt how much his family really trusted him.

He had told his Dad about helping out at the meetings earlier on in the week and even though Ken said he was very proud of Peter, he still managed to express his concerns about these meetings too.

"No…" Carla said shaking her head. "I'm not saying that at all Peter. I'm saying that you don't know what you're going to come across at this meetings, you don't know how you're going to feel about it until you're in there… you might find it harder then you ever realised, Add to that, the fact that you've just got a new job and you're going to be extremely busy… you might find your self having feelings you thought you'd never feel again…"

"Carla…" Peter sighed slowly, but she kept talking and said,

"Or maybe you'll be absolutely fine with it all, I mean who knows…" She shrugged as she spoke and it made Peter feel as if she was trying to act as if the whole thing wasn't still playing on her mind. "That's what I'm trying to say ere Peter... we don't know what's going to happen."

"Look… can't I just go to this one meeting tomorrow n see how things go? Why do we have to get all caught up in what might happen in the future?" Peter asked, "I mean I'll probably hate it and decide that there's no way I'm going back… I just really want to try it out... just once."

"Well if that's how you wanna be about things then fine…" Carla replied, once again putting her spoon into her Ice Cream tub, "I'm just being honest about how I feel… and that is something we said we'd always do from now on…"

"I know…" Peter said nodding at Carla who put her spoon into her mouth, "I'm glad you're being honest and I know that you're only saying all of this because you care."

"Peter... I don't just care… I love you… ridiculously so n if there is anything at these meetings or anything in general that could make you upset… or anxious… I want to spare you from it that's all." Carla said, handing the tub of Ice Cream to Peter with a small smile.

"I love you too." Peter said, kissing her before taking the Ice Cream tub of her, they didn't talk about the AA meeting again until the next morning. They ate Ice Cream together and started to watch a movie but they only made it halfway through before things became very passionate between them, they got up and headed very quickly to bed and after the obvious happened, it seemed as if they would both get a sound night of sleep but Carla was the only one who did.

* * *

Peter was the first one awake on Friday morning and he would have been lying if he said that he wasn't nervous about what was to come. He had spent the rest of his night awake for some reason and he guessed it was because he didn't know what on earth he was going to say when he arrived at the AA meeting later on that day. He also couldn't get what Simon had said to him earlier on out of his mind and as he thought about seeing some of the people he used to know, he wondered if maybe Simon was right, maybe it would just make them feel worse about themselves to see him so happy, maybe he shouldn't go after all.

After waking up at Six, he tossed and turned and eventually left a snoozing Carla in bed at six thirty am. He got in the shower because he knew he wasn't going to get back to sleep and when he came out he saw that Carla was still fast asleep in his bed and so he decided to have a cigarette and then have some breakfast.

Carla eventually woke up at Seven forty am and walked into the kitchen to find Peter, already dressed in a new suit for work. He was sat at his breakfast bar, eating some toast with a cup of coffee next to him.

"Hey..." Carla groaned, "Y'know I hate waking up alone…" She said as she walked over to Peter, she was wearing his oversized fleecy black dressing gown and as she reached him he leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss.

"I'm sorry love, I woke up at six something and I just couldn't get back to sleep." Peter said as Carla slid both arms around his waist.

"Mmmm ya should ave woke me up then." She said with a suggestive grin before kissing him again on the lips.

"Maybe I should ave..." Peter chuckled pulling Carla even closer to him and holding her tight.

"You definitely should ave…" Carla breathed, she then looked at what Peter was wearing and said, "Hmmm I'm loving the suit…"

"Yeah well I ave an important meeting today n I wanted to make a good impression." Peter said looking down at his new suit proudly.

"Well you're definitely going to do that..." Carla beamed, "So… how you feeling about tonight then?" She asked leaning over to the breakfast bar and sneaking a piece of Peter's toast off his plate.

"Okay…" Peter began but Carla raised an eyebrow at him, which made him change his tune. "Or… I'm feeling a little... nervous."

"What about exactly?" Carla asked, munching a piece of toast and sitting down on the stool next to Peter.

"Everything if I'm honest… I mean at first I thought it would just be me going in there, listening to people's stories and offering some advice but Brain wants me to do a little talk… a speech type of thing… I ave no idea what to say now."

"It's not too late to back out y'know..." Carla said chewing her toast, "Why don't you just call this Brain n tell him you've had a change of heart? He'd understand."

"Because that's not fair… They're expecting me there..." Peter said shaking his head, no matter how nervous he was he wasn't about to let Brian and a whole load of people down, he didn't want to be that man, he didn't want to be the one to let people down anymore. Carla nodded at him as he got up off his stool and said to her, "Now my Queen, do ya want some breakfast?"

"No ta, just coffee would do." Carla replied gratefully, Peter nodded and went to make her a black coffee and when he handed it to her she said, "Thanks Darlin."

"You're welcome." Peter grinned, sitting down next to her, he very quickly changed the conversation to Michelle and Steve and soon enough it was eight fifteen am, Peter sighed heavily when he saw the time and said,

"Right… I said I'd be in work early today so I better get going." He downed the rest of his coffee and then got up off the stool.

"What time is this meeting then?" Carla asked getting up too.

"Seven thirty." Peter said picking up his coat, "It's not normally on a Friday night but the last meeting had to be moved so they are doing one tonight instead."

"Do ya wanna go out to eat after?" Carla asked, "We can head into town, have a proper night out n talk about it?"

"That sounds perfect." Peter nodded, leaning forward and kissing Carla sweetly.

"Good." She said after their kiss, she looked over to Simon's bedroom door and then raised an eyebrow, "Is he up yet?"

"Yeah, I heard him moving about in his room, he's normally out for his breakfast by now though... I reckon he's avoiding me." Peter said picking up his car keys and raising his eyebrows.

"Don't be daft…" Carla said shaking her head and trying to be assuring, she folded her arms together and walked Peter over to his front door. "He's probably just taking his time that's all... Have a good day okay."

"Yeah…" Peter breathed anxiously, not understanding where on earth this nervousness inside him had come from, especially when he had been so confident last night. "You too."

"Peter..." Carla said affectionately, "You're gonna be fine… I know it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence..." Peter nodded, "But given how I feel right now, I think I'm only going to do this once."

"You sure?" Carla asked, secretly thrilled because all of the feelings she'd had about this AA meeting job when she had first heard about it were still present today and no matter how much Peter assured her he would be okay, she was still going to be worried about him and how he'd cope with it all.

"Yeah…" Peter said, "I mean it'll be really good for me to go tonight I think… y'know just the once, to see everyone but after that, I dunno… I've moved on from that part of my life... I think it should stay that way."

"Well... it's your decision darlin..." Carla said slowly. Peter double checked the time and then said,

"Right I'm off."

"Bye…" Carla said poking him gently, "I'll see you back ere later n then we can go out."

"Bye." Peter said, leaning forward for one last kiss before leaving Carla at his flat. She closed the door behind him and walked back into the kitchen slowly, she gazed around at the flat she spent more time at then her own these days and then called out,

"Si… your Dad's gone now." Within seconds Simon's bedroom door opened and he appeared, He was already dressed in his school uniform and was carrying his backpack as he walked into the kitchen. "So…" Carla said, sitting back down on a stool at the breakfast bar and picking up her cup of coffee.

"So…" Simon said, walking over to the fridge in search of a quick breakfast.

"Why are you avoiding ya Dad?" She asked bluntly. Simon sighed a little and pulled out some milk before closing the fridge.

"I'm not… I just… I thought he'd still be mad at me over what I said last night." Simon explained, looking ashamed.

"He's not mad." Carla insisted, "He's… well I think what you said upset him a little but you've gotta be honest about how you feel Simon… that's the most important thing… if we're going to be a proper family and stay a proper family… well we ave to be honest with each other." Simon was in the middle of pouring cereal into his bowl and he stopped to give Carla a little smile when she said the word family.

"Don't worry... I'm gonna call him on the way to school…" Simon said, "Wish him luck n stuff..."

"Awww that'll be nice." Carla nodded as Simon poured milk into his cereal bowl.

"I was just really worried that's all when I heard he was going back to that meeting... I remember how much he used to hate them." Simon said bringing his cereal bowl over to where Carla was sat.

"Yeah me too..." Carla said with a nod, "N I still am but we ave to give your Dad a chance, if he says he's gonna be okay... we just ave to wait n see how it all goes okay."

"I know..." Simon nodded before beginning on his cereal. Carla sat with Simon whilst he ate his breakfast and as he finished she said, "Right, I better get me self ready for work."

"Yeah I gotta go, said I'd meet Santana on the way too school." Simon said getting off the stool and he smiled at Carla lovingly as he said "See ya."

"Bye bye." Carla said as Simon gave her a hug. She let Simon leave the flat and then went to get ready for a day at Underworld.

* * *

It was just gone half past one when Carla walked into the fitness centre on her lunch break. Her mind had been on Peter all morning. She was immensely glad that he had decided to only go to this one meeting and not help out every week but she still knew that tonight was going to be hard for him, so to try and let of some steam, She decided to go to the gym. She walked in there already dressed in a pair of black stretchy leggings, a long grey vest and a matching grey hoodie. Her hair was neatly tied up, she had her phone with some headphones dangling from it in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

"Alright Carla." said Zeedan who was stood at the desk going through some paper work.

"Hiya Zeedan." Carla nodded and smiled at him as she passed him by she would normally stop and chat with him but today she wanted to get straight on the treadmill and get to work. She was so determined to stop pondering about Peter that she forgot to warm up and after five minutes of some very fast paced running she turned to look to the left and felt a sharp pain in her right ankle.

"Ow!" She cried, pulling the emergency stop lever on the treadmill and stopping it rapidly. She staggered off the exercise equipment and sat on the end of it as Zeedan came running over to her, he had been watching Carla, like he did most of the time when she was at the gym and had seen her very quickly stop running.

"Hey, what happened?" He asked bending down as Carla bent her right leg and rested it on the knee of her left so she could take a closer look at her ankle.

"I dunno… it's my ankle." Carla said wincing as she pulled out her headphones from each ear, without any hesitation Zeedan reached forward and gently took hold of her right ankle. Carla flinched but only because she hadn't been expecting it. "I don't know what happened… I was just running like I normally do and bam, pain."

"Well I don't know about that..." Zeedan said with a smirk as he gently undid her shoe laces.

"Eh?" Carla frowned at him slightly which led him to say,

"I mean, you normally run fast at the best of times but today you were running even faster than normal..."

"Oh…" Carla said with a little laugh. "I errr I guess I was just trying to forget how worried I was about Peter..." She said, not meaning to let slip about just how much her mind had been on Peter today.

"Peter?" Zeedan repeated reading Carla's expression as he slid her trainer of her right foot. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah he's fine… more than fine actually." Carla said leaning forward slightly and looking at her ankle when Zeedan very slowly took off her sock. "He's been asked to help out n make this speech at this AA thing he used to go to…" At first Carla's words trailed off because she wasn't sure talking to someone else about all of this was a good idea but seeing as she had started on the subject she decided she might as well finish it, also, Zeedan wasn't exactly known as a gossip so she knew what ever she said, probably wouldn't go much further. "I was just wondering how it was going to go for him that's all."

"Oh right." Zeedan said with a nod, he still didn't know too much about Peter just bits n bobs from what Simon had told him but what he did know was that Peter used to be an alcoholic and as he looked at Carla's slightly concerned expression, he said, "I really respect Peter, he's dead brave."

"Oh yeah?" Carla asked with her head on one side as Zeedan looked down at her ankle.

"Yeah." Zeedan nodded, "I mean going back to somewhere like that when he is doing so well, it takes guts I think… N hey, If you're that worried about him, maybe you should go n cheer him on… I mean I don't know if anyone can just turn up like that but if ya can… He'd probably really like it." Carla kept quiet for a moment as Zeedan closely inspected her ankle. "Dad!" He called, gaining his Dad's attention from the desk near the exit. "Could you get an ice pack please?" Kal nodded and went to get some ice for Carla whilst she still sat in silence thinking about what Zeedan had just said and he was right, Peter really was brave to go back to that place and she knew that if anything, she should be there to support him through it.

"Maybe I should go?" Carla asked Zeedan as his Dad approached them with an ice pack wrapped in a towel. "I should shouldn't I?"

"Well…" Zeedan chuckled, "You should probably check if your ankle's alright first?" Zeedan said taking the ice pack of his Dad and placing it on Carla's ankle gently which made her wince again in pain. "I take it that hurt then."

"Would ya judge me if I said yes?" Carla grinned through the pain as Zeedan held the ice on her ankle.

"Uh oh..." Kal said looking concerned.

"Don't worry Kal, I won't sue, it was me own fault." Carla joked seeing the expression Kal's face. After a few minutes of the ice pack, Zeedan lifted it off Carla's ankle and asked her,

"Can you move it? Like back n fourth n stuff?" Carla shrugged and attempted to move her ankle a little as Kal went back over to the desk and left his son and Carla to it.

"Yeah…" She said taking a sharp breath, "It hurts when I do it though."

"N how does the rest of your leg feel? That doesn't hurt does it?" Zeedan asked remembering how Carla had once broken her leg after the horrific bus crash she had been in and he was pretty sure it was her right leg that she had broken as well as he watched Carla move her ankle some more.

"No… it's fine." She said as she moved her ankle around in a circle, it was a painful experience, one that made her bite her lip and say, "What do ya think I've done to it?"

"Not sure…" Zeedan said standing up, "Let's see if you can bear weight on it, here…" He said holding out his hand for Carla to take. She looked at his hand, which was hanging mid air and gingerly took hold of it to stand up, as she did so, Zeedan supported her and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah… I think so..." Carla said standing up right and looking down at her bare foot which was slightly swollen by this point. She placed it onto the ground and winced again. "It hurts but… I can stand on it... just about."

"Good." Zeedan nodded watching Carla, "So I don't think it's too serious then, Although I reckon you've probably just sprained it… try n walk on your own for me." Carla tried to walk but clearly had trouble with this and frantically grabbed hold of Zeedan the moment she put all her weight on her right foot. "I reckon we should probably get you to the hospital." Zeedan said putting his arm around Carla's waist,

"No..." Carla groaned.

"Just to get you an X ray and check nothings broken." Zeedan said nodding.

"Broken?" Carla scoffed, "Please, I was only running on the treadmill Zee."

"Yeah... Carla do ya know you can actually break your ankle just whilst stepping off the kerb?" Zeedan replied, walking Carla over to the desk. "Dad I think Carla needs to go to the hospital, can you drive us there?"

"Us?" Carla asked looking at Zeedan strangely.

"Well yeah… I'll come with ya…" Zeedan said and then he blushed, "Only if ya want… y'know for company… hospital can be pretty boring." He said quickly, not looking at Carla properly now.

"Oh…" She said with a nod, "Alright then..." She said because she really could use some company. Before she knew it, she was sat in a hospital waiting room with Zeedan sat next to her. It was a weird experience for them both but as they got along rather well, the conversation flowed rather freely as they sat in the rather busy urgent care centre together.

"Have you told Peter where you are?" Zeedan asked after a while.

"No…" Carla said shaking her head, "He'll only worry, n leave work. He's just had a big promotion so I don't want him to do that, I'm sure he's got better things to do then come all the way over ere just for me ankle..."

"A promotion eh?" Zeedan said with a nod, "He's a busy man isn't he?"

"He sure is." Carla nodded, "He won't go to that meeting tonight if I tell him either n I know that amongst everything he really wants to go… I should probably call work though, tell em I'm not coming back tonight." Carla pulled her phone out of her hoodie pocket and dialled the number for Underworld. Shortly after that, Zeedan's sister Alya answered Carla's call.

"Hello Underworld Alya speaking, How can I help?"

"Hi Alya, it's Carla." She said with a sigh, "I'm not going to be coming back to work this afternoon, I'm... at the hospital…" She began telling Alya what had happened as Zeedan sat by and kept busy on his phone, "Anyways I'm waiting to ave an X Ray so I'll be a while."

"Oh no…" Alya said from the other side of the phone, "Well I really hope you're okay…"

"I'll be fine." Carla nodded, "It'll probably just be a sprain or something, just do me a favour n don't tell anyone else will ya, I don't want Peter getting wind of this n worrying, he's got some very important plans this evening and I don't want them spoiled."

"Okay." Said Alya, "I'll just tell everyone you didn't tell me why you're not coming back."

"Good…" Carla said, "Cheers Alya… Oh n by the way, I heard nothing but good news about when I left you in charge the other day, so you can tell Sally you're in charge again."

"Really?" Said Alya surprised, "Thanks so much." Carla smiled as she said goodbye to Alya and as she hung up the phone, Zeedan said,

"Thanks for that."

"For what?" Carla asked in confusion as she turned to look at Zeedan.

"Well for letting my sister have more responsibility at work, she really enjoys it." Zeedan said, "She hasn't actually stopped talking about the other day when she was left in charge instead of Sally."

"Awww well she's a good worker, really good at her job, She really deserves it." Carla said smiling at Zeedan who looked genuinely proud of his big sister.

"She does…" Zeedan nodded slowly, he then looked down sadly and very quietly said, "Me Mum would be well proud if she knew how well Alya was doing." Carla was quiet for a moment, she knew that Zeedan had lost his Mum many years ago but that's all she knew, he and Alya for that matter rarely talked about their Mum and yet here he was, talking freely about her with Carla.

"She'd be proud of you too Zeedan." Carla eventually said nudging him in the arm gently. "You're doing really well at the gym… your Dad says so all the time."

"Yeah…" Zeedan shrugged, "But it's not my dream… I mean Alya's always wanted to be in the fashion business, be in charge of her own line n stuff and she's really doing it but me… As much as I love being at the gym with me Dad, it's not what I've always wanted to do y'know."

"Well..." Carla said, "What _do_ ya want to do?"

"No idea." Zeedan immediately replied with a little chuckle.

"Well that's helpful." Carla said grinning.

"I know…" Zeedan nodded, "I just can't help but think I should do something for myself, get a job where I don't just have it because of my Dad."

"Oi, there's nothing wrong in working for your Dad y'know…" Carla began, "It's a family business after all... it happens all the time, I mean I used to work with me brother…" She trailed of them because memories of working with Rob were painful and she didn't want to get into them right now. "But…" She said changing tack, "If the gym is truly not what you want to do… then you need to do something about it."

"Like what?" Zeedan grunted.

"I dunno… find something you're interested in… and do it." Carla said as encouragingly as she could. "But as for your Mum being proud of you… It would have nothing to do with your job… you're a really good man Zeedan."

"Yeah right…" Zeedan said rolling his eyes.

"You are." Carla said insistently, sharply nudging Zeedan again. "I mean you're hard working, decent, not to mention how good you are with Simon. He really really looks up to you, you're like a big brother and the way you very maturely came around with the whole Leanne thing… I think... your Mum would be extremely proud of you..." Zeedan smiled shyly at Carla again and then bit his lip before saying a sheepish,

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Carla replied with a smile back, she looked down at her phone to check the time and then said, "So… what do ya reckon, Should I go to this AA meeting to support Peter or not?"

"I think so…" Zeedan nodded, "Well… depending on your ankle that is."

"Hmmm…" Carla said deep in thought, "I'm not sure if I can just show up… it might be a closed meeting…" She then smirked at Zeedan and said, "I reckon I ave some calls to make…"

* * *

It was Seven fifteen pm and Peter had just arrived at the AA meeting, he had been stuck in a lot of traffic on the way home from work and he had planned on going home and getting changed into a casual pair of jeans but since he had stayed so late at work, there was no time and he ended up going straight to the AA meeting in his suit.

The closer he got, the more he considered driving home again, he was still a little nervous when he arrived and as he walked into the room, he was welcomed by a few familiar faces and a few not so familiar faces. Some were sat on chairs and some were at a table getting themselves a drink of coffee and a biscuit as Peter entered the room.

"Peter… you made it." Brain said, standing up of the chair he had been sitting on and welcoming Peter over to him, a lot of the faces turned to look at him and a few of them looked pleasantly surprised to see him there.

"Yeah, although I almost went home when I got here." Peter said with a nervous nod.

"Oh don't worry about it." Brain said, "You're going to be fine… besides, let's just say that some people attending this meeting, are very excited to hear you speak."

"Really?" Peter asked looking around the room, there were a few familiar faces that had smiled at him but no one looked particularly excited at all.

"Yes really…" Brain said with a mysterious nod, ushering Peter over to a seat and saying nothing more. Peter nodded again at Brain as he sat down and at first he was still nervous about things but after those scary first few minutes he felt a little at ease.

The meeting started promptly at seven thirty, Brain kicked it off like he normally did and whilst he did, Peter looked around the room as those people he was sat amongst. The scariest thing about these meetings was that at a glance, everyone sat in the room looked like they were totally normal. They looked as if they led totally normal lives when in reality, they were going through a lot of deep and dark issues.

Brian then sat down and let the first person stand up to talk, Peter watched as a woman who was in her mid thirties, told the meeting about how much she had struggled throughout the week due to her hairdressing business not going so well, she told of how close she had came to falling off the wagon, she then explained it was because she was still heartbroken she still was about her husband leaving her and how she never saw her son anymore.

It made Peter uncomfortable to hear about how similar her life was to how his used to be and as she sat down, he felt his throat go dry because he just couldn't think of anything useful to say.

A few more people stood up and told their weekly stories and to each one, Peter just nodded along feeing utterly useless. He thought he would have been able to offer some comfort to these people but right now, all he was offering was a few claps and a nod hear and then.

He looked down at his watch and saw that it was nearly eight fifteen and he knew that his time to talk would be coming very soon and he still hadn't prepared what he was going to say, it was then that he really regretted turning up at the AA meeting.

"Peter… would you like to take the floor?" said Brain encouragingly.

"Erm… yes." Peter said standing up and walking to the front of the room slowly. When he got to the front he turned around the face the people he had just been sat with and after a few moments he said, "Hi everyone… some of you know me already but for those who don't… the name's Peter."

"Hi Peter." Went the group before him and as they said Hi, Peter offered them a courteous nod.

"Well… basically I'm ere today for the first time in years n I ave to say… I was quite uneasy about it to be honest…" Peter paused as he heard the door open and when he and everyone else looked over at it, he saw Carla walk through it on crutches. She was no longer in her gym gear and was back in the outfit she'd had on this morning as she staggered into the room. His mouth actually dropped open when he saw her and he was about to ask her what the hell happened when she quickly shook her head at him, raised a finger to his lips and conducted for him to carry on. Peter then watched as Brian got up off his chair to help Carla over to one.

"Sorry I'm late..." She whispered to him and it was clear that Brian had known that Carla was coming.

"Erm… anyways..." Peter began, "I'm not so uneasy anymore…" he was smiling at Carla who clumsily sat down on a chair at the back of the room. She smiled back at him enthusiastically and leant her crutches on the chair next to her. "Apologies, I err… had planned on going home n getting changed into a pair of jeans but I was stuck in traffic on the way ere... Believe me, I look a hell of a lot more scruffy on a day to day basis."

There were a few laughs from the people sat in front of Peter and Carla laughed too, she smiled fondly as Peter cleared his throat again and said,

"I've been sober for almost two years now… and I am very proud of myself because if I'm honest, getting to this point of my life really wasn't easy. The last time the people in this room saw me, I was in a very bad way and after I left? Well life didn't get much better for me… I was here because I'd just done something bad…" He looked at Carla in apologetic way and then continued with what he was saying, "Very bad… something unimaginable to the woman I love… and I really didn't know how on earth to cope with it, in the end, I started drinking again… a lot, so I got sent to rehab… n sure it worked for about five minutes but I still continued betraying my wife. Soon enough... it all came out and well? she left me, which is totally understandable of course and I still don't blame her for it to this day, then something else happened…"

Carla bit her lip because she knew what was coming next and she swallowed hard as Peter said,

"There was a murder… and it was the murder of the girl I betrayed my wife with."

Carla felt a little sick as Peter brought up the subject of Tina's murder and she shuffled uncomfortably in her seat as he continued to speak.

"Of course I was suspect number one and then the even more unthinkable happened…" Peter said his voice breaking. Carla felt tears prick her eyes as Peter stood at the front of the room before and she sniffed as he said,

"My wife… my beautiful... gorgeous wife... well she lost a baby… our baby…" He said, looking over at Carla who looked close to tears now. "Nothing can prepare you for the loss of a child… nothing and it killed me that I couldn't support my wife through it all... so of course I dealt with it the only way I knew how, with booze."

There were a few nods in the room this time as Peter spoke and as he watched those faces in front of him nod their heads, he knew that they understood exactly how he had felt back then.

"Long story short… I ended up being arrested for murder and if you think prison was the thing that got me sober well you can think again…" Peter rolled his eyes before continuing and said, "If your familiar with prison or even prison Tv shows you might have heard of something called prison hooch, it's basically home made booze and well, me being me, I found a large supply of it… I thought I was at my lowest at this point and I really didn't see how I could make things worse for myself so I drank it… all. Next thing I know I'm in hospital, barley alive… now that really was my lowest but I'm glad it happened, y'know why? Well… being that close to death… it does things to ya, it makes you think in different ways. There were moments when all I wanted to do was give up but then, I had an epiphany It was then I realised that it was down to me… That if I wanted to keep living... I had to stop drinking… that was the only thing that was going to save me… not my wife, not my family… me."

Peter paused for a moment to take a breath as everyone in the room watched him, transfixed. He looked around the room and caught eye contact with Carla who nodded at him encouragingly and gave him the strength to continue.

"As you can probably guess, I got out of prison… I didn't commit the murder just FYI and when I got out I had been living in some sort of dream world, I genuinely thought I could come out n pick up where I left of but I couldn't… My wife didn't forgive me and I really didn't think I could cope with that, I was only out of jail a few days and I was already having cravings so… I left Weatherfield, in fact I left Manchester. It really killed me leaving my son behind but I knew I had to do it to be a good father, after all, I'd be no good to my son if I was dead would I? So I stayed away, I stayed away for a long time and I just worked on myself. I won't lie to you it was hard... really hard. Those first few weeks on me own were awful and the first few months in fact..."

Peter stopped and took a moment to think about how truly bad life was for him when he moved away from Weathefield.

"But eventualIy... I felt better, I got a healthier life style and I picked my life back up... I moved back home, got a great new job, a new flat where me n me son live happily and amazingly..." Peter paused as a tear ran down his cheek, "My beautiful wife gave me another chance."

Peter beamed at Carla once again which led a few people to turn around and follow his gaze over to Carla who was almost in tears also, It was obvious who she was by this point especially when Peter chuckled and said,

"She's actually ere tonight... although I'm not sure why she's ere ere on crutches." Carla giggled as Peter pulled a funny face at her and said, "Anyways, the reason why I've rambled on for so long tonight it because I want you all to know that no matter how hard things get... they can only get better. You must never ever give up because... you owe it to yourself to fight those cravings... Please..." Peter begged, "Don't ever ever give up... Thank you for listening."

There was a moment of silence before the room erupted in cheers and claps, the loudest ones, coming from none other than Carla.


	58. Crutches & Crushes

_**Sorry for not updating last week :( Forgive me and enjoy this update...**_

* * *

"Wait… what do ya mean you're going back there? You said you wouldn't..." Carla sighed. She was sat at the dining table in her flat and Peter was sat opposite her looking slightly annoyed with him self for caving so easily.

"I know…" He said with a nod, "But Brain called me earlier on today n he said that they could really do with my help…" Since his attendance to the AA meeting the other day and since it had gone so well, Peter had been receiving calls and messages from various people who wanted him to come back and offer them more support. It was two days later on Sunday when Brian had actually phoned Peter himself and had asked him if he wanted to come back next week because he'd had so much good feedback. Peter told Brian he'd think about it but deep down, he really did want to go back.

The feeling he'd felt whilst stood up in front of that room was one that he'd never felt before, he felt as if for once he was actually able to use his horrible past for good and use it to offer some real and decent support. This was something that he'd never been able to do since he first showed an interest in Carla many years ago and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to pass the opportunity to help others by.

"So… that's it, you're just gonna do what he says?" Carla shrugged, sat with her empty plate in front of her. She and Peter had just enjoyed a very nice meal on their own together but now he'd dropped this bombshell on her all she could do was stare at him in awe. "I mean you were the one who said you'd moved on from this…"

"I know I did…" Peter nodded again, knowing that as supportive as Carla had been during the entire AA meeting, she was still worried about him and how he was going to cope with going back to somewhere that was such a dark place for him. "But the meeting was a great success, you said so you're self love…"

"Yeah I did but what happens when it's not a success, what happens when you go to one that is dreadful, what happens when you come across a really really horrible story, then what?" Carla said, her tone laced with concern.

"Carla… if anything, me going to these meetings will only enhance the importance of not drinking again." Peter said, "Seeing people in such a dark place… it's only going to make me sure that I will never, ever touch a drop of alcohol again."

"But…" Carla began, only to be interrupted by Peter who gently pressed a finger against her lips, she tried to remain straight faced but she giggled as Peter began to speak.

"Carla… I felt really good about me self the other night at that meeting, like really good… Like I was finally putting me self to good use… I swear the moment I start to feel like it's too much, I tell Brian I can't help out anymore… I promise…" Peter then took his finger away from Carla's lips and waited for her response.

"But…" she began but she couldn't really think of anything else clever to say here because he was right, the AA meeting on Friday night really had gone well and everyone really seemed to like Peter. Carla didn't want to admit it because she was still worried about him but he had been in an exceptionally good mood since Friday night's AA meeting and she knew it was down to how much applause he had received and how much it seemed like his speech was going to help people. Carla also knew that Peter was a very stubborn man and if he had decided to go along to these meetings, he was going no matter what anyone said to him.

"But what?" Peter grinned, leaning forward slightly so that his face was only inches away from Carla's.

"Uh you are so smug Barlow…" Carla said, looking down at her bandaged ankle, which she had ended up actually spraining. After the AA meeting she had explained to Peter all about her ankle and how she had only hurt it running on the treadmill. She told of how Zeedan had looked after her and the next day Peter saw Zeedan and gave him a pat on the back for looking after his wife so well. She was still on crutches and they had been left over by her sofa because Peter had insisted on carrying her over to her chair. "You're so lucky I can't walk away from you right now…"

"Eh… don't be like that love…" Peter said pouting slightly, "All I need… is your support…" the look on her husband's face was enough for Carla's stern expression to weaken considerably.

"You already ave my support you div… n you always will." Carla said, unable to stay in her mood for just a moment longer, she smiled at Peter who reached over and put an arm around her. "I'm just worried about ya that's all… I can't help it, you're my baby."

"I know…" Peter chuckled kissing Carla softly and slowly on the cheek, "I'm just going to take it one week at a time okay…"

"Okay…" Carla nodded slowly she gazed into Peter's eyes and ran a hand down his chest before sighing peacefully and saying, "I love you."

"Mmmm and I love you too." Peter smiled, he and Carla kissed each other passionately for a moment and as Peter pulled away he grinned once more and said, "Come on then hop along… let's get you on the sofa whilst I sort out all the plates n stuff."

"Oh… leave that stuff till later." Carla groaned as Peter got up off his chair.

"Oh no… we're not doing that again…" Peter said, collecting the plates and cutlery they had been using and taking them too the kitchen. He wanted to sort out all the dirty dishes because he and Carla were going to pick up Simon from Santana's house in a few hours and then they were all going back to his place. "You said that last time n what happened? You came over to my place, returned ere four days later to a plate of congealed pasta bake, remember?"

"Oh god yeah… that was disgusting..." Carla shuddered as Peter returned to the table to get the glasses they had also been using, the sight of that four day old pasta had made her feel absolutely sick and she had ended up just throwing the actual plate away with the food on it just so she didn't have to touch it too much. "Y'know I don't know why I still ave this place… I mean how many nights a month do we actually spend alone? Two or three at most… Probably not even that really… It's rather ridiculous that we ave two flats between us…"

"Well you are more than welcome to move into my place…" Peter said gazing around the room at all of Carla's stuff, "I just don't know where all your stuff would go… I mean it's pretty full with just me n Simon's…"

"Yeah, I mean have you seen the size of the wardrobe in your room, I couldn't fit half me stuff in there n what about all me shoes?" Carla said, trying to imagine taking everything she owned over to Peter's, "Although there's plenty of room over ere y'know… you could move in…" Carla added with a smile as Peter held out his hands to help her get up.

"Oh trust me love, you couldn't get me in ere quick enough if it weren't for the fact that I still have a good few months left on my contract, plus there isn't a room for Simon." Peter said as Carla put her arm over his shoulder and balanced on one leg.

"Oh I know…" Carla groaned, they'd had this conversation many many times before and it always came down to the fact that Peter was locked into his flat until at least the end of May. "I guess we'll just have to wait… but you're right about Simon, he's gonna need his own room, so this place wouldn't work either…"

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, walking Carla over to the sofa slowly, making sure he was going at a pace that she found comfortable. "I guess we should both just stay where we are then eh?"

"Really?" Carla stopped, her eyes going wide, she had thought that the plan was for her and Peter to move into together again at some point and that she was pretty sure that was what Peter wanted too but after what he had just said, she wasn't sure anymore. Luckily, she only had to look at the grin on his face to see that he was kidding.

"Course not…" Peter said shaking his head with a chuckle, "Soon as my contract is done, maybe we should think about moving somewhere bigger."

"Good." Carla giggled as Peter gently helped her sit down on the sofa. He was about to leave her there and start on getting everything into the dishwasher but Carla had a tight grip on his sleeves and before he knew it he was being pulled right onto the sofa with her.

"Oi!" Peter cried, half laughing as Carla wrapped her good leg around him and began undoing his shirt.

"The dishes can wait… I can't…" She cackled and within seconds she had Peter's shirt completely undone and on the floor next to them.

* * *

Monday morning came sooner than Carla and Peter had really wanted it to, neither one of them wanted to go to work and since half term was over Simon wasn't looking forward to his first day back either.

The three of them spent breakfast moaning and groaning about the days they had ahead. Simon was already dressed in his school uniform, Peter in a black suit and waistcoat and Carla in sleeveless black dress with tights. She knew she probably could have taken a bit of time off work due to her ankle but she felt like she'd just be totally bored at home alone.

"You're crazy…" Simon said to Carla shaking his head whilst finishing his toast. "Going to work with a sprained ankle? If that were me, I'd be milking it for all it's worth…"

"Yeah but I went in when I broke my leg last year didn't I? I can hardly stay off for a sprained ankle, can I?" Carla said with a mug of coffee in her hands as Peter ate a bowl of cereal.

"You know what Carla's like, Si. She's a right workaholic." Peter said knowing her mind wouldn't be changed about going to work, especially since she had left the place early on Friday.

"Well… make sure the factory lot wait on you hand and foot then." Simon said with a nod, as if he heard otherwise he'd make sure the Underworld employees would regret it.

"Oh don't worry Si..." Carla grinned nudging Peter in the side playfully, "I will, I mean I've got your Dad well trained so that lot should be no problem." Simon chuckled because he knew all too well at how much his Dad had been running around after Carla since she had been on crutches, although it wasn't down too much to Carla having Peter trained it was more because he didn't want her to so much as lift a finger.

He wouldn't even let her get up off the sofa without being by her side to make sure she was okay and as he sat next to her at breakfast he was a little worried about what her day at Underworld might entail.

"Si's right though love, you need to make sure that your factory lot look after you." Peter said, getting up off his stool and starting to tidy up the breakfast area.

"Look after me?" Carla scoffed, "Peter me I've only sprained me ankle, I'm not an invalid."

"Yeah I know but I've spent the entire weekend making sure that you don't do any more damage and that you get lots of rest, I don't want you going into work spoiling that." Said Peter firmly, he looked at Carla who was smiling at him fondly as Simon shock his head and said,

"I really think you should stay home."

"Simon, I'm gonna be fine." Carla said, taking both hands and lifting her self off the stool she had been sat on, her crutches had been left rested next to her but Peter had still rushed over to her and took her by the waist. "You too Peter, I'm gonna be okay." She said as she stood up right and took each crutch off him.

Simon nodded and gave Carla a quick kiss before getting his backpack and saying,

"Uh, Spose I better head off to school then." He rolled his eyes as he put his bag on his back.

"Ave a good day son." Peter said patting his kid on the back as he went to leave, still with one arm around Carla as he did so.

"Yeah right." Simon scoffed, he waved at his Dad and Carla before opening the door and leaving the flat. Peter chuckled at his son and then turned to face Carla and say,

"Right hop along, let's get you to work."

"Oh would ya stop calling me that." Carla cried.

Seeing as she had a sprained her ankle she obviously couldn't drive so Peter had to help her get to work, he drove them around the corner and up Coronation Street and as they entered the factory, Carla on crutches with Peter by her side, he said,

"Morning Ladies… n Sean."

"Morning…" Said some of the employees, they had heard that Carla had hurt her ankle but hadn't actually seen her since so when they saw her walking in on crutches it was quite a surprise. Sally Webster said,

"Good Morning Mrs Barlow." In a very sympathetic tone whilst Fizz, Sinead and Izzy all looked very concerned about their boss.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" Eva said, she had been in the middle of making herself a cup of tea when Carla and Peter walked in and had stopped momentarily when she saw them.

"I'm fine Eva, It's just a sprain." Carla sighed, walking on her crutches over to her office. Sean looked at Carla and then Peter with a smirk and said,

"Oh yeah n how'd ya do that then?" His suggestive comment earned a lot of nudges and laughs from the rest of the Underworld employees whilst Peter grinned.

"At the gym, get your mind out of the gutter will ya?" Carla said with a raised eyebrow, She looked back at Peter lovingly and then said, "Thanks for the lift..."

"You're welcome." Peter nodded, he leant in and placed kiss on her cheek before turning to her employees and saying, "Right you lot, make sure you look after her, or you'll ave me to deal with."

"Hark at him though." Beth said with a smirk as she sat down at her work station.

"Oh ignore him, He's just overprotective that's all." Carla said, she was struggling to hold her bag and use the crutches at the same time. She attempted to move forwards into her office Peter watched her and said,

"Ere, let me help you into the office love."

"Awww he's so sweet." Sinead sat from her sewing station, Peter looked genuinely pleased at this comment and as he took Carla's bag off her, Beth then said,

"I bet that ankle is causing right havoc with ya sex life." There were more laughs from the factory employees at this point and as Peter just smirked again and walked into Carla's office, she just smiled once more and said,

"Oh trust me… it's not." At the amused response from her colleagues, Carla made her way into her office as quickly as she could given the fact that she was on two crutches.

"Oh I do miss that lot." Peter said, pulling Carla's chair out from underneath the desk.

"Yeah… they're a riot." Carla said dryly as she hobbled over to her seat. "They miss you too thought, I mean they talk about you all the time." Carla had only been in her office for a matter of seconds when Sally had come through the door saying,

"Can I get you a cup of tea? Coffee?"

"No ta Sal, I'm alright." Carla smiled through gritted teeth because she knew that Sally was going to suck up to her even more now she was injured. She nodded at Carla and came right into the office anyway, sitting down on the chair opposite her as Peter said,

"Right… I'm off, if you need anything, Just give me a call okay?"

"Peter, for the one hundredth time, I'm going to be fine." Carla said, taking off her jacket and hanging it off the back of her chair.

"We'll make sure we look after her." Sally said as Alya walked into the office, she rolled her eyes at Sally's sickly tone as Peter nodded and said,

"That's what I like to hear thanks Sally." He then leant in and kissed Carla lovingly before getting up and saying, "See ya later…"

"Ave a good day..." Carla beamed as Peter waved once more at her and left the office. She watched him leave and smiled as he winked at her through the window. She still wasn't one hundred per cent pleased about him going back to the support meetings but as Peter left the building she thought about what he said to her this morning and she felt like she truly trusted everything that Peter was saying.

* * *

The next AA meeting came once again on a Friday and by then, Carla was a little more steady on her feet, she still needed crutches but she wasn't in as much pain, she also didn't need as much help from Peter and was able to speed up and down Coronation Street in no time.

She had made it home from a rather pleasant day at work on Friday in a really good mood and had even got really skilled at getting changed too. She got changed out of her work outfit and just chucked on a pair of lounge shorts and a vest because she wasn't planning on going out again. She settled on the sofa with a cup of coffee and rested her bandaged ankle on the coffee table when her phone began to ring. Carla picked it up and looked at the screen to see who it is and smiled excitedly when she saw it was Peter.

"Hey baby…" Carla said when she answered the call.

"Hey love, I just wanted to call n see how you are." Said Peter, still sat at his own desk because he normally didn't finish work until Six.

"Yeah I'm good thanks, how about you? How's your day been?" Carla asked.

"Pretty boring actually, Fridays are normally quite quiet. How about you?" Peter replied.

"Okay, We finished a few orders early and gained a new client… that put me in a good mood so I let everyone go early." Carla said, reaching over to the table and picking up the remote control.

"Wow… you let everyone go early? You must ave been in a good mood." Peter chuckled.

"You know it." Carla said, almost laughing too as she flicked through the channels to see what was on television.

"So what you up to tonight then?" Peter asked Carla, knowing he'd be out until at least eight thirty pm and knowing that Carla was probably going to miss his presence tonight.

"Nothing…" Carla groaned, frowning heavily even though she knew Peter wouldn't be able to see her, she hoped he could hear it in her voice. "I was gonna meet Chelle but Steve's taking her out."

"Awww, Well where's Si? What's he doing tonight?" Peter asked, wondering maybe if Simon would want to spend some time with his Stepmother seeing as they got along so well.

"Oh I dunno, I think he mentioned something about hanging out with a mate tonight." Carla sighed, "Maybe I'll watch Game Of Thrones or something."

"Oi!" Peter cried, "Don't you dare, y'know we're supposed to be watching that together."

"I'm kidding…" Carla cackled. She and Peter had both started watching a show Games Of Thrones just after Christmas and were trying to catch up with it in time for when it started back on television again. They had become so hooked on it that they were almost finished with in three months and even though Carla had been itching to watch the next episode there and then, she stayed true to her word and promised Peter she'd wait for him to get home.

"I won't be home late love, about nine or sooner." Peter said, "I'll bring us some dinner yeah, what do ya fancy?"

"Oohhhhh I could murder a curry." Carla said, practically salivating as she spoke.

"A curry it is." Peter said with a nod whilst still sat at his desk.

"So… are you looking forward to this next meeting then?" Carla asked putting the remote back down on the table as she couldn't find anything on to watch.

"Yeah, I think so…" Peter replied, "As I said, I'll just have to take each week as it goes though."

"Look Peter…" Carla began, "I still support your decision n all that but these meetings aren't always gonna be on Friday nights are they? I mean I'm gonna be dead bored without ya tonight, I can't put up with it every week, Didn't they used to be on a Monday?"

"Yeah they are on a Monday, it's just they've been moved for the time being due to some issue with the building, but I agree, I don't want to spend every Friday night away from you n Si." Peter answered, he then looked up at the clock and said, "Right, I ave to get back to work, I'll see you later."

"I love ya." Carla said and after Peter said,

"I love ya too." Carla hung up the phone, she sighed heavily when she looked at the empty flat around her. She thought about gathering up her crutches which she had left next to the sofa and going over to the pub for a drink, maybe she could meet Ken or even Tracy but seeing as Peter was going to come home with dinner, she thought she should stay at home instead and wait for him.

The door went off at Five thirty five pm, just as Carla found that boredom was really getting to her, she grabbed her crutches and hopped over to it as quickly as she could, hoping that whoever it was would be patient.

"Ello?"

"It's Simon."

"Oh, Hiya Si, come up." Carla said, shocked to hear that Simon was ringing her door because he was supposed to have been at a friend's house. She wondered if maybe Peter had called Simon and asked him to come over as she opened her front door and sure enough within thirty seconds of so, Simon appeared still wearing his school uniform, at first it looked as if it was just Simon alone but then Carla saw who else he was with, Zeedan.

"Hey…" Carla said with a smile as Simon and Zeedan approached her door, "You two alright?"

"Yeah…" Simon said giving Carla a quick hug. Zeedan just stood and watched with a small smile as he saw Carla and Simon embrace. "I left that new game me n Dad bought last night." The previous evening, he and Peter had specially gone shopping to buy this new zombie game that had just been released but they had gone over to Carla's place afterwards to help her collect some clothes and Simon had totally forgot to take the game back with him. "I was gonna play it with a mate from school but he cancelled on me so I called Zee…"

"Oh I see." Carla said hopping aside and letting Simon in, He went ahead in search for his game as Zeedan gazed ahead of him at Carla's flat, this was the first time he'd been in there and he would have been lying if he said he wasn't impressed by the vast fire place and the stylish décor. "You alright Zeedan?" Carla asked, watching him as he scanned the room.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." Zeedan nodded as Simon began searching for the game, he looked down at Carla's ankle, which was still bandaged up and asked, "How's your ankle doing?"

"Yeah…" Carla shrugged, "It's alright, Getting better day by day, I miss the gym though n getting in a good workout each day."

"Really? Well, we all miss you too..." Zeedan replied, he felt his cheeks grow hot as Simon smirked at him, still looking around for the bag with the game inside.

"Si check the kitchen." Carla said, craning her neck, sure she could remember seeing a carrier bag in it earlier with a game inside. Simon headed towards the kitchen whilst Zeedan looked Carla up and down, as she stood before him in her black vest and grey shorts. He wasn't used to seeing her looking so relaxed and in such little clothes because even at the gym, she always looked immaculate and she was always fully dressed.

"Found it!" Simon cried excitedly, walking back to the living area with the carrier bag in hand.

"Good." Carla nodded, still stood balancing on crutches and looking pleased for Simon as he put the bag into his backpack.

"So… we going then?" Zeedan asked, Simon started to nod slowly but then looked at Carla who looked a little downtrodden at the idea of being alone once again. "Si?"

"What you doing tonight Carla?" Simon asked.

"Nothing." Carla replied, turning around and hobbling back over to her sofa.

"Nothing?" Zeedan repeated, "But it's Friday night." He imagined that Carla always spent her friday nights doing something exciting and couldn't believe that she was saying that she was going to stay in.

"Yeah I know but unfortunately I'm a right billy no mates tonight." Carla sighed as she sat down on the sofa, she looked at Simon who looked slightly concerned and then shook her head, "Don't worry about me kid, Your Dad will be home later with a curry."

"Yeah but still… those meetings go until about nine don't they?" Simon said, he then had a light-bulb moment and said, "Hey why don't you come with us to me Dad's? That way we can keep you company till he comes home."

"What n watch you two play that horrible Zombie game?" Carla scoffed, "No ta, besides, I can't be bothered to get dressed n hobble all the way around the corner…"

"Okay…" Simon said with a nod, looking a little disappointed because he actually wanted to spend some time with Carla.

"Although, you two could stay ere with me if you really wanna keep me company?" Carla suggested. Simon nodded but Zeedan looked a little reluctant because he felt as if he might be intruding some sort of family time between Carla and Simon.

"Here?" He said, "And do what exactly?"

"Well, you were going over to Peter's to play games? You can do that ere y'know?" Carla said to Zeedan as she pointed over to her television.

"What? Ave you got a Playstation ere then?" Zeedan asked, looking rather impressed again at the idea of Carla with a games console.

"No." Simon said, chuckling as he shook his head. "She's got a WiiU though."

"Oh…" Zeedan laughed, "Right."

"Oi what ya laughing at?" Carla cried, looking between Zeedan and Simon who were still very amused.

"I just never saw you as someone who would ave a games console that's all." Zeedan said as Simon took his backpack off and then his school blazer.

"Why not?" Carla asked pretending to be offended. "I can be quite hip when I want to be y'know."

"No one says hip anymore Carla…" Simon laughed again.

"Really? So what do they say then?" asked Carla, "What's the street slang they use these days?"

"I dunno…" Simon said shrugging, "You're starting to sound like me Dad."

"Oh god." Carla laughed as Simon sat down on the sofa next to her, she put an arm around him lovingly and smiled as she then said, "So does that mean you two are staying ere then?"

"I think so…" Simon nodded, "What do you think Zee?"

"Hmmm…" Zeedan said, as if he really was pondering whether to stay a Carla's or not when he really wanted to because he really enjoyed her and Simon's company. "That depends on what games you've got..."

"Erm… well I've got Mario Kart… some other ones that Peter bought and we downloaded some really old ones from the nineties the other day… what else ave I got Si?" Carla asked, she took hold of her crutches again as if she was meant to get up but Simon shook his head and said,

"I'll go…" He got up off the sofa and walked over to where Carla's TV was in the corner. "I think you've also got that sports game, y'know with Tennis n Stuff… oh and bowling." He said as he bent down and opened a draw on Carla's cabinet and rifled through some of the games that were inside there.

"Ha!" Zeedan chuckled pointing at Carla's ankle, "I reckon we should probably stay clear of that one don't you?"

"Yeah…" Carla laughed, "I reckon you're right there." Zeedan nodded at her and took off his own jacket as Simon stood upright and said,

"Mario Kart's always fun, we should just play that."

"Yeah, It's been a while since I kicked your butt at Mario Kart." Carla nodded as Simon turned on the WiiU and grabbed the three remotes out of Carla's draw.

"As if." He said whilst walking back over to the sofa, he handed Carla and a rather nervous Zeedan a remote and then said, "Do you want a drink before we start Carla?"

"I could do with some water if ya offering." Carla said gratefully, Simon nodded at her and walked towards her kitchen as Zeedan said,

"Yeah me too Si." Simon nodded whilst Zeedan turned back to Carla who was watching Simon lovingly,

"He's such a good kid." She said with a smile.

"Yeah… he is." Zeedan nodded, "I know I've said this before but it's so good to see him like this, I was worried about him a while back, y'know before Peter came back n before he started hanging out with you… I'm not worried anymore though."

"Yeah me neither." Carla smiled looking over at Simon, who was rifling through Carla's cupboards and said,

"I'm gonna bring some crisps over too, okay?"

"Yeah, help your self." Carla said, pointing the remote at the TV screen and getting the game set up.

"I'm sorry..." Zeedan chuckled, "I can't believe you ave a Wii... I would never have guessed."

"I won it..." Carla said with a smirk, "Although I'm glad I did because it's actually quite fun." Zeedan sat down on the sofa next to Carla gingerly as Simon brought over some glasses of water and some snacks, he placed them on the coffee table and then smiled as Carla had the game ready for them to choose their characters. "Right…" She grinned, "Let's do this."

* * *

After another rather successful AA meeting, Peter felt like he really had made the best decision to go back, he had listened to the stories of those who had attended and had offered some pretty decent advice as well, each story that he heard made him sure that he would never drink again and he couldn't wait to get home and tell Carla how this evening had made him feel.

Many people said thanks to Peter for coming back as they left the room that the meeting had been held in and as Peter nodded at them and said,

"No… it's nothing." He knew that he really had done something helpful tonight, he was in the middle of stacking up the last few chairs when someone new approached him and said,

"Yo, your name's Peter right?" Peter turned around to find a very tall man with a goatee beard and short brown hair stood in front of him. He looked as if he might be part spanish and had both arms heavily tattooed.

"Yeah…" Peter said to the man who had been sat at the back of the AA meeting the whole time but who hadn't wanted to get up and say anything. Peter had guessed that it was his first time and that maybe he was nervous but the man stood in front of him didn't look nervous in fact he looked pretty confident. "Can I… help you?" Peter asked gingerly.

"No… well yeah, but not in the way you might think... I'm Santos." The man said, holding out his hand for Peter to shake.

"Hi…" Peter said slowly, shaking the man's hand and wondering what on earth he wanted.

"Hi…" Santos nodded, "We don't know each other but our kids do, in fact I hear their pretty close..." Santos grinned at Peter widely and nodded enthusiastically at him.

"Oh yeah?" Peter said, looking at Santos closely and realising who he might be.

"Yeah... Santana… I'm her Dad." Santos said proudly, folding his arms as he spoke.

"Wow." Peter said looking slightly taken aback, "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you two man." Santos said nodding again because he genuinely was thrilled to meet Peter because he'd heard all about him. "You probably know that I got out of prison a week ago... I've been finding it a bit difficult… I've been known to drink a lot… So I thought I should come here n see how it goes. Anyways I heard you mention your Simon earlier and how you lot went to Paris a couple of weeks back, Santana told me all about her boyfriend when I saw her last week and how she n Lil Carmen had gone to Paris with him… so I just put two n two together."

"Well… I'm glad you came ere." Peter nodded, "I don't know if you've heard but I know how hard it is when you just get out… it's good that you're trying to get some help so soon..."

"Yeah well, I've definitely learnt my lesson n besides, I wanna show Jules I've changed… who knows, Maybe she'll give me another chance eh?" Santos said hopefully.

"Yeah… maybe." Peter said although he wasn't too sure that Santana's Mum Juliana would give Santos another chance, especially now she was dating Nick. Peter chose not to mention Nick as the way Santos continued talking made it seem like he had no idea about Nick and the last thing that Peter wanted was to be the one to break that sort of news to Santos.

"Anyways man, I think I'm gonna come back next week, I mean I know I didn't say much today but I just wanted to check the place out before I started giving my whole life history y'know?" Santos said.

"Yeah… I know that feeling." Peter said, remembering how long it took him to start talking when he first started going to the AA meetings. "It gets better and a lot easier though, you'll see."

"I hope so man, I really do, because I'm serious about changing me life, I'm gonna be so much better, do so much better, my girls deserve it they really do." Santos said with a tear in his eye. "I'm so glad I can see em again... hopefully If I really work hard, Jules will let me have em over to stay again... just like they used too..."

"I bet they are over joyed you're out" Peter said, remembering the chats he'd had with Santana and even Carmen about their father.

"Well…" Santos began looking slightly disheartened. "They were a little shy at first, took them ages to warm up to me again… I guess that's normal right, I mean how was your Simon when you got out?"

"Erm…" Peter said slowly, remembering how Simon had flown into his arms when he had seen him for the first time getting out of prison and how normal things felt. "He was a little odd at first too." He lied, "But your girls will be fine… they're both great and I know they've missed you loads… I'm telling ya."

"Thanks man." Santos nodded appreciatively, giving Peter a rather hard slap on the back. "Thanks a lot, seriously." Santos then chuckled and said, "Y'know I'm not gonna lie, when I heard my Santana had a boyfriend I was a little annoyed, I was gonna call the kid n check him out n stuff… but after meeting you, I know this kid must be a right gem, You're a proper decent guy."

"Thanks." Peter laughed. "Thanks a lot."

"Yeah no problem." Santos said nodding again, "So… I'll see ya next week then yeah?"

"Yes." Peter said, "Yes you will." Santos smiled at Peter one more time gratefully and then made his way out of the meeting room.

* * *

"I can't believe how good you are at this." Zeedan said, shaking his head at Carla who had just had her five consecutive win on Mario Kart. He was still next to Carla on the sofa whilst Simon had sat on the armchair by the fireplace. Carla grinned smugly at Zeedan and put her remote down on the table as Simon laughed and said,

"She used to be awful at first."

"He's right…" Carla nodded, "I'd come last like every time I played."

"So what the hell happened?" Zeedan asked looking at Carla in an amused fashion.

"Practise." Carla said, reaching over to her crutches because she wanted to get up.

"Hey… where you going? What do you need? I'll go…" Simon raised an eyebrow at Zeedan as Carla cackled and said,

"I'm going for a wee... so unless you reckon you can help me with that I better go on me own." She put each arm into each crutch and then hopped to the bathroom whilst Simon got up and said,

"You… are so obvious."

"Eh?" Zeedan scoffed, "What you on about?"

"You fancy Carla." Simon said in a hushed voice.

"What?" Zeedan cried, "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious." Simon nodded walking over to Zeedan and sitting next to him on the sofa.

"Si…" Zeedan began, shaking his head. "You're being ridiculous kid."

"Oh am I?" Simon said, "Well if you don't fancy her… why do you keep staring at her?" Simon had asked this because he had watched Zeedan for most of the evening and his behaviour was that of someone who had a serious crush.

"I was not staring… I'm just… I dunno showing an interest…" Zeedan awkwardly replied.

"Oh so that's what you call it, showing an interest." Simon chuckled.

"Oh give over Simon." Zeedan said rolling his eyes. "I don't fancy Carla, I mean… yeah she's fit… really fit…" Zeedan then remembered who he was talking to and very quickly changed his tune, "but nah… no way… besides, how wrong would it be if I did? I mean she's your Step Mum and she's married… it would be proper… inappropriate."

"Okay…" Simon said slightly amused.

"What?" Zeedan asked, reading Simon's expression. "What's that face for?"

"Nothing…" Simon replied trying not to laugh as Carla left the bathroom and hopped back over to the living area. She sat down on the armchair that Simon had been sitting on and said,

"So… what do ya wanna play next?" Simon shrugged still amused by Zeedan and was about to talk when the door opened.

"Evening…" said Peter, walking through Carla's door with a set of keys in one hand and a plastic takeaway back in the other with the curries in that he had promised Carla earlier on. It was clear he had been just expecting to see Carla and as he smiled in a surprised fashion over at his son and Zeedan. "Hello you two."

"Hi darlin." Carla said as she looked over at her clock on the wall and saw that it was almost twenty to ten. She'd had such a good time with Simon and Zeedan over she'd not realise how late it was.

"Hi Dad." Simon smiled as Peter gave him a pat on the back and nodded towards Zeedan.

"Hi Peter." Zeedan nodded back as Peter approached Carla and bent down in front of her for a kiss. She smiled as she leant slightly forwards and pressed her lips against his.

"How ave you been today love?" Peter asked Carla after their little smooch, he stood upright and then took the curries to the kitchen.

"Yeah, alright spose, Si n Zeedan ave been keeping me company for the past few hours though… it's been well fun." Carla said, reaching for her crutches again.

"Stay there." Peter said watching her and shaking his head because he knew she was about to get up to try and help, he then looked over at Zeedan and Simon and said a very apologetic, "I had no idea you two were ere so I didn't get you anything to eat I'm afraid."

"Ahh no worries." Zeedan said standing up and getting off the sofa. "I think I should be going now anyways."

"Yeah me too, I said to me Mum I'd stay over tonight." Simon said.

"Awwww well thanks for tonight you two… I really enjoyed me self." Carla smiled gratefully.

"Me too." Simon said and then he nudged Zeedan in the side. "How about you Zeedan?" he smirked.

"Yeah… me too." Zeedan said giving Simon a dark look. "Come on… I'll walk ya over to your Mum's."

After saying their goodbyes, Simon and Zeedan both left Carla and Peter in Carla's flat alone.

* * *

"So how did ya meeting go then?" Carla asked after their meal, They had spent the majority of it talking about their days at work and hadn't even had time to properly discuss how their evenings had gone.

"Good… really good." Peter said as they settled down on the sofa together, he began telling Carla all about it and when he had gotten to the part about Santos, the part he had been dying to tell he began with, "Hey guess what? There was a new guy there this week… guess who?"

"Who?" Carla asked with an amused shrug.

"Santana's Dad." Peter said with his eyes wide.

"What? Really?" Carla said, looking just as in shock as Peter had done when he found out who Santos was.

"Yes really, he's not been out of prison long… he came to the meeting, heard me talking about Simon and put two n two together." Peter explained as he put an arm around Carla and pulled her close to him.

"Wow, what's he like then?" Carla asked intrigued as she rested her head on Peter's chest.

"He seems really nice… like he really wants to sort out his life y'know…" Peter said softly.

"Well that's good." Carla said before yawning loudly. "I bet Santana and Carmen are dead happy he's home again."

"Yeah... he's been out for a bit now, I'm surprised Si hasn't mentioned it... but Santos, that's his name by the way, he said that the girls were a little off with him at first... even Carmen."

"Well maybe they were just finding it all a bit odd... four months is a long time in the life of a kid." Carla said tiredly.

"He also said that he wants to get Juliana back… that was awkward."

"Uh oh… does he not know about Nick then?" Carla asked looking concerned now.

"Not by the sounds of things." Peter replied, "And it aint my place to say anything so I stayed well clear of the subject."

"Good." Carla nodded, "I mean could you imagine if you had of told him… he would ave been proper upset…" Carla yawned again as Peter began to gently stroke her head.

"Yeah… he would ave…" Peter said looking down at Carla who now had her eyes closed. "You look tired love." He said, bending forward kissing her on the head.

"I am tired love." Carla said with a grin as she opened her eyes. "All that Mario Kart today has done me right in."

"It was nice of Zeedan n Si to stay with you tonight… sounds like you had a lot of fun." Peter said with a smile.

"Yeah we did…" Carla said lazily, "For a moment I thought that you'd told em both to pop over… cause y'know earlier you were saying how you didn't want me to be alone n stuff."

"Ahhhh well I didn't." Peter said chuckling.

"I know…" Carla said sitting up right, "But I wouldn't ave put it past ya." Peter smiled down at Carla who yawned once again and said,

"Right… come on then hop along… let's go to bed." He stood up before Carla knew and had lifted her right off her feet, which made her giggle.

"Oi… what did I tell ya about calling me that eh?" Peter didn't answer, instead he just laughed once more and took Carla off to her bedroom.


	59. One Year

A year ago today, on the thirty-first of March 2015, Someone died. Someone irreplaceable, someone totally beloved and someone who was a rock to so many members of The Barlow family.

Each member of said family remembered exactly where they were and when they found out that Deirdre had passed away and they remember exactly how they felt.

Ken was sat at home, deep in a book when the front door went off. He'd been having the perfect day before he answered it to find that Deirdre's friend Bev, crying on his doorstep with the horrible news that Deirdre had passed. This devastating information rocked Ken's entire world and even now, a year later he'd never been the same since.

When Tracy found out, she was in Barlow's Buys on a mindless shift and her day was going the opposite to her Dad's had been, she'd had a few customers who wanted a refund and after arguing with them... a lot, she ended up having to give them refunds. She had a cup of black coffee in hand when her phone rang and when she was asked to return back home immediately. Tracy screamed out loud when she heard the news, she dropped down onto her knees and was inconsolable for hours on end.

Peter was at work in Portsmouth when he found out what happened. He was sat with his head in his hands and was absentmindedly fiddling with a pen when his phone rang. He answered it in a fairly cheery fashion and as his Dad explained that he was really sorry to be telling him this on the phone, Peter felt his mouth go instantly dry because he knew that whatever his Dad was about to tell him was going to be bad news. After hearing about what happened to Deirdre, Peter suddenly felt as if a piece of him was missing, he'd kept in contact with her the entire time he'd been away and the thought of never hearing her voice again made him feel physically sick.

Simon and Amy were both on their way home from school when they were told to come over to their Granddad's house as soon as possible, they may be young but they were able to tell that something was definitely wrong. They walked into their Granddad's place to see that everyone there was in floods of tears and it wasn't long before Simon and Amy were just the same.

It wasn't just Deirdre's children, Grandchildren and husband that were broken to hear the news of her passing, there were many many other people in Weatherfield whose worlds were shattered when they found out.

One of those people, was Carla. She was in the pub with many others when the announcement about Deirdre's death was made and for a moment she thought that Liz had to have got it wrong.

Deirdre couldn't have died, she always seemed like one of those people who would outlive everyone and as Carla saw everyone else in the pub break down in tears and after she took another look at Liz's face, Carla realised that the news must be true after all. She was immediately heartbroken because Deirdre had been the nicest and most welcoming Mother in law, she'd ever had and even though she and Peter weren't together at the time, Carla still thought of Deirdre as her Mother in law.

After the initial shock and upset had sunk in, Carla couldn't help but spend some time thinking about Peter and what this meant. She wondered if he might turn up at some point to be with his Dad and she wondered how he might be coping with the news because she knew how much Peter had loved Deirdre. At one point, Carla very nearly phoned him to check that she was okay but in the end, she made the ridiculously hard decision to leave Peter be.

Now, almost one year later, Carla made sure that she didn't leave Peter be, not ever. As the anniversary of Deirdre's death began to loom, she made sure she was as supportive as she could be. It was easy to see that Peter and all of the Barlow's were all more than aware that the anniversary date was looming and Carla knew it was going to be a difficult day for them all, including her.

She woke up unusually early on that Thursday morning and found that Peter wasn't in bed next to her. It was six thirty am when Carla rolled off the bed, picked up her nightie which had been torn off her body at some point during the night and thrown onto the floor. She pulled it over her head as she left the bedroom and set out to find Peter.

It had been two weeks since she had hurt her ankle at the gym and even though it was still bandaged, she was able to walk without her crutches now although she still had to make sure she didn't go back to the gym for a while or wear high heels.

It didn't take Carla too long to find Peter because he was where he always was after waking up in the morning, and that was out on his balcony with a cigarette between his lips. Carla walked through the door slowly and very quietly as Peter blew some smoke out of his mouth and said,

"Morning." he had his back to her as he spoke and was staring at the sun which had just risen. He had woken up only fifteen minutes or so earlier than Carla and from the moment he'd opened his eyes he felt very anxious about the day ahead.

"Morning." Carla replied softly, putting her arms around Peter's middle and sighing. She squeezed him tight and kissed him on the back of the neck before saying, "How you feeling?"

"Yeah… I'm..." Peter began but as he put his cigarette butt into the ashtray he kept on the balcony, he turned around and shook his head sadly. "No… I'm not alright." He knew there was no point in putting on a front with Carla because she knew him better than anyone.

"Yeah… me neither." Carla replied, she smiled bitter sweetly at Peter who sniffed hard and then said,

"I wonder how me Dad's coping…"

"Yeah… and Tracy." Carla said, resting her head against Peter's shoulder and pulling him towards her again."They might still be in bed." Carla said thinking and Ken and Tracy being at home and hoping that they weren't up as early and she and Peter were.

"_You_ should still be in bed." Peter said looking at Carla and shaking his head. "It's not even seven o'clock love."

"Yeah well… y'know I can't sleep without ya for too long." Carla said quietly, Peter leant forward a little and kissed her tenderly before stroking her on the back of her head. "So… what d'ya reckon? Should we both be a right pair of skivers n take the day off together?" Carla suggested, thinking that maybe it would be easier on Peter if they spent the day in.

"Ahh we can't… well I can't anyway, I've got this massive presentation today that I can't get out of." Peter said with a roll of his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do today was to stand up in a room full of people and talk but he knew that he had a responsibility to his team.

"Oh…" Carla said disappointedly, "N you're sure you ave to be there for it… you can't… y'know leave someone else in charge of it?"

"Yeah… I'm sure." Peter nodded, "Besides…as much as a day in with you is just what I need right now… I think we could both do with the distraction, don't you?" Peter could see that behind Carla's brave expression she also had tears in her eyes. "Deirdre loved you y'know… she really did, we used to talk on the phone a lot… y'know when I was away in Portsmouth n she'd always find a way to bring you into the conversation..."

"Really?" Carla asked, her voice almost breaking as she spoke.

"Yes." Peter nodded with a sad sniff. "And she always talked about the trifle incident…" Carla let out a little laugh and the shook her head saying,

"I'm still not over that… Still feels like yesterday n yet… so much has happened since." Peter wiped his eyes and when a tear dribbled down Carla's cheek, he gently reached over to her face and wiped it away. She smiled at him affectionately and said, "Can we go back inside now… As much as I love it up ere, it's freezing n I'm not wearing any underwear."

"Oh yeah?" Peter grinned as he playfully pushed her towards the door, they could have easily gone back to Peter's bedroom to carry on the fun but instead they headed towards the kitchen to make some coffees instead and as they did, they found Simon sat on the sofa with his head in his hands, he looked surprised to see that Carla and Peter were both awake and as they approached him in a concerned fashion, Simon shook his head slowly and said,

"Couldn't sleep."

"Yeah… us too." Peter said, walking around the sofa and sitting on it next to his son. Simon looked up at his Dad sadly and then put his arm around him whilst Carla went into the kitchen and put the kettle on, she then left Peter and Simon on the sofa whilst she went back into the bedroom and made herself look a little more decent for Simon.

She returned in Peter's huge fleecy black dressing down and made the three of them a cup of strong coffee, as she brought them over to the sofa, Simon and Peter let go of each other and in unison they both said,

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Carla said, she went to go and sit down on the armchair so he could give the two of them some space but Peter took hold of his dressing gown comically and pulled Carla back towards the sofa. She sat down next Peter and rested her head on his shoulder as Simon said,

"You going to work today Dad?"

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, "I kinda ave to really… Carla's going to work too n you are definitely going to school..." Peter said firmly because he thought Simon might not have wanted to go to school today.

"I know… I wanted to go to school… It'll be a good distraction besides... I don't think Grandma Deirdre would ave wanted us to be like this… She'd want us to carry on as normal." Simon said with a bitter sweet smile.

"You're right Si." Carla nodded whilst Peter smiled proudly at him.

"So… when are we gonna go n… y'know… visit the grave." Simon asked, knowing that he had school and his Dad and Carla both had work.

"I'm gonna get out of work as early as possible so." Peter said which led Carla to nod and say,

"Yeah me too."

"So how about we meet at like four n then we can head over there together." Peter suggested, Simon nodded and then asked,

"Are we gonna go with Granddad?" He had been thinking that Ken wouldn't want to go alone, although Peter had the opposite idea.

"Well… I don't know about that, I mean he might want to go on his own… y'know... I'll ask him though n find out."

"Well if not, we're definitely gonna go over to Granddad's later right?" Simon asked, leaning forward and picking up his cup of coffee.

"Yes, definitely." Peter said with a nod. He knew that his Dad would insist that he was fine and say that he didn't want any bother but they were all still going to go round there and Peter was planning on getting take away for dinner so his Dad didn't ave to cook too.

He, Carla and Simon sat together and drank their coffees before all going and getting ready for work and school. Peter was ready first, dressed in grey suit with a white shirt underneath it and he left Carla in the shower whilst he returned to the balcony for another smoke.

The weather outside was still gloriously sunny and as he stepped outside, Peter wondered about calling his Dad but on the off chance that he might still be asleep, he decided not to just in case he woke him up.

Instead he decided that Tracy had to be awake with Amy who'd also be getting ready for school, so he phoned her instead,

"Hi Peter…" Tracy said, sighing on the other end of the phone.

"Hiya Trace… how…" He began, meaning to ask how Tracy was doing but as he exhaled smoke he just couldn't seem to continue.

"Not well." Tracy replied, knowing exactly what Peter was going to ask her. She sighed again and Peter could tell that she was crying because he could hear the sounds of her sobs. "How about you?" Tracy then asked uncharacteristically because she never normally asked people how they were.

"Erm… pretty much the same as you to be honest, Is Dad up yet?" Peter asked as he put his cigarette back in his mouth.

"He is, he's in the kitchen acting as if everything is fine of course." Tracy whispered with a sad sniff,

"Typical." Peter replied he then paused awkwardly and said, "So… what time are you visiting the grave?"

"I'm going with Amy this morning." Tracy replied, "I didn't think it were a good idea for her to go before school but she reckons it'll be better if we go first n then we won't ave to think about going all day."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Peter replied, he was just going to ask about his Dad when Tracy added,

"Dad wants to go alone… said he had some stuff to say to Mam and he wanted to say it all on his own."

"I thought he might…" Peter said with a dejected sigh, thinking of his Dad going to the Cemetery alone. "Well me, Si and Carla are going to head over there after work n School but after that we'll pop round yeah, maybe we can all get a takeaway, what d'ya reckon?"

"Well I'm definitely not cooking so I think that'll be best." Tracy said.

"Right well, I guess I'll see ya later…" Peter said and then he added, "Tracy if you need anything… gimme a call yeah?" he heard Tracy take a deep breath and then she said,

"Thanks Peter."

"You're Welcome." Peter said before hanging up his phone, he'd finished his cigarette by now but he very quickly lit another one because of how tense he was suddenly starting to feel about today and he was starting to really wish he could take today off after all.

When he'd finished his third cigarette of the morning he went back inside his flat and closed the door behind him, as he did so Carla emerged from his bedroom wearing a black pencil skirt and a white vest. Her hair was still damp from the shower she'd just had so it was slightly wavy but she'd already done her make up and as she approached Peter, he smiled at her fondly and said,

"Well don't you look gorgeous."

"I could say the same to you Barlow." Carla smiled, waiting for Peter to walk down the hallway and reach her, when he did he put an arm around her. She instantly smelt cigarette smoke on his clean suit and even though she understood why Peter was smoking so much today she still couldn't help but poke him playfully in the side and say, "Whatever happened to you quitting those things eh?" She grinned at Peter so that he knew she was joking and as they walked back into the living room he just shook his head said,

"Never mind that..." He grinned down at her feet and said, "Nice Shoes." He was looking down at the stylish black leather shoes that Carla had on and was grinning because it was unusual to see Carla in such a pair because they were flat. She'd been wearing flat shoes since hurting her ankle a few weeks back and she'd actually gone out on a shopping trip with Michelle to purchase a few pairs of flat shoes because other than a trusty pair of black converse which rarely got worn and her gym trainers, Carla didn't own any shoes without a heel.

"Don't…" Carla groaned looking down at them, "Y'know I hate walking around with out me heels on… I feel like a piece of me is missing or summat."

"Well…" Peter chuckled, "I like it, it means you're not taller then me all the time." Peter saw the amused look on Carla's face and pulled her close to him instantly, he kissed her passionately on the lips and didn't even give her chance to tease him about his height.

* * *

Half an hour later and Simon, Carla and Peter all left the flat together, Peter had offered Simon a lift to school but he said he was meeting Santana at her house so they could walk together. Carla and Peter left him at the bus stop that was across from The Rover's.

Peter still insisted on driving Carla about, even though she wasn't actually on crutches anymore and as he pulled up outside Underworld, he grinned and said,

"Ere ya go Lady Penelope," Carla laughed at Peter as she shook her head and then looked seriously at him.

"If you need anything… you will call me won't ya?" She asked with her head one on side.

"I'll be fine." Peter replied, as he turned of the car engine.

"That's not actually what I asked ya." Carla said with her eyebrows raised.

"Yes I will call you if I need anything." Peter smiled.

"Good." Carla said before leaning forward and kissing Peter lovingly. "Ave as much as a good day as ya can baby, n good luck with this presentation thing."

"Thank you." Peter nodded, smiling lovingly at Carla as she opened the door and began to get out of his car. "Be careful on that ankle of yours."

"I will." Carla said with a wave, Peter watched her walk up the steps of the factory and go inside before taking a deep breath and deciding it was time for him to go to work.

* * *

For each member of the Barlow family, today went understandingly slowly.

Ken spent his morning trying to distract himself as much as he could, he read a few chapters of the book he was currently reading, tidied up the house even though it was pretty much immaculate already, he basically did anything that meant he didn't have to leave the house until he had to and when he left there at twelve pm, He made sure he got as quickly as he could into his car because he didn't want to be met by people who were pitying him.

He didn't want to hear people ask him how he was feeling today because how he was feeling was totally indescribable. He drove over to the cemetery and found that a few other people had obviously visited Deirdre's grave today because there were a lot of flowers there.

Ken smiled at the sight of it, pleased to see how loved his late wife was and that people had obviously remembered what the day was today. It was then that he let the tears begin to fall and as he pulled a tissue out of his pocket he began to say those words, he'd been longing to say to Deidre for a while now.

Tracy's spent the start of her day visiting her Mum's grave with Amy in tow, they'd arrived there at eight fifteen and were actually the first ones to be visiting Deirdre today. Amy had chosen some beautiful purple tulips and they had walked towards the grave, hand in hand and in total silence.

Amy bent down slowly and gently placed the flowers onto the grave whilst Tracy tried her best not to cry too much in front of her daughter.

"It's okay…" Amy said after standing upright, she took hold of her Mum's hand again and held on to it tightly as she said, "You can cry… you don't have to be brave."

Tracy held onto her not so little girls hand tightly and let the tears fall freely, she and Amy stayed at the cemetery for a good while before Tracy sent Amy of to school. She returned home and decided that she was definitely not going into work today, the second hand shop was hardly ever busy and she knew Todd could handle it even if by some miracle it was.

Tracy and Ken's afternoon was then spent together, they both looked at old photos and reminisced about their favourite Deirdre moments. It was a tough day for them but they were both pleased that they could spend it together.

Simon and Amy both attended school and whilst there, Simon wished he'd maybe gone to see his Grandma in the morning just like Amy had done because all he could think about was how upsetting it was going to be when him, his Dad and Carla had got there.

Amy on the other hand wished she'd gone after school in the end because her plan of getting on with the rest of her day didn't go well at all. She found herself crying in a music lesson when she remembered how much her Mum had cried. Amy was eventually sent outside to get some fresh air and to calm down, so she went into the playground and wondered about aimlessly for a bit.

"Oi…" She heard a voice say, she quickly turned around in shock, expecting it to be a teacher or maybe a prefect wondering why she was out of her lesson but then she saw it was Simon. He'd been in a history lesson and was gazing out the window when he saw her walking around the playground all alone. He told his teacher what he had seen, what today was and then he asked if could quickly make sure that his cousin were okay.

"Simon?" Amy said in surprise. "What you doing?" She asked wiping her sore eyes.

"I've come to see if you're okay… saw ya through the window…" Simon said with his hands in his pocket. "How come's you're out ere?"

"I started crying in Music…" Amy began with a sniff, "So Mrs Jeffery said I could come out of ere for a moment."

"Me Dad… he said you n your Mum were going to the cemetery before school… How was it?" Simon asked apprehensively.

"Horrible." Amy said. "I thought it'd be a good idea but… I wish I'd gone later…"

"Really?" Simon asked, "I was wishing I'd already been… At least then I wouldn't ave had to think about it for the rest of the day y'know?"

"It doesn't work." Amy said shaking her head. "You still think about it… I ave been all morning… it doesn't get better… Me Mum was so upset… I tried to be brave for her… but now I'm not feeling so brave."

"Yeah well why should you be brave?" Simon asked, "Why should any of us have to feel brave? Today is a miserable day…" He looked up at the sun, which was still beaming brightly and then said, "Well… figuratively it is… If we want to be sad… we should be sad." Simon then reached and put an arm around his cousin protectively. "Although I know Grandma Deirdre wouldn't want us to be sad… she'd want us to be happy… ave a party or something."

"A party?" Amy scoffed, "I can't see me Mum or Granddad thinking that way."

"Yeah… I know." Simon said disappointedly, "But still… we ave to try n spend today celebrating Grandma's life… that's how she'd want it to be spent."

"You're right." Amy said before wiping her eyes. She gave Simon a sad smile and then hugged him tightly, they normally spent their time bickering but they'd been getting along so well recently and secretly, Amy couldn't be more pleased about it.

"Come on… I'll walk ya back to music before we get into trouble… Meet me at the gates after school as well and we can walk home together yeah?"

"Thanks Simon." Amy said appreciatively and she and Simon strolled back over to the music block.

* * *

At four o'clock, the time Simon was supposed to be meeting his Dad and Carla outside his Granddad's, it turned out that Carla was the only one who was meeting him. She rolled her light green eyes when she saw Simon and said,

"Come on, I'm drivin."

"Where's me Dad?" Simon asked, gazing around and looking for Peter who was nowhere to be seen.

"He's meeting us at the cemetery…" Carla began, she linked her arm into Simon's and shook her head. "He's still at work… he's unable to finish early due to some crisis with a couple of people he's in charge of."

"Oh right… that'll be just what he needs." Simon said, thinking about how hard today must have been for his Dad and how he should have had an easy day today, he really hated the idea of his Dad feeling stressed.

"I know right." Carla said with a sigh as they walked over to her building together. "Anyway how's your day been?"

"Yeah… okay." Simon said a little unconvincingly. Carla looked at him with a raised eyebrow and then said,

"Mine's been pretty rubbish too… I haven't been able to think about much else so I dread to think how you lot's day has been."

"Saw Amy earlier… she was crying in the playground." Simon said as he and Carla walked to where her car was parked.

"Oh no… poor thing." Carla said empathetically.

"It were during lesson time but me teacher let me go n see if she were okay… I had a little chat with her n then took her back to Music… we walked home together actually… She seemed a little better." Simon explained as Carla got out her car keys and unlocked the car. She and Simon got in and as they did Carla smiled at Simon before saying,

"Aww, you're a good cousin aren't ya? Your Grandma would be well proud of ya y'know."

"Thanks." Simon nodded as he pulled his seatbelt on. Carla switched on the radio and drove to the cemetery where Peter was already there and stood leaning on the bonnet of his car, smoking once again.

"What number fag is that then?" She asked after parking her car and walking up to Peter.

"Oh, I'd say number thirty eight?" Peter said with a smirk, he had a large bunch of white roses in his hand as Carla and Simon approached him but he also had a rather guilty look on his face when they did so.

"What's up?" Carla asked after giving him a quick kiss on the lips and noticing his expression.

"Nothing…" Peter began, stamping out his cigarette as Simon raised an eyebrow.

"Don't…" He said shaking his head, "Don't lie Dad…Not today... something's up?" Carla nodded at Simon and then looked at Peter who sighed and said,

"It's nothing… nothing serious, I just ave to go back to work after this that's all."

"What?" Carla asked with her eyebrows suddenly furrowed together. "How come?"

"Don't ask, there's this... situation n It needs to be sorted asap… I can't leave it, So I've popped out to do this and then I ave to go back." Peter explained, Simon and Carla both looked rather unimpressed which Peter couldn't stand, he'd normally explain what had happened but what had happened, wasn't the sort of thing that you told your child about and he really didn't want to tell Carla about it because he knew it would affect her.

"But I thought we were all going to Granddads." Simon groaned.

"I really wish I didn't ave to..." Peter began, "But It's complicated... n besides I've only just got this promotion... I ave to make sure I do a good job... I promise I'll get to your Granddad's as soon as I can."

"N that's all the matters." Carla nodded, she looked down at the flowers Peter had in hand and then said, "Come on… we've got something to do avent we?" Peter swallowed hard and nodded whilst Simon nodded too and said,

"Yeah… come on." Carla took hold of Peter's hand and then also took hold of Simon's as they approached the entrance of the cemetery and before any of them had even stepped foot inside, the were all in tears.

* * *

Peter eventually and reluctantly returned to work, leaving Carla and Simon to go back to his Dad's place, they knocked on the door gingerly and when Ken opened it, he gave them both a large and grateful smile.

"Hello you two." He said as Simon quickly leant forward and hugged him tight.

"Hi Ken." Carla said, smiling at the sight of Ken and Simon and then offering Ken a hug of her own. "Peter sends his apologies… he would be ere but he got caught up at work… He were really cut up about it… saying he feels really guilty…" Carla said, thinking about how Peter had almost been in tears when he'd said goodbye to Carla and Simon because he felt so bad about not going with them.

"Oh… tell him not to worry." Ken said as he moved aside to let Carla and Simon in. "I'm fine."

"Yeah… sure you are..." Carla said with an understanding and sympathetic nod. She and Simon walked into the back room of the Barlow house to find Amy and Tracy sat on the sofa engrossed in something on the telly.

"Hiya." Simon said as he took off his jacket, Amy gave him a fond smile as Tracy waved and said,

"Hi Simon… Hi Carla."

"Hi." Carla said, also taking off her jacket, she hung it off the back of a chair at the dining table as Ken followed them in and said,

"Right who wants a cup of tea?" Tracy and Amy both nodded whilst Simon shook his head.

"Oooh me please…" Carla said keenly and then she watched Ken walk into the kitchen and said, "Y'know what let me help ya." Ken did try to say no but Carla wasn't having any of it, she walked into the kitchen behind him and started to get mugs and tea bags ready whilst he filled the kettle.

"Thank you Carla." Ken said with a appreciative nod, he switched the kettle on and stood with his arms folded against the wall. Carla smiled for a moment and then bit her lip.

"I know you're probably fed up of people asking you this… you can tell me to shut me gob if ya want to but… how you doing Ken?"

"I'm… coping." Ken said quietly, "Just barley though." Carla nodded at Ken who very quickly wiped his eyes and then said a very delicate,

"You seen Audrey today?"

"No… We talked about this last night and she said she wanted to give me space… just to let today just be about Deirdre." Ken explained. Carla nodded at him and decided to quickly change the subject from Audrey.

"We saw the flowers you left earlier…y'know on the grave... they were… truly stunning Ken." Ken nodded with a sad sniff and then said,

"Deirdre's favourite… I hope she liked them."

"Oh I bet she adores them." Carla nodded with a smile, "Me n Si just got back from there actually… and Peter."

"How was it? How was Peter?" Ken asked intrigued.

"It were… nice… in a weird way… I mean… we all had a good cry… you should ave seen the state of my face, bad day not to wear waterproof mascara." Carla began, making Ken chuckle. "But… being there y'know… it made us feel close to her… n it were nice to see how many people had been there… she had loads of flowers n cards..." Carla said with a reminiscent smile, deliberately choosing to avoid the subject of how Peter was because Peter had found it very difficult.

"She was loved… so much." Ken said quietly, thinking about how lovely Deirdre's grave had looked when he left.

"She really was…" Carla nodded, she took a deep breath as her eyes filled with tears, Ken also kept quiet for a moment and as the kettle boiled, Ken swallowed back his tears and said,

"Amy told me what happened at school today… did Simon tell you?"

"Yes he did." Carla nodded, reaching forward and taking the kettle so she could get the mugs of tea ready.

"I was really proud when she told me, he really is turning into such a wonderful lad, I don't mind admitting I was a bit concerned about him before his Dad came back and before you."

"Me?" Carla scoffed as she poured water into each mug. "Nah."

"I'm serious." Ken began, "I mean Peter has played an enormous part in how much Simon has changed over the past year but so have you… You're a very good role model for him." Carla raised an eyebrow and then turned around as if she thought Ken had been talking to someone else. "Yes I'm talking to you." he chuckled, "You really are one of the strongest people I know, you've been through so much and yet you always come back stronger, I honestly really admire you and I have to tell you that one day you'll be an amazing Mother."

Carla smiled sheepishly at Ken as she put the kettle back in place, he turned towards the fridge to get the milk and smiled as she said,

"Thanks Ken." She smiled modestly as he handed her the milk and then said, "For what you said… It were really nice of you."

"You're welcome." Ken said with another nod, "And I mean every word of it." Carla smiled again and then picked up a spoon to start brewing the tea bags. She took each one out of the mug and then put them into the bin, afterwards she poured the milk into each mug and decided that today, Ken deserved some good news.

"We.. aven't actually told anyone this yet… Not even Si… But me n Peter… Well we're kind of trying for a baby." She said with an excitable grin.

"Really?" Ken asked, his face lighting up for the first time that day.

"I mean we're not doing anything special or out, I've just come off the old pill and we're letting nature just take its course but… Yeah." Carla explained as she put the lid on the milk bottle.

"Oh that's wonderful news." Ken said delightfully, "It really is… I'm so pleased for you both and don't worry, I'm not going to say nothing."

"Thanks." Carla nodded gratefully, she was still smiling excitably as she picked up two mugs of tea and said, "Come on, let's take these in eh?" Ken nodded and picked up the other two mugs of tea and followed Carla into the back room.

She handed the mugs she had to Tracy and Amy and then sat down on a chair next to Simon, They four of them sat companionably and drank their tea whilst talking about more fond memories of Deirdre, it was almost six thirty when Amy looked over at Simon who nodded, then she cleared her throat and said,

"Granddad… How would you feel about going next door for a drink?" Tracy and Ken both started to crack up with laughter whilst Carla said,

"Steady on Amy, I think you've got a good eight years before that question is allowed to come out of ya mouth."

"Not like that." Amy said rolling her eyes, "I mean all of us… Together… Grandma Liz wondered if we wanted to pop over for a drink, to celebrate Grandma Deirdre's life." Ken looked touched at the idea but he then looked at Tracy who wasn't exactly Liz McDonald's biggest fan and vice versa. Amy read her Mother and her Granddad's expression and then said, "It's okay Mum… She said you're more than welcome to come along… This is about Grandma Deirdre."

"Well… Alright then." Tracy nodded slowly, "I'll just go n get dressed properly yeah?" Amy and Simon nodded at Tracy as she left the room and then at each other because they were extremely glad that their Granddad had said yes to going next door.

* * *

Ken, Tracy, Amy, Simon and Carla were a little more than overcome when they walked into a pub packed full of people. People who were all Deirdre's friends and it was clear that they all knew exactly what day it is today. Liz was stood at the bar along with Eve and Michelle and as Ken gave everyone a few appreciative nods, Liz said,

"We wanted to raise a glass… For Deirdre… If that's okay?" She looked nervous as she spoke, as if she wasn't sure this idea that had actually been Amy and Simon's, was a good one.

"Of course it is." Ken nodded with a smile, he saw Audrey sat in the corner with Gail and gave her a little wave whilst Carla leant on the bar and said,

"Can we wait for Peter first? He's been held up at work but he'll be here soon."

"Of course we can." Liz nodded she pointed over at an empty booth and said, "We've kept that free for you lot, go on, get in there and I'll bring you all some drinks over."

"Thank you very much Liz." Ken said with tears in his eyes, genuinely touched by Liz and everyone else's efforts. He walked off towards the booth with Simon and Amy, leaving Tracy and Carla stood at the bar, Tracy had been very quiet since they had arrived in the pub but she gave Liz the best smile she possibly could given the situation and their past and then she said,

"Yeah… Thanks." Liz just gave her a civil nod and then Tracy turned around to sit with her family. Carla raised both eyebrows and looked at Michelle and Liz before saying,

"Wow… A Thank you from Tracy Barlow… It must be a important day." She looked around the busy pub and then said, "This was a really nice idea y'know... thanks Liz."

"Well I can't actually take the credit for it I'm afraid, it were Amy and Simon's idea, they'd cooked it up on the way home from school, bless em." Liz said looking over at them with a fond smile.

"Did they?" Carla said turning to look at them both affectionately and then turning back to Liz. "Awww... Si's been so good today y'know… All day, he's been a real rock to everyone."

"How's it been then?" Michelle asked, reaching over and touching Carla's hand supportively.

"Weird…" Carla said pulling her purse out of her bag, "I mean there ave been some dreadfully sad moments but also some right happy ones." She looked back at the Barlows and then smiled before saying to Liz, "You know everyone's drink order… Ere." She pulled out a twenty pound note and handed it towards Liz but she shook her head and said,

"Oh no, these are on me." Liz insisted, she pointed over at the booth that Ken, Tracy, Amy and Simon were now sat in. "Go on… Over there you."

"Alright, but keep this for the next round, okay?" Carla said smiling gratefully before going over and sitting next to Simon. She took hold of his chin and kissed him on the cheek roughly, then she ruffled his curly hair and smiled at him with pride.

"What was that for?" He chuckled, Ken and Amy both looked amused whilst Carla said,

"I hear you n Amy are behind this whole gathering." Simon and Amy both looked sheepishly over at Ken who looked utterly stunned.

"Really?" He asked. Carla nodded whilst Tracy also look shocked.

"Yeah…" Simon said, "We just thought… It would be nice y'know… To have a drink in memory n stuff."

"Yeah." Amy said with a nod, the she grinned, "Although we said it were Grandma Liz's idea just in case you didn't like it, that way she got the blame." Carla and Tracy both laughed whilst Ken also looked amused and said,

"Well I do like it." He said truthfully. "I really do, thank you both." He then got up and hugged Amy who was sat next to and then hugged Simon over the table. They held him close and when he sat back down, Tracy rolled her eyes and said,

"Where is Peter? This is just typical of him." Carla frowned at Tracy but decided that today wasn't the day to have a go at her and just said,

"He should be here any moment, there was a massive crisis at work that he had to deal with, I told him we were here, he said he'll get ere as soon as." Ken nodded at Carla's comment and then said,

"Tracy it's fine. There's no rush." Tracy just sighed and didn't say anything else on the matter, she wasn't really annoyed at Peter it was just that she didn't want to spend too much time in the pub tonight as she wasn't really feeling like being around all these people today.

* * *

Peter eventually arrived at the bustling pub at just gone seven pm. After a unimaginable few hours, at work, the Rover's was the last place he wanted to be right now but since his whole family were in there he felt as if he should definitely show his face. In her text message, Carla had said that they had popped to the Rover's for a quick drink but as Peter walked inside, he saw that there were many many people in there, people who were all friends of Deirdre and by the looks on their faces he knew exactly what they were there for.

Some of those people said _Hi_ to him as he walked past them and quickly scanned the pub to find his family, he soon saw them and smiled at the sight before him.

Carla was sat next to Simon who was leaning his head on her shoulder whilst Amy, Ken and Tracy were all deep in what seemed like a rather happy conversation about an old Deirdre memory. After the day he'd had, Peter was so pleased to see his family so connected and content, he took a quick moment to remind himself how lucky he was to have them all and try to shake himself out of the bad mood he'd arrived in and said,

"Evening all, so sorry I'm so late." Ken, Tracy, Amy and Simon all looked up at Peter and smiled and as they said their hellos, Carla got right up off the sofa and said,

"Ello lovely."

"Come ere." Peter sighed, pulling her towards him and kissing her rather passionately in front of everyone, so passionately that they both received a few wolf whistles and also a very loud,

"Get a room!" From Steve.

"What was that for?" Carla asked in surprise, when she and Peter pulled away from each other, he shrugged at her as he gestured for her to sit down as he said,

"I've had such an awful few hours… Honestly, you wouldn't believe it even if I told ya."

"Why what happened?" Carla asked but Peter was already looking at his Dad and apologising for being late again, as if he was trying to change the subject.

"Peter you are not late, this wasn't a planned occasion and anyways all that matters now is that you are here." Ken said as Peter put an arm around Carla, who leant against him.

"So what happened then?" She asked looking at Peter, he just rolled his eyes in an almost casual fashion and said,

"Oh… I'll tell ya later." He quickly brushed off the subject so that Carla couldn't ask again and started talking to his Dad but Carla was no fool and she could tell that Peter was hiding something from her.

"We're all gonna raise a glass to Mam in a bit." Tracy said and practically on cue Liz arrived with an orange juice for Peter and said,

"Hiya Peter, that's on the house love."

"Thanks very much Liz." Peter said smiling at her appreciatively as she went back to the bar, Peter picked up the orange juice and began to sip it as Carla said,

"This is a perfect idea isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, "It really is, who's was it?" He asked, fully expecting it to be Liz's idea.

"Actually it was Simon and Amy's idea." Ken said nodding towards them proudly.

"Really?" Peter asked, putting his glass down on the table, pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah…" Simon said sheepishly as Amy nodded.

"We just wanted to do something nice for Grandma, show her we miss her?" She said with a sad smile.

"Nice one you two." Peter said, beaming at Simon with pride. "Seriously, it's really sweet that you wanted to do something so nice for your Gran."

"Isn't it?" Carla said grinning at Simon with glee and putting an arm around him. "She'd be so proud." Carla then ruffled Simon's curly hair again in a way only she was allowed.

"Alright alright…" Simon chuckled remembering how Carla had kissed him on the cheek earlier and wondering if she'd do it again too. She didn't though instead she turned to Peter with a nudge and said,

"Eh, cop a load of this… Your Dad said I were a good role model earlier."

"You what?" Peter joked, shaking his head at his Dad in a disapproving way which earned him another nudge.

"Oi…" Carla cried, "I'm not that bad am I?"

"No But you're not exactly a good girl either Mrs Barlow…" Peter smirked.

"Oh like you're such a saint." Carla said poking Peter as he leant in and kissed her. When he pulled away Ken smiled at them both and said,

"She'd be so happy to see this you know."

"See what?" Carla asked, entwining her hand with Peter's underneath the table.

"You two." Ken said nodding towards them, "She was devastated when you two broke up, she always said she wanted to see you both back together again in the end." Carla and Peter both smiled at Ken and then each other, before they squeezed each other's hands tight.

There were a few more moments of chatter at the Barlow's table before Liz rang the bell that hung above the bar and said,

"Right can I ave some hush please?" Suddenly the pub went very silent and every single member of the Barlow family sat at the table, felt their throats grow dry. Tracy took hold of her Dad's hand under the table whilst Simon and Amy both did the same. Carla held onto Peter's arm and he clenched his hand around his orange juice glass. "Okay…" Liz began, with Michelle and Steve by her side. She was clearly finding this difficult and took a deep breath before she said, "I'm sure most of you know what today is but for those of you that don't… Today marks one year since a very very dear friend of mine passed away. She… She was someone special our Deirdre was, she was a Mother, a Grandmother, a Wife and a mate to us all, I know that a lot of us miss her loads everyday… Especially her family."

Liz nodded towards the booth that the Barlow's were all sat in which made all the pub punters follow her gaze. They all just stared ahead a Liz, not daring to look at anyone else in case they started crying again

"So... with all of us ere... I'd like to take this moment for us all to raise a glass for Deirdre." Liz said as she rose her wine glass, her voice breaking this time because she was near to tears by this point. There was a long silence for a moment and it was broken by Ken who lifted up his brandy glass and said,

"To Deidre."

"To Deirdre." Peter said with, raising his own glass in the air. Tracy, Amy, Simon and Carla all did the same and straight after that, the entire pub rose their own glasses and said,

"To Deirdre."


	60. Old Wounds

The Rover's Return pub stayed pretty full for most of Thursday evening and the main focus of conversation seemed to happy Deirdre memories which often had many of the punters in fits of laughter or floods of tears. Eventually Amy and Simon had gone out the back to the living room to watch Television because things had become rather a lot for them both and after a little while longer, Tracy was invited for a drink at the bar with her friend Beth who said she needed cheering up.

Audrey was still sat in the pub at this point, along with her daughter Gail, they were on the complete other side to The Barlow's and after a lot of awkward looks between Audrey and Ken, Peter rolled his eyes brown eyes and said,

"Oh come on Dad… just bite the bullet n head over there, will ya?"

"What?" Ken sighed with a frown. Carla was still sat tucked comfortably underneath Peter's arm and she grinned widely as he said,

"Audrey… y'know, the woman you've been pretty much dating over the past few weeks… just go n talk to her, you're both driving us insane…" Ken frowned even more and then looked at Carla to see her opinion, She very quickly nudged Peter and said,

"Eh speak for yourself you."

"Ignore her..." Peter said playfully nudging Carla back before lightly kissing her on the cheek, "Seriously Dad, what with all these long and lingering looks across the pub between you two, you're like a pair of star crossed lovers."

"First of all I'd hardly compare me and Audrey to Romeo and Juliet, Peter… or Weatherfield to the beautiful city of Verona..." Ken began with a light chuckle. "Second of all, I am quite fine with my drink over here thank you and third? Well third you're one to talk about long and lingering looks when quite a lot of us had to put up with that for months before you and Carla eventually got back together." Ken said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes well if that's the case then you'd wanna put me n Carla out of our misery won't ya?" Peter said with a smart grin that Ken found highly annoying. Carla sat up properly for a moment and took a quick glance at a rather distressed Audrey before looking back at Ken and saying,

"You could just get up and pretend you were going to the loo or summat… I reckon she's probably desperate to talk to ya y'know… I know I would be."

"What do you mean?" Ken asked.

"Today is a hard day for you Ken and I'm sure all Audrey wants to do is make sure that you're okay... That's what I would want if I were her." Carla replied as Peter leant forward and drank some more of his Orange Juice.

"She was the one who said she wanted to give me space actually..." Ken said, remembering how him and Audrey had discussed this the previous morning.

"Yeah n you've had space, you've had space all day long n now you've had your space, maybe you should just go over n say Hi." Peter said as Carla turned around and took another quick look at Audrey and Gail. She smiled at them and turned back towards her father in law. Then Ken leant forward and took a quick look too but when Audrey caught his gaze he just nodded awkwardly and looked back at his son and daughter in law who looked amused.

"Go on Ken… ya know ya want to." Carla smirked although it was soon clear that Ken was not as amused as she and Peter were.

"I am staying put." Ken replied shaking his head, he picked up his brandy glass in a rather stiff fashion and as he downed it, Carla bit her lip and looked at Peter. He knew his Dad was having a rather rough day but he also knew that maybe he probably need some comfort from someone else, maybe someone near to his own age and maybe someone who cared about him other than his immediate family.

"Dad." Peter said softly, "Getting up and just talking to Audrey doesn't mean you're… betraying Deirdre."

"I never said that Peter." Ken said although he didn't look as if he really thought what Peter was saying wasn't true.

"Yeah I know but it's written all over your face Dad…" Peter said with a sympathetic look on his face. Ken sniffed and shook his head again before sighing and saying,

"I really appreciate what you two are trying to do here but I'd rather just sit here with you two and try to en…" Ken paused as if he was going to maybe say enjoy but instead he said, "Try to get through the rest of the evening." Carla and Peter both nodded at him sadly and immediately felt bad for slightly pushing the Audrey matter.

"Sorry Ken." Carla said quietly, Ken smiled at her sadly and then shook his head saying,

"Don't apologise Carla… you really don't have to." He definitely didn't want Carla to feel bad and reached over the table to gently touch her hand and show her he wasn't angry or cross.

"Well... how about I get you another brandy instead?" She suggested with a smile. Ken nodded as she stood up and as she did so she looked down at Peter and said, "Another juice Mr Barlow?"

"Hmmmm…" Peter said, stroking his beard comically as if he was really thinking this situation through.

"Hard decision is it?" Carla grinned with an eyebrow raised.

"Sure is." Peter said as Carla leant across the table and took hold of the empty glasses. He smiled adoringly at her as she stood up straight, even now he was still thanking his lucky stars that she had been so supportive today.

"Well get on with it will ya?" Carla said rolling her eyes and a "deep in thought" Peter.

"Maybe I'll mix it up a little… live dangerously y'know? So how about a… Lemonade?" Peter smirked.

"Oooh a lemonade, you do like to take risks don't ya?" Carla said with a laugh as she walked over to the bar area with three empty glasses in her hands. On her way over there she was still so amused by her husband that almost crashed right into a rather stressed looking Zeedan. "Oh god, Sorry Zeedan." He was still dressed in his gym clothes and looked as if he was looking for someone but he smiled at Carla and raised an eyebrow when he saw what she was carrying.

"Got a new job ave ya?" He asked looking down at the glasses in her hand.

"Yep." Carla nodded, as she placed the empty glasses down onto the bar, "I've given up an entire factory to clear glasses in me local." She joked.

"Wait... does me sister know about this?" Zeedan asked back, knowing that Carla was joking and playing up to it. Carla laughed lightly at him and leant against the bar as she said,

"I'm just trying to make our Chelle's job easier, She is up the duff after all."

"Cheers for that." Michelle said amused. She had been standing behind the bar as Carla and Zeedan approached it and as she took the empty glasses that Carla had brought over she asked, "So what can I get you Carla?"

"A small glass of red, a brandy and a Lemonade please." Carla smiled, Michelle nodded and as she went to get the drinks ready, Carla then turned her attention to Zeedan and asked, "So what's a non drinker like yourself doing in ere then?"

"I'm looking for Garry." Zeedan said rolling his eyes, "There's some drama going on in the fam... it's a long story..."

"Oh right…" Carla said, scanning the pub and looking for Garry to help Zeedan. "Y'know... I… don't think he's in ere."

"Yeah… it don't look like it." Zeedan said with a sigh he then looked around at how busy the pub still was and then back at Carla. "How's things been… in ere tonight?" She could tell by the look on his face that he knew exactly what tonight was and was grateful that he'd asked and shown an interest.

"It's been… oddly alright actually... sad… really say but also nice at the same time... Like we've all been sharing our favourite memories..." Carla replied. Zeedan turned to take a quick look at Ken who was talking to Peter about something.

"How's Ken been today?" Zeedan asked quietly as he turned to look back at Carla.

"How d'ya think?" Carla asked with an eyebrow raised, Zeedan nodded at her feeling slightly foolish and he really hoped that he wasn't blushing too much in front of Carla right now.

"That was a pretty dumb question." He said shaking his head. "I'm sorry."

"No… it were a kind one… and it's sweet of you to ask." Carla said rather admiringly, causing Zeedan to desperately hope that he wasn't blushing again. "Ken will be alright though... he's a strong man our Ken." Zeedan smiled and looked down at Carla's foot before leaning against the bar himself and asking,

"So how's your ankle doing?"

"Not bad." Carla replied with a nod, she also looked down at it and her out of character flat shoes and said, "I still can't wear heels for a while which causes me more pain than the injury it's self and I can't exercise all that much yet but it's on the mend."

"Good." Zeedan nodded as Michelle returned with the drinks Carla had ordered. She placed them on the bar in front of Carla as Zeedan said, "I still miss you... I mean we, _we_ still miss you at the gym." Zeedan looked incredibly embarrassed as Carla turned and handed Michelle some money to pay for her drinks.

"Awww…" Carla said turning to Zeedan with a grin. "I miss ya too Zee." Michelle smirked at them both and Zeedan saw it, so he very quickly raised his hand to wave Goodbye to save more embarrassment.

"Err anyways I've gotta go." He said, he quickly turned around and went to walk off but Carla reached out and took hold of his sleeve which made him jump.

"Hey…" She said, looking serious now as she stood before him. "This drama with your family… is there anything I can do for ya?"

"No…" Zeedan said shaking his head with a small smile. "No… but thanks yeah..." He took another look at Michelle who was watching and then added, "If you err... see Garry, tell him I'm looking for him please."

"Alright. I will." Carla nodded.

"Thanks." Zeedan said, waving at Carla once again.

"Bye." She said, waving after him as he turned to walk away. Carla then turned to the bar and said to Michelle. "Ahhh I hope everything is alright… he's a really good bloke."

"He's a good bloke with a pretty huge crush on you by the looks of it." Michelle said with an eyebrow raised.

"Eh?" Carla said shaking her head, "No way."

"What? Are you serious? We are talking about the same Zeedan Nazir ere? The one whose made it pretty obvious he fancies the pants off ya? I mean he always used to walk around ere saying how fit he thought you were... which you are but still." Michelle grinned.

"That were before we got to know each other properly." Carla said shaking her head, "We're good mates now... besides... saying someone is fit aint the same as fancying them."

"Oh..." Michelle said rolling her eyes, "I'm so not getting back into that conversation with you... go on, take your drinks." Carla laughed as she took hold of the three drinks that Michelle had poured for her and said,

"I'll be back over later..." Carla then took the drinks that she had ordered for her, Ken and Peter back over to the table were they were sat and when she sat back down next to Peter, she heard him saying,

"No I am working tomorrow… there's been a change of plan…" He trailed off when he saw that Carla was sat next to him, knowing she wouldn't be too pleased in hearing that he was working tomorrow when he wasn't supposed to be.

"Go on." She said plainly, clearly not impressed with Peter as she spoke. He put his head on one side and sighed before saying, "Carla… I know exactly what you're going to say… and yes, I was supposed to ave the day off tomorrow."

"Supposed to… as in... you don't anymore." Carla replied, staring at Peter in a way that made him feel as if he was totally letting Carla down which was the last thing he had wanted.

"Yes." Peter answered feeling bad because he and Carla had both made plans for tomorrow and now they had been ruined.

"But Peter we booked trains… a hotel… everything was planned." Carla said perplexed, as Ken leant forward and picked up his drink, he had said Thank you to Carla for buying it for him but she hadn't heard it because she was still staring at her husband in a very disappointing way.

She and Peter had booked a weekend trip away to go to London and were supposed to be leaving on a train first thing in the morning. They had a snazzy hotel in the middle of central London booked and were going to spend a much needed weekend all alone with a little bit of retail therapy thrown in as well.

"I know that." Peter nodded dejectedly, "I really do but… I just can't take any time off… not for a little while at least..."

"Why?" Carla asked, then she remembered how Peter had been all day and asked, "Is this because of what happened at work today… this drama that you been dealing with? Are you in trouble or summat?"

"No I'm not in trouble." Peter said, slightly amused but not laughing properly because the situation at work was far from a funny matter.

"Then what?" Carla asked watching Peter as his face went so suddenly serious again. "Baby what is it?" Peter put an arm around Carla once again but she wasn't as forthcoming as she had been before.

"Seriously Carla… it wouldn't interest you… it's just to do with... money and stuff and it involves some members of the team that I'm in charge of that's all." Peter said shaking his head as he reached forward and picked up his lemonade glass in a way that didn't convince Carla in the slightest, instead all it did was make her suspicious.

"You're lying." Carla said bluntly, she sat up and shook her head at Peter as he cautiously sipped his lemonade.

"What?" He said, a little taken aback by her candid attitude. He put his drink down as Carla shook her head again and said,

"You're lying… I know you are, I can see it in you're eyes… something's up."

"Carla… I really don't want to get into all this now okay..." Peter said as Ken decided the pair of them maybe needed some time alone. He slid of the sofa and decided the bite the bullet and speak to Audrey, he slowly approached her table as Carla looked worried and asked,

"Since when are we keeping secrets from each other?"

"We're not." Peter insisted, turning to Carla with a desperate expression on his face.

"Well that's what you're doing right now... keeping a secret from me... n I gotta be honest I don't like it Peter... I don't like it at all."

"It's not a secret Carla, I just really really don't want to talk about it… not tonight at least." Peter said, hoping that if he avoided this discussion tonight, he might be able to avoid it tomorrow and then the next day and the one after that.

It wasn't that he didn't want to speak to Carla about this certain work situation, it was just that he knew it would be something that would bring back some painful memories for her and that was another thing that he didn't want to do today or ever.

"Peter…" Carla said but he very quickly downed the rest of his fizzy drink and said.

"I'm gonna grab another drink, can I get you one?" Carla looked down at her half full wine glass before shaking her head and saying,

"Nah I'm alright thanks." She had to get up off the sofa to let Peter get past and as he did so, she promised herself that she'd find out exactly what was happening with Peter when he got back.

Even though she was still slightly annoyed with him for keeping something that seemed highly serious from her, She still watched him lovingly as he approached the busy bar and after having to wait for a good few minutes, eventually it was Peter's turn to be served.

"Hiya Peter what can I get ya?" Eva asked, looking slightly run off her feet as she handed the customer that had been in front of him his change.

"Can have an orange juice please?" Peter asked, he had been starting to feel slightly happier since arriving at the pub and although what had happened at work today was still on his mind, he had been starting to feel normal again… until Carla had started questioning him that is. Eventually he knew he'd have to tell Carla about what was happening because he knew she knew him to well for this pretending to be okay that he was doing to work and also because he really didn't want to keep even the littlest of things from her but for tonight, he had really wanted to avoid the conversation.

"Coming up." Eva said. It was only her and Sean at the bar at that moment because Michelle had gone on a break, so the both of them were working overtime to make sure everyone was seen. Sean put two drinks down onto the bar for the customer that was stood next to Peter whilst Peter took a quick glance at his Dad who was now deep in conversation with Audrey. He smiled at the sight of it, glad that his exchange with Carla had at least made his Dad go and talk to Audrey. Eva soon returned with the drinks that he'd ordered and said, "Here ya go…" She saw Peter go into his pocket and then added, "It's fine… ave that on the house... It's the least we can do."

"Oh right, Cheers Eva." Peter smiled gratefully, he picked up his orange juice glass and as he went to take them over to where he'd left Carla, he leant forward and sipped his orange juice, knowing that he'd be returning to lots of questions from his wife when he sat down… although he didn't quite make it to his seat.

The unusual yet oh so horribly familiar taste of his juice hit Peter like a thousand knives to the chest. He shuddered and then the orange juice glass slipped right out of his fingers and hit the floor below him in a crash. Carla had been keeping herself busy on her phone when it happened and looked up in shock when she heard the sounds of glass smashing.

"Steady on Peter." Sean said trying to make it into a joke as Peter turned and stared right back at Eva.

"What was in that drink?" He asked exasperatedly, the people around him were watching in shock.

"It were just orange juice?" Eva replied with her eyebrows slightly raised as Carla got up off the sofa.

"Peter?" She asked with a concerned expression. Peter didn't answer her, he just stood and stared at Eva with the disturbing taste of something he hadn't had years burning on his tongue.

"That…" He said, pointing down at the broken glass pile that was beneath him. "That was not just orange juice… That had… Vodka in it." Carla and everyone else around Peter for that matter, heard the way his voice trembled when he said the word Vodka and as Carla moved towards the bar and Peter, Eva shook her head and said,

"No it didn't Peter."

"Yes it did." Peter stammered as Carla carefully stepped over the broken shards of glass and stood right next to him.

"Peter, I've known ya for years, I would never serve you alcohol, Not ever." Eva said insistently with her eyes wide, showing Peter that she truly meant what she was saying. Ken was also watching from the table he had been sat with Audrey at and looked concerned as Peter looked as if he might be sick at any moment.

"Peter… she wouldn't." Carla said softly, she took hold of his arm but he shook it off anxiously and said,

"So what are you saying? That I don't know what Vodka tastes like?"

"No not at all… maybe you just picked up the wrong drink." Eva said pointing at the bar and down at a glass of orange juice that was still on it, Peter looked at it then at the glass on the floor, still shaking at the burning taste that was lingering in his mouth. He'd only had the smallest amount of drink but it was enough to make him feel completely out of control. It was enough to make him shudder over and over again.

"Maybe… Maybe I did." He said taking a deep breath, He looked around at all the prying eyes that were watching him and knew he just had to get right out of that room. He looked down at the broken glass on the floor and bit his lip in frustration as Sean went to get a dustpan and brush and a mop. "I'm sorry." Peter said and with that, he walked off and in a rapid pace towards the doors to the smoking area.

"Peter!" Carla cried after him, practically running so that she could keep up. He swung the door open to the smoking area so hard that Carla had to make sure she moved fast so it didn't accidentally hit her on her way out.

"Sorry love." He breathed, shoving his hand into his pocket and clumsily pulling out his packet of cigarettes. He was still a little shaky but putting a cigarette in his mouth had seemed to calm him down rather a bit.

"Eh don't worry me… Made of strong stuff I am." Carla said walking towards him. Peter turned to her and shook his head as she took the packet of cigarettes off him and said, "Darlin… are you..."

"I'll be fine… don't worry." Peter lied taking the cigarette out of his mouth, with actual tears in his eyes. The taste of Vodka was such a shock to his system that he felt as if his entire body had actually gone into panic mode, he felt like because he'd had a taste of that dreaded booze that he might want it again sometime soon and he truthfully hadn't had a craving in weeks.

"I always worry." Carla said softly, "Come on…" She took hold of Peter's hand and took him over to the seating area, they sat down together and as they did Peter said,

"I can't believe I did that… what an idiot."

"No it's an easy mistake to make… it's dead busy in there, it could happen to anyone." Carla said, clutching onto Peter's hand and rubbing his shoulder supportively.

"Yeah… I guess I wasn't paying attention though, I wouldn't put it past me self, especially with the day I've had..."

"Well, I wouldn't know about that would I?" Carla began delicately, "Because you aven't exactly been forthcoming about what happened at work today… In fact you've been downright reluctant to talk about it."

"Trust me…" Peter said, swallowing hard and shaking his head. "You really don't wanna know what I've had to deal with today."

"You know the way you keep talking like that… it scares me baby." Carla said nervously, "It makes me think that you're in trouble or something…"

"Carla I'm not in trouble. I promise you. This whole thing… I'm just a bystander to some of it that's all…" Peter explained. He sighed as Carla watched him and said,

"So why can't _you_ tell me then?"

"I can… I mean I probably shouldn't as it's a police investigation but…"

"The police?" Carla asked in shock.

"Yes. The Police." Peter nodded slowly, he took a deep breath and then said, "Okay… so there's this woman called Claire, she must be… twenty two, twenty five tops, and she's fairly new at work, probably been working for us for about three months or so."

"Okay…" Carla said, nodding to show Peter that she was listening. She still had a tight grip on his hand and was now stroking it supportively even though she was scared... very scared.

"She's really nice, a good worker, always helpful and even though she's new, she's really popular with everyone in the office, especially with Aaron."

"Aaron… who's Aaron?" Carla asked because Peter had never mentioned an Aaron before. Peter swallowed and with the taste of vodka still burning the back of his throat he said,

"Aaron's this guy who's worked at the company for like two years. He's a really nice guy though about thirty something… everyone has always spoke really high of him. Anyways, ever since Claire started he's taken a real shine to her, flirting and stuff…Claire seemed to like him enough… they went on a few dates n stuff… just down the pub, it were all harmless… at first anyway."

"At… first." Carla repeated, looking down at her hand that was entwined with Peter's and gulping. She had a horrible, gut wrenching idea where this was going but she was hoping to be wrong.

"Yeah…" Peter said uneasily. "Basically, last night… Aaron and Claire were working late in the office… somehow… they were both left alone and Claire had taken it as the opportunity to tell Aaron that she didn't want to lead him on anymore… that she liked someone else and that she wanted just stay friends… Well… let's just say Aaron didn't take it very well… at all…"

"Oh." Carla breathed, having to take a very deep breath as she sat next to Peter who just nodded in silence.

"She came into my office this morning, she looked absolutely awful... devastated... ashamed and then she just blurted it all out to me… I helped her call the police n everything… they've been at the office all day because it… took place in the staff room… Aaron's denying it all of course… saying that she wanted it… that she consented to it…" Carla didn't have to ask exactly what Aaron had done, it was written all over Peter's face as he then said, "Do you see why I didn't want to tell you now?"

"Yes." Carla nodded slowly, her throat had gone dry as she completely knew exactly how this Claire must be feeling right now. Peter put the cigarette back in his mouth and lit it as Carla stayed silent for a while. He exhaled with his eyes shut and shook his head as he said,

"It's all coming back aint it… the way you felt back then… It did for me and I wasn't even the one who was…" He trailed off not wanting to say the actual word for what had happened to Carla all those years ago and now to his new colleague Claire.

"Yes." Carla said nodding slowly. She knew that it had been many many years since Frank Foster had assaulted her and that she was in a much better and happier place since then but hearing about someone else go through something so similar made Carla really feel as if it wasn't that long ago after. "I... I feel a bit sick if I'm honest with ya." She said, before reaching out and taking hold of the cigarette and before Peter could stop her she had raised it to her lips and took a drag.

"I'm so sorry love… I didn't want to reopen these old wounds for you..." Peter said with a sigh as he watched Carla inhale. He had only seen her smoke a very few times in his life and those few times were during very stressful and highly emotional moments, one of them being at the trail of Frank Foster in fact.

"Peter… don't apologise." Carla said shaking her head in awe. "Baby you've done nothing wrong… nothing at all, in fact from what it sounds like you've been a right hero today…" She handed Peter back his cigarette and swallowed as he put it back in his mouth and said,

"Yeah well I didn't feel like a hero… When I was talking to the police earlier… I felt like an utter idiot for letting something like that happen right under my nose again… I kept thinking... if only I'd done something sooner and then I felt angry because I actually started blaming me self for this… I started blaming me self for something like this when it reality it's that sick Aaron's fault… I've been holding that anger in all damn day."

"Let it out then Peter." Carla said watching him intently, "Get it out… shout… scream… hit something… smash that glass over there." She said pointing over at an empty glass that someone had obviously left in the corner earlier.

"I'm not angry anymore… I can't be angry… not when I'm around you." Peter said calmly, not shaking as much as he had done before and he looked at Carla with all the love in the world for her. "You make me feel calm… safe… in control and I just... I couldn't stand the thought of what this is going to do to Claire and her family... I mean... look what it did to you... I was starting to feel better about things when I saw you, Si, me Dad and everyone and then I tasted that Vodka... suddenly everything felt like it did earlier… I felt out of control… I can still taste it Carla… I can still taste it even though I'm smoking this."

"Peter…" Carla said shaking her head again because he had tears in his eyes as he took another drag of his cigarette. She could tell by the look on his face that what he had dealt with today had really taken its toll on him.

"I've wanted to tell you all day… and yet… at the same time I avent… I don't want you reminded of that monster… I know it's slightly ridiculous but I don't want you thinking about him, not ever… let alone today of all days… a day when we're supposed to be thinking about Deirdre… She was someone so pure… so loved… I didn't want her day tainted by something like this." Peter sniffed, wiping his nose with the same hand he had his cigarette in.

"Well…Let's not let it be…" Carla said with a quick nod. "Although I'm glad you told me… I'm glad because me n you need to support each other through stuff like this… maybe I can help."

"That's all you've done love… all day… you've been helping... you've been ere… been supportive for me… and my family… we are so blessed... I am so so lucky." Peter said with a stray tear running down his cheek. Carla took the cigarette off him because she knew that deep down it was doing no good and put it into an ashtray that was nearby before pulling Peter towards her for a hug.

"That's what wives are for silly." She said holding Peter tightly against her body. After a long and very emotional day Peter knew that his tears were just a result of all everything that he'd had to deal with today and as Carla kissed him on the cheek he said,

"I'm sorry about London tomorrow... I really am... I was looking forward to having you all to me self for a couple of days."

"Mmmm yeah I bet you were." Carla smirked suggestively, causing Peter to chuckle ever so lightly.

"Not just that though... I were looking forward to doing some cheesy sight seeing." Peter said with a sigh. "Y'know... sitting on one of those buses... the whole shabang."

"Well we can still go..." Carla suggested, "Maybe we can get a train up there after you're done with work... how does that sound?"

"Yeah... spose we could." Peter said slowly.

"Only if ya want to though... if you'd rather just stay at home n ave a quiet weekend, I'd understand." Carla said leaning in and softly kissing him on the lips. "I mean... we could just do this all weekend." Carla said in between kisses.

"Yeah..." Peter sighed, "We could... but I reckon we should still go. I'm not letting someone like that Aaron ruin our dirty little weekend away."

"Dirty?" Carla cried as Peter pulled her towards him once again, "I thought you said you wanted to do some sight seeing." Peter grinned a filthy grin at Carla before stroking her gently on the side of her head, "Whatever you want darlin... I don't mind... It's all up to you." Carla said softly.

"I love you so much… I really really do." said Peter with a peaceful sigh.

"I really really love you n all." Carla said, pulling away from him so she could see his face properly. "Hey..." She smiled, "Guess what... Me n your Dad were talking earlier n I told him that me n your are sort of trying for a baby."

"Did you?" Peter asked his lips breaking into a very large smile, one that Carla hadn't seen from Peter all day. "What did he say?"

"He were over the moon." Carla smiled back as Peter reached down and took hold of her hand. As he kissed it she said, "It were when he said I were a good role model for Si... He said I'm gonna be an amazing Mother one day..." Carla was smiling sheepishly now and as Peter kissed her hand again he said,

"He's right... Me Dad's always right and you will be the most amazing Mother... I know it." Carla leant in and kissed Peter one more time before sighing and saying,

"I'm not gonna lie ere... what you told me about work it's… frightening… heart breaking... and sickening but I really don't want you to keep any thing from me... You can tell me everything Peter... That's what I want... no matter how horrible."

"Alright." Peter nodded with a sniff, he still had a few tears in his eyes as he spoke, still a little shaken from the tiny sip of Vodka that was making it's way through his system. "I promise."

"Good. Now... like you said, We're not going to let it taint the rest of Deirdre's day… so you're going to dry those gorgeous eyes of yours and we're going to go back inside the pub for one more drink, okay?" Carla said.

"No…" Peter said wiping his eyes as Carla stood up and pulled him up with her. "I don't want another drink… I just wanna go home with you."

"Okay... Let's go then." Carla nodded, squeezing his hand tightly as they began walking back indoors. When they had reached the bar again, Peter saw that the mess he had made with the orange juice had already been cleared away, he sighed a little as they walked towards the door of the pub, knowing that the mess he had to deal with at work, couldn't be sorted so easily.


	61. Carla & Peter Weekend Part 1

**_Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter! As always each n every one is read and appreciated._**

* * *

Carla and Peter were stood outside Manchester Piccadilly station and it was fair to say that they were both totally and completely gutted. They had managed to change their train ticket to London and get one for the evening instead of the morning. The plan was for them to both meet outside the station at Six fifteen so that they could get on their train for half past, unfortunately for Carla and Peter, their plan didn't go quite as they had wanted it to.

Friday Morning had gone rather well for Carla, she'd gone to work in a good mood and after her employees had finished two very large orders early, she let them all go home at four.

Peter's day however hadn't gone too well. He had spent his morning talking to the police about the situation he had been dealing with the day before and the horrible circumstances meant that there was a rather unpleasant atmosphere left in the office. Peter tried his best to keep morale high but even he couldn't pretend he was happy when there were police in and out of his building all day long.

He ended up leaving it at half past five and had his packed suitcase in the back of his car just in case something like this should have happened and he didn't have time to go home and sure enough, it had. This meant that Peter didn't leave himself enough time to get to Piccadilly but it wasn't just Peter who had arrived late.

Carla had been stuck in a taxi for an hour because of a large amount of traffic and so that meant that they both arrived at the station late, so late in fact that they missed their train to London.

"For god sake!" Peter cried, after they had finished running towards their platform with their suitcases dragging behind them. He almost wanted to hit himself because this weekend had been very important to him and once again it seemed as if their plans had been ruined.

"Baby it's alright..." Carla said, when they had realised that they had missed their train, "We'll just see if there is another one." She took hold of the suitcase she and Peter had packed late last night and then put out her hand towards Peter. "Come on. Let's go to the counter and see if they ave any more trains to London."

Peter nodded at Carla frustratedly and followed her over to the ticket booths, Carla smiled politely and asked the man if there were any other trains to London that were leaving that evening but he shook his head and explained to Carla that even though there were trains to London, they were all ready fully booked.

"Typical!" Peter said, rolling his eyes and stamping his foot when they left the station. He was so angry at himself that he just couldn't help but sigh dramatically and as he pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket. Carla on the other hand, really tried to remain optimistic about things.

"Maybe there's another way we can get to London?" She said, racking her brains as she spoke, wondering if they maybe travelled to another station that they could get a train.

"Like how?" Peter said with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't Peter…" Carla said, shaking her head at the look on her husbands face. "At least I'm trying..." She looked down at her feet dejectedly, which made Peter feel really bad for how he had behaved since seeing Carla today. He had been so tense and so full of stress that he hadn't taken the time to appreciate how lovely she looked and how much he'd missed her whilst being at work today, especially after last nights events.

"You're right." he said, sighing as he shook his head and moved towards Carla. "I'm sorry love… I'm just so angry at me self… I knew I'd ruin this."

"Don't blame yourself baby, It aint just your fault… I were late too y'know." Carla said, she put an arm around Peter's middle and kissed him on the cheek. After the vodka and orange incident in the pub last night and after what he was dealing with at work, Carla knew that Peter was probably still feeling on edge and that this train situation was only adding to that stress.

"Yeah… spose." Peter said, hugging Carla tightly as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"So…" She said as she pulled away from Peter. "What d'ya reckon? Should we try n get to London… or we could just head home?"

"I dunno…" Peter shrugged, "I mean I don't really fancy trekking around town looking for ways to get down south but I also don't fancy missing out on our weekend."

"Yeah me neither." Carla said, she looked down at the two suitcases she and Peter had hold of and then said, "I tell ya what I do fancy though." She said with a cheeky grin. She reached out and took hold of Peter's tie.

"What?" He grinned as Carla pulled him towards her.

"You." She said before kissing him again. "Let's just go home and ave a quiet night in… how about that? We can sort out another trip to London soon."

"That sounds lovely." Peter nodded and before he and Carla knew it, they were back in his car and on their way back to Weatherfield. Seeing as they spent a lot more time at Peter's place rather than at Carla's, Peter drove back to Victoria court and as he parked up outside the building, Peter decided he was going to do whatever it takes to make this weekend a special one.

"Tell ya what…" Peter began after they'd got out of his car and began making their way into Victoria court. "Remember we said this weekend was going to be just about us?"

"I do remember that yes." Carla said as she and Peter hauled their suitcases up the first flight of stairs in her building.

"Well I reckon it still should be." Peter said with a self-assured nod. "I think this weekend should be called Carla and Peter weekend, I mean when was the last time me n you spent an entire weekend at home?" Carla chuckled at Peter who was in front of her with his suitcase in his hands. It was a hell of a lot lighter than Carla's one and as she was having trouble pulling hers up, Peter leant forwards and heaved it up too.

"Thanks baby." Carla said with a smile. Peter smiled back at her affectionately and gave her a quick kiss before saying,

"So, what d'ya think then… about Carla and Peter weekend?"

"I think that sounds bloomin perfect." Carla said with a mischievous grin. "I been dying to get you all to me self all week." Peter grinned as he pulled the two suitcases towards Carla's front door and it wasn't long before they were both inside her flat for the beginning of Carla and Peter weekend.

* * *

"So how was work today then?" Carla asked with a slight yawn. She and Peter were now lying comfortably together on her sofa at around nine pm. The had ordered a takeaway pizza to the flat in the end and after eating it, they were now snuggled up and covered by a furry throw that Carla usually kept hanging off the side of her sofa, As she lay restfully on his chest, Carla couldn't help but ask Peter how his day had been.

"Yeah… it was pretty bad to be honest." Peter sighed, he had a hand buried deep in Carla's long brown locks as he spoke and couldn't help but pull her closer as he begun to talk about work. "The police came back for a few more interviews about Aaron, they figured it was easier to ask everyone about him at work then to make everyone go down to the station. The staff room is still a crime scene and the happy atmosphere we're all used to is pretty much done for because no one can believe that something so horrible has happened in their place of work."

"Yeah… I know the feelin… I expect there's a few people who are probably doubting what happened though… there always is… " Carla said softly, she was fiddling about with the buttons on his white shirt as she spoke and felt Peter kiss her on the head before he said,

"Yeah… there's a few… one guy even said that he felt like Claire was leading Aaron on... He said she probably just made it up just so she could get him in trouble." Carla could already sense how angry and tense this made Peter feel and she could also hear it in his tone of voice.

"What an absolute idiot." Carla said shaking her head in disbelief, the thought of someone thinking that way made her feel sick to her stomach and as she shook her head, Peter nodded and said,

"He sure is, I almost swung for him at one point."

"Don't." Carla immediately said, sitting up a little and looking Peter straight in the eye. She knew exactly how much he could let his temper get the better of him and she also knew how much it could get himself into trouble. "I'm serious baby, no matter how angry you get… you cant go punching your employees… You'll get the sack, n I know how much you love that job."

"Carla…" Peter said with a light chuckle, "I said almost swung for him… almost."

"Yeah well…" Carla said, resting her chin on Peter's chest. "It's not as if you aint done it before… Lash out when someone hurts the people you care about."

"I know…" Peter nodded slowly, "But that were different… I mean I'm fond of Claire, as a colleague, she's a lovely girl… but back then… with… Frank… he didn't just hurt someone I cared about... He hurt the love of my life… I weren't responsible for me actions." Carla smiled lovingly at Peter and poked him before she said,

"Actually… I don't recall me n you even being together then. In fact you were still knocking me back at that point."

"Yeah well you were still the love of me life… I just didn't want to admit it." Peter smiled. Carla didn't say anything this time, she was still smiling and instead of talking, She just raised her head again and kissed Peter tenderly on the lips.

At little while later, she breathed in serenely and asked Peter,

"How you feeling?"

"Me?" Peter said, looking slightly confused.

"Who else?" Carla said looking up at Peter with a smirk. "You've not had the most calm few days ave ya…? What with the orange juice thing yesterday n the Claire situation… I just wanted to make sure you're alright."

"I am…" Peter began, "Okay."

"Okay?" Carla repeated in a concerned fashion. "Only okay?"

"Yeah…" Peter nodded, "The OJ thing had me pretty shaken I'm not gonna lie… This morning I work up n I swear I could still feel the vodka burning the back of me throat."

"Well that's understandable baby, I mean I can only imagine what it must ave been like to not ave a drink in years n then ave it forced upon ya like that." Carla said sympathetically.

"I reckon it's just me mind playing tricks on me." Peter said shaking his head, "But this work stuff… it's just bringing back a lot of really horrible memories." He then looked at Carla and kissed her again on the side of her head. "Not that I went through even an eighth of what you did back then..."

"Yeah well you're still allowed to find it all a bit difficult Peter." Carla replied, "Any person would… I don't blame ya for struggling a little… just know I'm ere for ya baby… whenever you need me."

"I know you are… Which is why I'm okay now." Peter nodded, "And I'm ere for you too…"

"I know." Carla nodded with a fond smile but Peter wasn't quite finished.

"I mean it love, just because I'm having a hard time at work don't feel as if you can't tell me stuff… I want us to stay like this… completely honest… okay?"

"Okay." Carla insisted with a very firm nod.

"And that's enough about work n all of that horrible stuff… This is going to be Carla and Peter weekend... all about us n nothing else… Okay?"

"Okay." Carla chuckled and with that, she gave Peter another kiss, only this one led to a little something more.

* * *

The next day, Carla and Peter weekend was in full effect. They had spent the rest of their Friday night in bed together and had woken up sometime before midday on Saturday. Their morning alone was spent with two coffees each and sat back on Carla's sofa once again. After catching up with their new favourite show Game Of Thrones, Then they watched an old black and white movie that Peter had always loved and then after that, They ended up having a rather competitive session of Mario Kart.

Simon was still staying at Leanne's so they spent most of their Saturday alone but at around seven pm, after Peter and Carla had emerged from a long and steamy bath, Carla walked into her lonely and extremely under used kitchen and said,

"Hmmm…. I reckon this me n you weekend might ave to take a detour to the shops." She had a black silky dressing gown on as Peter approached her with a fluffy black towel wrapped around his waist.

"Really?" Peter groaned.

"Yes really." Carla nodded, she opened her fridge to show Peter that it was totally empty other than a few chocolate bars and a box of eggs. "N the cupboards aren't much better to be honest with ya baby, I'm never ere."

"I know…" Peter nodded, putting his arms around Carla's waist. She put hers around his neck as he said, "Can't we just get another takeaway?" He and Carla had ordered a takeaway curry for lunch and had that takeaway Pizza last night, Peter pondered for a moment and then said, "We could order some chinese food?"

"Yeah we could baby but I dunno… we're probably going to need some food at some point. I mean what if we want a snack later or summat." Carla said, "Besides… I'm getting bored of takeaway food if I'm honest…"

"Oi… you sure you're just not getting bored of me?" Peter said with a slight pout.

"Never." Carla said shaking her head and poking Peter in his bare stomach. "I just fancy some proper cooked food y'know… like some pasta… ohhh and some garlic bread." Carla grinned, practically salivating as Peter stood before her. He nodded slowly and knew that at some point they'd probably have to go out and get some food.

"Okay…" He said, he looked over at the wall and saw that it was almost seven o'clock. "We could go to the twenty four hour supermarket I spose… but then we ave to get dressed don't we?" He pulled Carla closer to him by her dressing gown, which made her giggle.

"Yes but we ave to get dressed either way because I am not answering me door in only this?" Carla said with a smirk.

"That is true." Peter nodded, he took a deep breath and then said, "Okay… how this then, If we ave to get dressed, why don't we go all out… get proper dressed up and go somewhere dead posh?"

"Yeah… alright." Carla said excitedly, she let go of Peter who looked around him and at the clothes he'd worn the night before which were on Carla's living room floor.

"I better go home and get some of me best glad rags on then." He said looking at the clock again. "Shall we say eight o clock outside the Rover's?"

"Yep." Carla said as Peter walked over to his work outfit from yesterday. As they normally spent so much time at his place rather than Carla's he didn't have much clothes at her place and none of the were smart, which was why he wanted to go home.

He briskly left her flat and sped towards his place so he could get ready for what he was sure was going to be a fun night. He let himself to his flat and was surprised to find Simon… and not just Simon.

Simon and Santana… Both sat on his sofa in a rather passionate embrace.

It wasn't as passionate as one that Peter and Carla might have shared of course as the two kids in question were only twelve and thirteen but the sight of it still shocked Peter and made his jaw drop wide open.

Simon obviously hadn't been expecting to see his Dad come back into the flat in the way he did and actually jumped off the sofa whilst Santana looked very very embarrassed about things.

"Dad!" Simon cried, "I thought you were in London with Carla."

"Clearly." Peter said with an annoyed nod and tone of voice. "What you doing ere Si? I thought you were staying at your Mum's?" A thousand or so questions were going through Peter's head at this very moment whilst he stood there in front of his son and he could tell that Simon was trying his very best to try and come up with a reasonable excuses as to why he and his girlfriend were alone in their flat.

"Well…" Simon began, looking at Santana who stood up next to him looking mortified.

"Don't even try to lie kiddo… there's really no point." Peter said sternly, closing the door behind him and walking further into the flat. He took a quick look around and was pleased to see that other than the fact that Simon and Santana were stood before him, there was nothing else unexpected in the flat.

"Okay… I was supposed to stay at me Mum's… I mean I still am it's just... Me n Tan just wanted some alone time that's all and as this place was empty we thought why not?" Simon said awkwardly, he put his hands in his pocket and looked at his Dad who didn't look as convinced as Simon had hoped.

"Why not?" Peter said with a raised eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah…" Simon gulped, "I mean we weren't doing out… bad… just... kissing." Santana put her head in her hands when Simon said kissing and Peter couldn't help but let out a little laugh as he said,

"Well… even so… You didn't ave permission to be ere alone did ya Si? Where does your Mum think you are right now Santana?"

"She knows I'm ere…" Santana insisted with a nod, one that didn't make Peter too sure that she was telling the truth.

"Does she now?" Peter asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket, almost as if he was going to call Santana's Mum Juliana and ask her himself. This led Santana to nod again and then say a very guilty,

"Yes… she just... didn't know that you and Carla weren't ere with us."

"I see." Peter nodded, he then turned his attention back to his son. "And where does Leanne think you are because I'm pretty sure she wouldn't allow this?"

"At Santana's." Simon said ashamedly.

"We're so sorry Mr Barlow." Santana said desperately, "We really are, We just wanted some alone time that's all, whenever we're at mine Carmen's always bursting in on us and as cute as she is, it's nice just to ave some piece n quiet."

"I understand that Santana." Peter said with a nod as he approached the sofa. He sat down on it and invited the two teens to sit with him. As they did he continued. "But that doesn't excuse what you two ave pulled tonight…"

"But Dad… we were just kissing." Simon said with a large sigh.

"Can you stop talking about us kissing." Santana cried, nudging Simon in the ribs. "It's so embarrassing."

"Look…" Peter said, not believing he was in this situation but also glad he had come home when he did because he felt as if it could have been a lot worse. "You may ave been just kissing… but just kissing... when alone... generally tends to lead somewhere else…" Simon and Santana both went red this time. "I mean what would ave happened if I hadn't come home when I did eh?"

"Nothing." Simon insisted, "I'm only twelve Dad!"

"Simon you are almost a teenager and as long ago as it was, I remember what it was like to be your age…" Peter said.

"Dad please…" Simon begged, "Nothing else was going to happen. It's like Tan said, we just wanted some time alone."

"Well…" Peter said looking at the clock on his wall, "My guess is that you two ave been ere for a while so... Simon I think it's time for you to head back to Leanne's and Santana I think it's time you headed home too." Santana and Simon both nodded and as Santana got up off the sofa she said a very anxious,

"Are you gonna tell me Mum? Please… She'll kill me, Don't tell her…"

"I should…" Peter said sternly but then he saw the panic stricken look on Santana's face and softened. "But I won't…" Santana and Simon both looked relieved but Peter looked firm again because he wanted them to know that he wasn't taking this situation lightly. "I am so disappointed in you both. You really do have to know that."

"I do…" Simon said sadly and Santana nodded.

"I mean I need to know I can trust you both, I need to know that when you say you are somewhere that that's the truth and I absolutely ave to know that you two won't do anything like this again."

"We won't, we promise don't we Simon." Santana said, nodding her head so violently that Peter believed her, he then looked at Simon who nodded too and said,

"Yes we do."

"Alright then." Peter said, he pulled off the jacket he was wearing and rested it on the arm of his sofa as Santana went to get her coat. "I'm going to get changed, Why don't you walk Santana to the bus stop Si n then I'll meet you back ere okay?"

"Okay Dad." Simon said, he very quickly followed Santana over to the door just in case his Dad changed his mind about him walking her to the bus stop.

"Bye Mr Barlow." Santana said quietly, showing that she was still clearly embarrassed about what had happened.

"Santana… how many times?" Peter said turning to look at her with a friendly smile. "You can call me Peter." Santana smiled at Peter in a relieved sort of way and as Simon opened the door, he couldn't help but thank his lucky stars that his Dad had reacted so calmly because he knew his Dad could have quite the temper.

"Bye Santana." Peter said with a wave. Santana just waved back at him awkwardly and couldn't wait to get right out of the building. Peter let out a frustrated sigh as he walked towards his bedroom and once he had changed out of his old work clothes and into a grey suit, He came out of his bedroom to find a sheepish looking Simon stood by the front door.

"Did Santana get on the bus okay?" Peter asked, deciding not to put the tie he had in his hand on in the end and leaving his suit more on the casual side.

"Yes." Simon nodded, he looked awkwardly down at the ground as his Dad walked towards him and said, "Dad… thanks."

"Thanks?" Peter said confused.

"Yeah…" Simon chuckled, "I mean you could ave really lost it just then… But you didn't… I mean don't get me wrong I'm still totally petrified of that look you had on your face when you first walked in the flat... but I'm glad you didn't get too angry with us." Peter smiled at Simon who actually wiped his brow as if he was sweating and couldn't help but put his arm around his son.

"It's not the fact that you n Santana were ere alone that got to me the most…" Peter began, "Although don't get me wrong I am highly disturbed by that... It was the lying… the secrecy behind it all, It scares me that you could lie so easily if I'm honest."

"I'm sorry Dad." Simon said, shaking his head and looking ashamed again. "I really am."

"Look Si… just don't do it again... And know that lying is so not worth it… I should know eh?" Peter said with a nod, "The truth always comes out in the end no matter what the lie is and all that happens after that is that people don't trust you anymore. Trust is a valuable thing Si, it takes years to build up but only seconds to knock right down." Simon nodded at his Dad as if he really was taking in what he was saying. "Now… me n Carla ave this thing where we make sure we're totally and completely honest with one another and I reckon we should make that a family thing don't you?"

"Yes." Simon said with a nod, "I do."

"Good." Peter said with a fatherly nod. He then looked down at his watch and saw the time, knowing that he had to meet Carla soon. "Right, How about I take you over to your Mums?"

"Okay." Simon said, bending down and picking up his backpack. It was only when he and Peter had made it outside their building that Simon remembered where his Dad was supposed to be right now. "Hey… how comes you're not in London?" He asked looking slightly concerned because he knew how much his Dad and Carla had been looking forward to this weekend away.

"We missed the train." Peter said rolling his eyes and still not believing he and Carla had made it to the station so late.

"Seriously?" Simon said as he and Peter turned the corner onto Coronation Street.

"Yep." Peter nodded, "It's alright though, Me n Carla ave had a pretty amazing weekend at her place so far."

"Yeah…" Simon said with a grin, "I bet… So how comes you came home to get changed?"

"We're going into town for a bite to eat, I mean you know Carla, her cupboards are empty and her fridge is full of chocolate." Peter smiled. Simon let out a snigger as he and his Dad approached the flat where Leanne lived.

"She's never there that's why, It would make no sense to ave food, it would only go off." Simon said, "She should just move into our place really."

"Trust me Si." Peter said as Simon went into his bag and pulled out the keys he had to Leanne's place. "We've talked about it we really ave, There just isn't enough space at ours."

"That's not true… I mean it's fine for the three of us." Simon said but he didn't quite understand what his Dad meant.

"Yeah for the three of us it's fine but what about Carla's shoe collection which is now at seventy plus pairs." Peter grinned, "Not to mention all her clothes and beauty products..."

"Oh…" Simon nodded with an amused look on his face.

"It's alright. I mean the contract I signed at our place runs out in the end of May, maybe then we'll all ave to sit down and think about somewhere a little bigger." Peter said but he had a mysterious look on his face, once that Simon narrowed his eyebrows at and said,

"What?"

"Nothing." Peter quickly said, not wanting to tell Simon that he was thinking that they would also need a bigger place just in case another little Barlow was to come along any time soon. "Come on you… Let's go in… I wanna ave a quick word with ya Mum." Peter then said, making Simon's eyes go wide.

"You're not going to tell her about…" Simon began, knowing his Mum would react to the Santana situation a whole lot different to how Peter had.

"No I'm not." Peter said making Simon take a huge sigh of relief before letting him and his Dad into his Mum's.

* * *

Twenty minutes or so later, Peter left Leanne's flat and saw that Carla was stood outside the Rover's. She looked utterly beautiful as always, dressed in a black shirt-dress, which she had left slightly unbuttoned towards the top. Peter wolf whistled as he crossed the road and approached Carla who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey… long time no see." She said as Peter stood in front of her.

"You look irresistible as always." He said before leaning in to kiss Carla.

"Mmmm… So do you baby." She said, linking her arm into his. "I called us a cab to take us into town but it's gonna be about half n hour or so if that's okay?"

"Yeah that's fine, It'll give me time to tell you all about what I just had to witness." Peter said, his tone of voice pained as he raised an eyebrow, pointing towards the doors of the Rover's.

"Why? What happened?" Carla asked as Peter took hold of her hand. He just grinned at her and pulled her inside the pub saying,

"Come on, Let's get a drink while we wait." As they entered the pub, Michelle, who was stood at the bar, soon saw Carla and Peter, she had quite the baby bump at this point and as Carla approached the bar she smiled down at happily and said,

"Hey Chelle…"

"What are you two doing ere? What happened to your swanky weekend in London?" Michelle asked.

"Long story short me n Peter missed the train so we decided to stay ere n ave Carla and Peter weekend." Carla grinned.

"Carla and Peter weekend?" Michelle laughed.

"Eh don't laugh Michelle." Peter said smirking, "It's been pretty damn perfect so far… You n Steve should try a weekend alone some time."

"Yeah expect you n Carla aren't exactly alone right now are ya?" Michelle said amused.

"Well this bit don't count." Peter grinned, putting his arm around Carla's middle as she said,

"There were no food at my place so we're going into town for some dinner."

"Oh I see… I thought you were a little too dressed up for just being in ere." Michelle laughed again, she looked so content stood behind the bar that it made Carla smile at her lovingly. Peter scanned the pub for a table whilst Carla and Michelle chatted and when he spotted one in the corner, he said,

"I'll go n nab that table yeah?"

"Yeah." Carla nodded, She then turned to Michelle who was smiled cheerily and said, "How you doing then Chelle? You look chuffed."

"I am..." Michelle nodded, "I'm really happy actually."

"Good." Carla said nodding, she looked down at Michelle's baby bump again and said, "Awww I still can't believe you n Steve are aving twins."

"Yeah me neither." Michelle laughed rubbing her stomach proudly, "Look at the size of me already and I'm only five months gone."

"Ha!" Carla cried, "You're gonna be so massive by the time you are full term."

"Yeah thanks for that." Michelle said shaking her head. She and Carla had a little laugh before Michelle then asked, "So what can I get you both?"

"Can I ave an orange juice and a glass of red please?" Carla asked, As Michelle went to get the drinks ready, Carla turned to look at Peter who was sat at the table he'd chosen, she couldn't wait to get over there and find out what this thing was that seemed to have Peter so shocked. When Michelle returned with the drinks Carla had ordered, she made sure that Peter was out of earshot and asked,

"So what time is this surprise party for Peter on Monday then?" Carla looked around too to check that Peter wasn't nearby and leant into Michelle saying,

"Well Peter's normally home from work around six-ish so you lot can come round anytime after five and wait." Carla said excitedly. Monday was Peter's birthday and Carla and Simon had been planning a secret surprise party at his flat for a few weeks now. They had invited various people and Carla and Simon had even decided to make the cake themselves.

"Right." Michelle nodded, "And he still has no idea?"

"Not that I know of." Carla said shaking her head, "Which is a miracle because me n Si aven't exactly been subtle about it." Carla smiled when she thought about the amount of times Peter and walked in on her and Simon talking about their party plans and she couldn't believe they had managed to keep the Paris secret for Valentines Day for so long because she found it so hard not to reveal all. Carla handed Michelle the money for the drinks and with a smile she made her away over to the table where Peter was sat.

"Right, go on then, what happened?" Carla asked intrigued, as she sat down next to Peter.

"Well…" Peter began taking a short breath, "Guess what I saw when I went home to get changed?"

"No idea." Carla said taking pleasure from the half amused half mortified look on Peter's face.

"Guess." Peter laughed.

"I dunno Peter." Carla groaned with a shrug. "A mouse..."

"A mouse?" Peter cried, "Oh come on love, you can do better then that."

"Oh just get on with it will ya." Carla said, poking Peter in the side.

"Okay…" He said, "I walked in on… Simon… and Santana... on the sofa..." Carla's jaw dropped wide open and she was stunned into silence for a moment before she eventually said,

"Doing what?"

"Just kissing… thank god." Peter said, almost breathing a sigh of relief. "But still… it were a shock to the system none the less."

"I'll bet." Carla nodded as Peter picked up his glass of orange juice. "Hold on... I thought Si was supposed to be at Leanne's?"

"He was, only he told Lea that he was at Santana's and Santana told her Mum that she was at our place with us." Peter revealed.

"Ooooh Sneaky." Carla gasped, "I can't believe they did that."

"Yeah me neither." Peter said shaking his head still in disbelief. "They said they wanted some time alone..."

"To do what?" Carla asked with an eyebrow raised, she took one look at Peter's wide eyes and said, "Y'know what, Never mind... What did Si n Santana do when they saw ya?" She asked.

"Apologised… a lot." Peter said with an amused look on his face. "They looked so embarrassed, Especially Santana."

"N what did you do?" Carla asked, leaning towards Peter and taking hold of his hand affectionately.

"Well… I'm not gonna lie, I was really angry at first but then… I guess then I realised that getting angry with Si wasn't going to help him… So I decided I'd tell him that I understand… y'know that I was his age once…"

"A very long time ago mind." Carla quipped, unable to refrain from teasing Peter.

"How did I know that was coming eh?" He grinned at her and shook his head as she leant forward even more and kissed him roughly on the lips.

"Kidding…" She added with a smirk.

"You are so not kidding." Peter replied. "Anyway… I just told them both how disappointed I were in them and that I need to be able to trust them… I just dropped Si at Leanne's before I saw you."

"Did you tell Leanne?" Carla said to which Peter raised an eyebrow and said,

"No… She'd hit the roof knowing he lied to her. I didn't tell Santana's Mum either… is that bad? I mean I know I probably should ave but they both practically begged me not to… I promised em."

"Well if you promised them then you probably shouldn't say anything… I mean trust goes both ways darling… I'm sure they'll both learn from this experience n that lying really doesn't pay off…" Carla said.

"Yeah… or that they'll just ave to try harder to not get caught." Peter said shaking his head. Carla smiled at the exasperated look on her husbands face and said,

"Oh baby… he's growing up aint he?"

"He sure is… and I don't think I'm even a little bit prepared for it." Peter said, downing his orange juice. "I mean when I walked in on Simon… kissing Santana like that, I just froze... I guess it could ave been a hell of a lot worse though… I mean I know they're only twelve n thirteen but I could ave walked in on them… doing other stuff."

"Yeah…" Carla nodded, trying not to imagine the sight Peter could have seen. She pursed both lips together as Peter shuddered and said,

"It's the lying that bothers me the most… I told Simon that, I told him that I need him to be really honest with me… with us."

"Us." Carla smiled dreamily.

"Us." Peter breathed before leaning in for another kiss. Sometime later and a few more drinks later, Peter had been on his way back from the toilet when he noticed that his shoelace was untied.

"The cab should be ere in five." Carla said looking down at her phone when Peter reached the table. He bent down on one knee to do up his shoelace and at that very moment Beth Tinker had noticed the way he was on the ground below Carla and shouted out.

"Ay up everyone… Looks like Peter's about to propose again." Carla looked up from her phone in shock at what Beth had just said, She grinned down at Peter who had just finished tying his lace and said,

"First of all I were the one who proposed to him Beth n second of all Peter knows better than proposing in ere don't you baby?"

"I sure do." Peter said getting up off the floor and remembering the time when Carla had warned him never to propose to her in the Rovers. It had been a comment that she had made light heartedly but Peter knew that she was also being deadly serious.

"What? You proposed to him? That's not right?" Beth said, Carla rolled her eyes at Beth and turned back to face Peter who just sat back down on the chair and kept quiet for a while.

The unusual silence made Carla suspicious of what Peter was thinking so she moved closer to him and when she asked him what's wrong he replied with,

"Well... I can't help but think that... maybe Beth has a point."

"About what?" She asked staring at Peter perplexed because she had already forgetting what Beth had said.

"About how you proposed to me…" Peter began but Carla was already shaking her head before he had time to draw breath.

"Oh ignore her Peter, this is me n you, we never do things how they are supposed to be done." She said, hoping he didn't feel bad because of Beth's comment.

"I know but… If we could do it all again… I'd definitely make sure I was the one who proposed to you… And that I had ring to give ya as well..." Peter said a little disheartened when he remembered that Carla had been the one to pay for her own engagement ring. The thought of it made Peter feel like dirt and as he remembered how he felt back then, he couldn't help but sigh ashamedly.

"Baby everything that has happened to us has got us where we are today…" Carla said, "I mean who knows where we'd be right now if things hadn't gone the way they did… Darlin I'm happier than I've ever been… n so are you… right?"

"Right." Peter nodded because that he was sure of, amongst all the horrible stuff he'd put up with this week, he still knew he was the happiest man he'd ever been.

"Well then, don't let a tactless comment from Beth flamin Tinker make you feel bad okay." Carla said, leaning forward and kissing Peter on the lips, she hoped this kiss would make Peter feel better about things but when she pulled away she saw that he wasn't.

"It's not just Beth though…" Peter began as Carla moved away from him. "I ave been thinking recently…"

"Uh oh." Carla teased, making Peter laugh silently.

"I… saw this thing on TV… There was this husband n he felt really bad for the way he had treated his wife so d'ya know what he did?" Peter asked.

"Peter you don't treat me badly... No way." Carla said shaking her head in protest.

"Yeah well I ave done in the past… Really badly." Peter said, "Anyway, The Husband ended up getting them both divorce n then they got married again… So they could start fresh."

"N just what TV show was this Peter?" Carla asked, frowning because she hated the idea of Peter still hating him self for his affair, especially since she had been doing her best to show him that she had forgiven him for his horrendous mistakes. "Peter?" Carla grinned because he had a slightly embarrassed look on his face now. "What was it?"

"The Simpsons…" He admitted sheepishly, making Carla laugh out loud and shake her head.

"The Simpsons." She scoffed, reaching out and holding onto the hands that Peter had rested on the table.

"Yes… I saw it on Monday and I'm not gonna lie I thought it was a pretty good idea to be honest." Peter said wishing life was as simple as a cartoon character's was.

"Yes Peter but this isn't Springfield n you ain't Homer Simpson. Divorces take lots of time n lots of money… I don't need to start fresh… Besides I quite adore being your wife thank you very much n I don't want to be legally apart from you… not even for one second."

"But…"

"No buts Barlow." Carla said, leaning forward and placing a finger on his lips so he couldn't speak. "That's enough of that silly idea. I love you n you love me, that's all that matters… Okay."

"Okay…" Peter replied, knowing Carla wouldn't be swayed on his rather farfetched idea. As the night went on he tried to forget how he felt about the way he and Carla had gotten engaged and it worked for the most part, he was able to act as normal with Carla and have a fabulous time in the restaurant they had chosen but still in the back of his mind was the thought that he had to do something… he had to make up for the fact that he wasn't the one to propose… but how?


	62. Carla & Peter Weekend Part Two

**_Soooooo sorry for the lack of updates lately!_**

**_I'm not giving up on any of my fics, as per I'm just super busy._**

**_Please enjoy this update and don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts..._**

* * *

The next day, Carla woke up at around half eleven and alone in her bed. She walked out of her bedroom after pulling on her dressing gown, to find that Peter was already up and dressed. He was wearing his smart outfit from the night before. He had to retrace his and Carla's footprints from last night to find each piece of clothing because the moment they'd stepped foot into the flat last night, they had started undressing each other in a very rapid fashion.

Their meal in town had gone extremely pleasantly and even though Peter was still troubled by the tactless comments made by Beth Tinker, he had managed to maintain his unbelievably happy mood.

Carla tried her absolute best to make sure she showered him with compliments and kisses because she knew that he still had Beth's words in the back of his mind. She couldn't help but smile fondly at him every time she thought about his idea of a divorce so that they could have a fresh start, it was such a sweet and far fetched idea and as they sat in the cab home, Carla leant in to Peter and whispered,

"I love you so much Peter Barlow." Peter smiled softly at her and replied with,

"I love you more." He leant in and kissed Carla very passionately which was why when they finally got alone, they ended up heading straight towards her bedroom.

"Hey…" Carla said as she approached him in her kitchen the next morning, he was holding a cup of coffee in his hand as she leant in and tenderly kissed him on the cheek. "Where you going?"

"I ave to help me Dad out…" Peter said vaguely, kissing Carla properly on the lips before handing her his coffee cup so she could take a sip.

"With what?" Carla said, slightly suspicious because something about the way Peter looked at her was a little off.

"He's doing this car boot sale this afternoon… I said I'd help him set up." Peter said.

"Eh?" Carla said after gulping down some coffee, this was the absolute first she'd heard about this car boot sale and after seeing the look on Peter's face, she wasn't sure such a car boot sale even existed. "When?"

"The other day." Peter answered her, He still looked as if he wasn't being completely truthful and as Carla handed him back his cup she definitely knew he was up to something and said,

"So you said you'd help him out even though me n you were supposed to be in London this weekend?"

"Erm… yes." Peter smirked this time, the look he now had let Carla know that what ever he was up to wasn't something bad, in fact what he was really up to was actually something extremely good. Carla raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head before she said,

"There's no car boot is there?"

"Yes there is… Call up me Dad n ask him if ya don't believe me." Peter grinned, holding up his phone in front of Carla. She pondered for a moment and then said,

"Well… even if there is a car boot… I bet you're not actually helping him out with it."

"I am… Scouts honour." Peter replied, saluting with one hand and clutching his mug of coffee in the other.

"You were never a scout." Carla grinned as Peter had another gulp of his drink.

"I was..." Peter replied with a nod, Carla poked him in the stomach hard making him laugh out loud as she said,

"Baby you can't go out… It's Carla and Peter weekend remember, what happened to spending an entire weekend at home? I mean that were your idea not mine."

"I know." Peter nodded solemnly, "But trust me… I need to pop out for a bit… it'll be worth it later… I promise you." Peter took hold of Carla's hand and kissed it tenderly. "I am helping me Dad out though… He called this morning and said he needed a bit of muscle to help shift some of the heavier stuff that he wants to sell today."

"So he called _you_… _really_?" Carla teased with an amused look on her face, she ran both eyes over his arms and then said with a grin, "I thought you said your Dad wanted muscle."

"Oi…" Peter laughed again, he still had hold of Carla's hand and gave it a little slap as she raised an eyebrow. "I think I remember you once telling people how these bad boys were your kryptonite." Peter said, flexing his muscles and pointing at his biceps.

"Yeah I did say that... and it's true." Carla smiled, remembering how long ago she had made that comment, in fact it was so long ago that it was before she and Peter had even got back together. "But where in that sentence did I say that meant you possess even one tiny once of strength?"

"I'll show you strength..." Peter growled, he took hold of Carla and suddenly began tickling her in the stomach. She squealed and tried to run away from Peter but he was somewhat stronger than Carla after all and had managed to tickle her all the way over to the sofa.

"Alright…" Carla panted, as he pinned her down on the sofa playfully. "I give in…" She said as Peter lingered on top of her. She was breathlessly from all the tickling she had just received but she still pulled Peter towards her by his shirt and kissed him hard on the lips.

After a few more impassioned moments, Carla let go of Peter and smiled lovingly up at him, she then remembered about what he had said last night and said with a frown,

"You've not still got that silly divorce idea in your head ave ya?"

"No." Peter chuckled, shaking his head and getting off Carla. She frowned because she knew he was going to get ready to leave. As he picked up his jacket off the side of the sofa and put it on as he said, "Besides, even if I did, It's not as if I could get us a divorce in one single afternoon could I?"

"Hmmm I wouldn't put it past ya Peter Barlow." Carla said with an eyebrow raised as she got up off the sofa. "You can pretty much do anything in my eyes." Carla now had a dreamy expression on her face and she pulled Peter towards her by his suit jacket. "You're not going to tell me what you're up to are ya?" She said, Peter nodded at her with a grin on his face and said,

"Nope."

"Okay." Carla said, giving in. "But it better be worth it… it better be worth you leaving me ere all alone." She trusted Peter enough to know that what he was planning was something probably sweet and wonderful. She could tell by the excited look on his face and when he kissed her goodbye he said,

"Bye bye love of my life."

"Bye baby." Carla replied back. She waved at Peter as he left her flat and it only took her a few minutes to get bored. She tidied up a little to try and past the time but as she rarely spent anytime at the flat, there really wasn't much to tidy. She picked up the clothes she had been wearing the night before and put them in her dirty clothes hamper.

Time dragged on and on for Carla as she wondered around her flat without Peter, so she soon ended up having a long shower, getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a white blouse and leaving her flat at one thirty pm. She walked the very short walk to The Rover's Return Pub and as she walked in, She found Michelle stood at the bar with her mother in law Liz.

"Hiya Chelle, Hiya Liz." Carla said as she walked up to the bar, She rested both arms on the bar as Michelle looked a little surprised to see her.

"Hello Carla." Liz said, in the middle of serving a customer.

"Alright babe, What happened to this Carla and Peter weekend?" Michelle asked, looking around as if she was expecting Peter to appear at any moment.

"Oh Ken's roped Peter into helping him with some car boot… Well… that's what Peter says anyway, not sure I believe him though" Carla said, Michelle mistook Carla's tone for concern and looked worried which caused Carla to shake her head and quickly say, "Oh don't worry Chelle, I don't think he's up to anything dodgy or out… he is up to summat though, I'm just not sure what…"

"I bet it'll be a really nice surprise for you." Liz said with a broad smile, "That man worships the ground you walk on, anyone can see that."

"I know." Carla nodded with a proud grin. As Michelle handed her a glass of wine over the bar she then said, "It's quite good that he's gone out actually, It'll give me time to get some last minute bits for this party tomorrow."

"You and Simon still thinking of making the cake?" Michelle asked with half a smirk, trying to imagine the image of Simon and Carla making a birthday cake.

"Yes we are." Carla said with a rather offended tone to her voice. "I'll ave you know I'm quite good at baking these days." This was quite true, since her impromptu Christmas cake had been such a success all those months ago, Carla had tried out some more different baking. Since then she had made some fairy cakes, chocolate brownies and even some cookies.

Whilst there had been more than a few mishaps in the kitchen during these little baking sessions, all in all they had all gone pretty well and Peter had always acted wonderfully when tasting Carla's creations, which meant she desperately wanted to be the one to bake his birthday cake and show him and everyone else at the party how far she had come.

"I'm only teasing ya." Michelle said, looking at the almost insulted look on her best friends face. "Sorry Carla." She said apologetically.

"It's alright." Carla said giving Michelle a smirk and showing her she wasn't mad anymore. "I don't blame ya, I mean I've probably spent more time in the kitchen so far this year then I've done in me whole life." Michelle and Carla both laughed this time and as Liz returned and put some money in the till, she grinned at the topic of conversation.

"So what are we eating at this party tomorrow then?" Michelle asked, "Should I be expecting vol-au-vents and caviar?"

"Ahhh no." Carla said shaking her head, "I'm just going to put out some nibbles and then order a bunch of Pizzas for everyone, Nice n easy."

"So I take it you're still not a cooking person then Carla?" Liz asked looking amused.

"Correct." Carla nodded and so did Michelle. "The oven in me flat is practically brand spanking new with the amount of times it's been used." Carla took a sip of the wine that Michelle had handed her as Michelle turned to Liz and said,

"Carla's making Peter's birthday cake though."

"Are you now?" Liz asked, staring at Carla who nodded.

"I am indeed… I'll be honest though I'm a little concerned about it, I mean making a simple sponge is one thing, but an actual birthday cake with an actual written message on it… I'm hoping Simon's got a steady hand."

"Oh you two will be fine." Michelle said with a smile, "I bet Peter's gonna be dead pleased with it. What flavour is it going to be?"

"Well it's Peter so chocolate of course." Carla replied, she smiled fondly as she thought about Peter's love for all things chocolate. Liz and Michelle both smiled at the love struck look on Carla's face and then Liz said,

"Well…I guess that's what love does to ya eh? It gets ya doing things you never thought you'd do."

"You got that right." Carla smirked picking up her glass of wine, "I won't even begin to tell you the stuff I've done for that man…" Michelle and Liz both laughed again and Carla spent the next hour or so, stood at the bar with them both, happily chatting away about anything and everything.

* * *

It was twenty to three when Carla decided that she should probably hit the shops to get some stuff for the party tomorrow. She left the Rover's and headed towards her building so she could get her car and head into town.

As she approached her building she spotted Simon and Zeedan kicking a football back and forth, both dressed in sports gear. Simon saw Carla first and as she waved over at them cheerily, he grinned at Zeedan with an eyebrow raised and said,

"Oh look who it is…" He pointed in the direction of Carla who crossed the road and smiled excitedly. "Hi Carla!" Simon called, still looking thrilled that she was approaching them because he was pretty sure that Zeedan was seriously starting to get a proper crush on his Stepmother. "Say Hi Zee!" A slightly embarrassed Zeedan gave Simon a light shove before turning around and saying a very casual,

"Hey…"

"Hiya Zeedan." Carla beamed as she stopped in front of them and she looked at Simon with a wicked glint in her eyes and then said with a large smile, "Alright Casanova." Simon knew at this moment that his Dad must have told her about what had walked in on last night and now it was his time to look embarrassed about something.

"Ave I missed something?" Zeedan asked amused as Simon sighed and Carla couldn't help but reach forward and ruffle his curly hair. Simon batted her away playfully.

"You mean you aven't told Zeedan yet?" Carla said with a grin. Simon shook his head and let out a nervous laugh before saying,

"No… I was actually trying to pretend like it never happened Carla."

"Oh… woops." Carla said, although she didn't look the least bit apologetic about things at all, in fact she looked rather amused about the whole situation, where as Simon didn't.

"Oh come on." Zeedan moaned, "You gotta tell me now..." He looked at Carla for a response but she just shrugged and nodded towards Simon saying,

"Eh it's not up to me to tell ya."

"Oh for god sake…" Simon said sighing again, He shook his head at Carla but he was smiling now. Like his Dad, he found himself unable to stay mad at her about something trivial for too long. "Long story short… I thought me Dad n Carla were staying in London last night so... I invited Santana over… so we could be alone." Zeedan raised one eyebrow perfectly and looked at Carla to see her reaction.

"I know... the flamin cheek of it." She said but she was joking and as she leant on the wall behind her, Simon continued.

"Anyways… me Dad ended up walking in on us both... kissing on the sofa…"

"Uh oh." Zeedan said looking slightly amused, espeically as Carla was stood next to him almost laughing her self.

"It were probably the most embarrassing moment ever." Simon added, raising the palm of his hand towards his head and sighing. There was air of silence from Zeedan and Carla in that moment, they both just stood and watched Simon cringe and then, they both burst into fits of laughter. "Oh shut up you two!" Simon cried.

"Wait… why on earth did you think your Dad n Carla would be in London?" Zeedan asked a while after his laughter had subsided.

"Because they said they were going." Simon said, Zeedan looked at Carla who nodded and said,

"We were but me n Peter missed the train... he's had a rough week at work so in the end we just fancied a quiet weekend ere instead, Peter had gone home to get changed and that's when he interrupted Romeo and Juliet." Zeedan laughed again which caused Carla to smirk once more.

"It's not funny, Santana's dead embarrassed about this…" Simon said with his eyes wide. "She was even saying she didn't know how she's going to come to me Dad's party tomorrow n face him, She's spent half of today saying she wants to try n get out of it."

"Oh she has to come." Carla said sympathetically this time, "Tell her it'll be fine, everyone gets walked in on like at some point in her life… I've had it happened to me plenty of times…" Carla then paused as she thought about the last time it had happened to her, Simon was on the same wave length as he had been the one to stumble in on Carla in a compromising position and after a few awkward looks, Carla nodded towards her step son and said, "I think you two should count ya selves lucky that you were only kissing… eh?"

"Yes." Simon nodded slowly but then he added, "But that's all we do by the way… kiss." Simon stated this as if it was a very important fact, one that he thought Carla should take note of and maybe one that she should tell his Dad. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow before saying,

"Whatever you and Santana do is your own business kiddo…" She smiled at him and looked down at her watch. "Right, I'm going into town to get some balloons n stuff for the old man's birthday tomorrow, d'ya wanna come with us?"

"Yeah!" Simon said, suddenly looking thrilled at the idea of going into town with Carla. "I was actually gonna ask if you could drop me into town in a bit cause I really need to go." Zeedan looked suspiciously at Simon then because he hadn't actually mentioned wanting to go into town until now and they'd spent the entire day together so far.

"Oh well great minds think alike don't they?" Carla said, "I'll grab me car n pick you up ere in a few minutes then yeah?"

"Okay." Simon nodded. Carla waved goodbye at him and Zeedan before heading back off into the direction off her building. Zeedan made sure she was long gone and then asked Simon,

"Since when did you need to go into town today?"

"Since me Dad called earlier and asked me to keep Carla busy for a few hours." Simon said, bending down and picking up his football.

"Oh yeah… how comes?" Zeedan asked curiously. Simon knew why but he had been sworn to secrecy and even though he knew Zeedan wouldn't say anything he still shook his head and said,

"I can't say… but it's a surprise for Carla." Simon said looking excited even though what his Dad had in store had nothing to do with him.

"Fair enough." Zeedan said slowly, he then laughed silently which made Simon tut and say,

"Oh you're not still laughing about last night are ya?"

"Sorry…" Zeedan said shaking his head and trying to regain some composure. "You never said how your Dad reacted, was he mad?"

"Not really…" Simon said, "He were disappointed that I lied about where I was to me Mum n stuff, n obviously he weren't too happy that me n Tan were alone but… He was really calm about it, he didn't treat us like a pair of kids. He didn't shout… he even said he wouldn't tell me Mum."

"Wow." Zeedan nodded, "That's really cool of him." He thought about what Leanne would say if she found out and so did Simon, they both took a quick sigh of relief that Leanne didn't know about last night and then Simon said,

"I'm so lucky y'know… to ave my Dad back ere again… and to ave Carla as well… she's cool too."

"Yeah she is…" Zeedan very quickly said, he then realised that Simon was grinning again and unnecessarily added, "I don't fancy her y'know."

"Never said you did…" Simon said trying not to laugh.

"Yeah not today you aven't." Zeedan said rolling his eyes, getting used to the way Simon teased him about Carla by now. "I really like her… but as a friend like…"

"Okay…" Simon nodded, still with an amused grin on his face, one that told Zeedan that he didn't believe a word. It was only half a minute later when Carla's car pulled up in front of them both and as Simon said goodbye to Zeedan, she wound down her window and called out,

"What about you Zeedan? Do you need dropping off any where?"

"No thanks, I'm just gonna head home." Zeedan said smiling politely.

"You're coming to Peter's party tomorrow though right?" Carla then asked as Simon got into the front passengers seat next to her.

"Err yeah." Zeedan nodded, Simon had invited him to the party weeks back but he hadn't actually said whether he was going yet, until now. Simon laughed to himself and shook his head as Carla smiled and waved at Zeedan,

"Alright then, anytime after Five at Peter's … see ya then." She said before winding her window back up. Zeedan waved after them both and as they pulled away, Carla turned to Simon and said,

"Ave you had a nice day then?"

"Yeah it's been alright." Simon nodded, "Me n Zeedan ave just been messing about and down the red rec n stuff. His Dad has gone with me Granddad and Me Dad to that car boot thing, you should ave seen how much stuff they were packing into their cars." Carla smiled to her self, as she couldn't help but think Simon had been told to casually mention that his Dad really had gone along to this car boot sale. "They're having a competition to see who can sell the most."

"Men." Carla sighed, shaking her head as she began to steer her car off Coronation Street. "So what d'ya need to get in town then?"

"Oh…" Simon said, trying to think very quickly on the spot. "I just need to get me Dad a card." He watched Carla for her reaction wondering if she believed him, Carla nodded as she kept her eyes on the road and as she looked convinced Simon then said, "Hey… I'm well hungry, we should grab something to eat once we're done shopping."

"Yeah me too…" Carla nodded again, "We should probably invite your Dad… although if we've got a load of party stuff he might catch on to what we've got planned."

"Yeah… besides, knowing him he's probably got caught up in the competition that Sharif and me Granddad are having." Simon quickly said, "He's probably running around that car boot getting all sorts of deals going." Carla laughed because this sounded just like Peter.

"Alright then, Just me n you then eh?" Carla said, deciding that maybe Carla and Peter Weekend, could also be a little bit of Carla and Simon weekend too.

* * *

Carla and Simon actually had a really enjoyable time shopping for Peter's surprise party and had bought balloons, wall decorations, tablecloths, party hats and party poppers. They could have actually left the shops ages ago, Only Simon had been doing his very best to keep Carla out as long as possible. He took her into various sports shops to show her the newest trainers he was saving up for and to the game shop where he lusted over a brand new football game but soon enough it turned five and the shops started shutting so Simon knew he couldn't really keep Carla out for much longer.

Luckily she had remembered about dinner so she and Simon had gone for a large burger and a milkshake each, Simon dragged out the meal as long as possible by chatting away about school and his friend but as it came to almost half past six, he got out his phone and texted his Dad.

**_"_****_We're headed back home now Dad, just got in Carla's car. The shops are all shut now &amp; we've eaten, can't keep her away any longer Dad, sorry."_**

As Carla started the ignition Simon worried whether his Dad was ready for Carla to return home or not but he didn't have to worry for too long because he soon got a reply which said,

**_"_****_Don't say sorry kid, You've done perfectly mate. Everything is all set. Thanks for all your help, Couldn't ave done it without ya… wish me luck eh?"_**

Simon grinned triumphantly down at his phone when he read his reply, not knowing that Carla had been watching him whilst they were at a traffic light.

"Eh… what are you grinning at like that?" She asked.

"Just a text from Santana…" Simon lied.

"Awww…" Carla smiled at him as the lights turned green and as she started driving again, she said, "Tell her she better be at that party tomorrow or else."

"I will." Simon chuckled.

"I wonder if your Dad is back yet…" Carla then said, "Ave you heard from him at all?"

"Nope." Simon said nonchalantly, Me Granddad did say these Car boot things take ages to set up and close though… I think it were meant to finish at five… so he's probably at home by now… n waiting for you."

"He better be." Carla said with her eyes fixated on the road. "This weekend were his idea after all, so if he aint he's gonna get a right kick up the backside." Simon chuckled at Carla as she continued to drive them home and with her gaze permanently on the road ahead, he quickly replied to his Dad.

**_"_****_Trust me Dad, you don't need luck, Carla loves you like mad, she's gonna be dead pleased with what you've done!"_**

After dropping Simon back at Leanne's and having a quick chat, Carla made her way towards her flat, like Simon she had also texted Peter when they had left the shops and her message had said,

**_"_****_Went into town for a burger with Simon but we're on our way home now… you better be at mine by the time I get there Mr Barlow or you're going to be in big trouble xxx" _**

Peter didn't reply to this message of course, which irked Carla slightly. She had left all the party supplies that she and Simon had chosen in the boot of her car so that Peter wouldn't see them and as she entered her building, she hoped that Peter would be in there.

Carla opened the door to her flat and closed it behind her, at first she thought her flat was empty and she was about to call Peter to have a moan but then she was distracted by the sound of some soft music playing and by a glow that came from below.

When she looked properly she saw that someone had lit some tea lights and left them scattered all around her living room. She soon saw that some of those tea light candles had been arranged in a sort of trail. As the sound of James Bay echoed through her flat, Carla took off her jacket, she smiled down at them knowing exactly who was responsible for this beautiful sight and as she followed the trail of candles through her flat and she soon found that they led her towards her balcony.

"Ello…" Carla called excitedly, stepping onto her balcony. Peter was stood leaning against the wall of her balcony casually dressed in a black T-Shirt and jeans. It was a pretty standard Peter outfit but it was the outfit that Carla loved on him most because it was one that he was the most comfortable in. It was now almost seven thirty and the sun was almost set which left the sky half bright blue and half orange.

"Hey." He said smiling happily at Carla, glad she was finally home because in reality he had been there for hours now, waiting for her return. Carla looked down at the candles that he had placed on her balcony and said,

"So… what's all this in aid of then?"

"You." Peter said softly, moving towards Carla, he had been thinking about this since last night and decided he better go about it before he lost his nerve. He had no idea why he was nervous about this because he was sure he knew what Carla would say but he still felt his throat grow a little dry as he spoke.

"Me?" Carla laughed as Peter took hold of one of her hands.

"Yeah you…" He nodded, "And me, but mostly... you."

"Okay…" Carla said, she kissed Peter gently on the lips wondering what on earth what he was up to, she looked down again at the candles and said, "This all looks so beautiful baby."

"Just like you eh?" He said with a smooth smirk. He then licked his lips nervously and then swallowed hard before asking, "So, do you know how long I've been back in Weatherfield for?"

"Erm... About ten months or so…" Carla said, thinking about how fast it had all gone for them both, she smiled as she reminisced about everything they had done since Peter's return to Manchester and as Peter smiled too he said,

"Well These past ten months have been… Some of the best ten months of my life."

"Me too." Carla said nodding and squeezing Peter's hand tight, she had so much she wanted to say but it looked like Peter did too, so she kept quiet and let him speak.

"When I moved back ere last year, I never thought we'd be like this right now… I mean don't get me wrong. I hoped… and I prayed we'd make it back to each other as Husband and Wife… but I never actually thought it could happen." Peter said, he still had hold of her hand and as Carla smiled at him in silence he cleared his throat and continued, "I never felt like I deserved another chance with you… and yet… you gave me one... and ere we are… Ten months down the line… Stronger than ever." Peter took a deep breath again and shook his head a little making Carla laugh.

"Baby why are you so nervous?" She said, squeezing his hand tightly, and reaching forward to affectionately stroke his face. She kissed him on the cheek lovingly and then gave him a supportive hug because even though she had no idea where he was going with this she new he could do with an encouraging cuddle.

"I ave no idea…" Peter laughed, he took a deep breath before grinning at Carla, letting go of her and saying, "All I know… is that I am the luckiest man alive."

"Peter…" Carla began, shaking her head to interrupt.

"No…" Peter said firmly but softly at the same time, "Let me finish eh, I mean I know that we've been over and over our past and that we agreed to stop talking about all the bad parts... to move forward... but sometimes I still go over the way I treated you…" Carla looked down and her and Peter's entwined hands because she knew he was getting ready to start beating himself up over the things he'd done in the past. "Now there's a lot of things I'd change about the way things went with us… without mentioning the obvious of course..."

"Darlin I meant what I said last night… everything that has happened to us has got us ere…" Carla said, looking up at Peter fondly.

"I know you did." Peter nodded as an old favourite song started playing in the background. It was _Video Games _by _Lana Del Rey _and the sound of it made Carla and Peter both smile reminiscently. "Still… if I could go back, one of things I'd make sure… was that you got the proposal that someone as incredible as you … deserves."

"Oh Peter… you know I don't mind how we got engaged, you're only saying all of this because of what happened with Beth last night…" Carla said, feeling slightly annoyed at Beth for bringing this out in Peter. "I'm gonna ave a right word with her tomorrow..."

"No love... don't, I mean don't get me wrong ere, Beth is right… I should ave proposed to you… It's what's proper. I mean come on love… you didn't even get a ring… and then when you did you paid for it your self." Peter hated speaking about this subject but he knew he had to to get onto the next one, "I aven't mentioned it but sometimes... well sometimes I get these dreams… dreams where I'd done it all differently… not just the proposal but everything…" Peter said shaking his head, Carla thought he was going to look downtrodden again but instead he looked excited. "As me Dad always says, _It's never too late to follow your dreams_ and well… I think there is no time like the present." With that, Peter smiled at Carla and as he got down on one knee in front of Carla, he said,

"Peter…" She breathed, her green eyes filling with tears as he bent down before her.

"Carla…" He began, still smiling only his eyes were now full of tears. "You and Simon make the happiest I've ever been in me entire life and I'm gonna make sure that I do the same for you…" Tears poured down Carla's face as she nodded and said,

"You already do…" Peter sniffed and smiled at Carla before saying,

"Stop interrupting…" She laughed through her tears and nodded before Peter continued, "I want to make sure you know that never in me entire life ave I wanted to make something up to someone so bad than I ave with you… I let you down terribly and if you let me, I promise that I will never let you feel that much pain in your life again." Carla wiped her cheek as Peter went into his pocket and pulled out a small black box.

"Peter…" She breathed but this time because she was just in shock.

"You are amazing Carla Barlow… Every single little thing about you leaves me in awe, you're out of this world… you're perfect with Simon and honestly, I ave absolutely no idea what you're doing with an old codger like me." Carla laughed once again and had to take another deep breath because she seriously couldn't believe what was happening right now.

She knew Peter had been up to something but she had no idea it was something like this, something so special, private and beautiful. With the way the sky looked at Sunset, the music and with all the candles, Peter couldn't have planned this any better.

"What I did on our wedding day totally disrespected the vows that I made to you… and I really… desperately want to change that… I want you to hear them again and know that mean every word of them… I want you to know that I will never ever hurt you again… so… ere I am… I'm down on one knee asking you if on the fourth of December this year… on our third wedding anniversary… if you would like to renew our wedding vows."

Carla's eyes were still bringing with tears as Peter opened the box he hand in his hand. He revealed a truly stunning silver engagement ring. The band had tiny diamonds all around it and in the middle was the most precious stone Carla had ever seen and she had seen a fair few diamond rings in her life. She stared down at the diamond for a moment and knew that this must have been what Peter had been up to earlier on.

"So…" Peter said sniffing again, tears pouring down his cheeks as well as Carla's. "What d'ya say then, Will ya marry me again?" Carla took one last look at the ring in astonishment before staring back at Peter in awe and nodding.

"Yes… Yes… of course I will." Before Peter even had time to react Carla had dropped to her knees and had thrown her arms around him.

"Woah…" He chuckled, still crying along with Carla who was holding him so tightly he felt her tears fall off her face and onto his lower arms. After a few more moments Peter laughed again, he then pulled Carla away from him slightly saying, "You gonna let me put this ring on then?" Carla giggled through her tears and moved backwards slightly so Peter could place the breath-taking ring on her left ring finger. "Perfect fit eh?" Peter smiled triumphantly, he and Carla still sat on the floor of her dimly lit balcony.

"It's gorgeous." She said staring down at it again as Peter stroked her hand gently.

"You sure… if you don't like it we can change it." Peter said but Carla shook her head rapidly and said,

"No baby… I love it…" She placed tenderly placed a hand on Peter's cheek and pressed her forehead up against his before saying, "N I love you so much…" She tried to keep from bursting into tears again but her emotions took over and as Lana Del Rey continued to play in the background, the tears began to fall again.

"I love you too… to the moon n back eh?" Peter said, gently stroking the rocket tattoo that Carla had inked on her left wrist.

"Definitely." She smiled down at her tattoo and took hold of Peter's right wrist where he had his moon tattooed. She kissed it lovingly and as Peter let go of her hand, Peter asked,

"So... was me going out today worth it?"

"Absolutely." Carla nodded, and as another tear ran down her cheek, Peter wiped it away, kissing her softly on it before saying,

"Shall we go inside?"

"Yes." Carla replied, licking her lips slightly as Peter got up and then pulled her up with him.


	63. Surprise!

"Okay… So where do we start?" Simon asked, rolling up his sleeves and staring at the group of different ingredients that were on the work surface before him. He had finished school about fifteen minutes ago and yet he was already back at his flat with his sleeves rolled up ready to make his Dad's birthday cake.

He had left school at three fifteen as normal to find Carla parked outside the gates in her black car. Carla smiled politely at Simon's friends who looked pretty impressed with her car and then she ushered him to get in quickly so they could go home and get started on Peter's surprise party as soon as possible because people were due to arrive at the flat anytime after five o clock that evening.

Simon was more than used to Carla's rapid driving by now and wasn't surprised to find himself home within ten minutes. She had already blown up a few balloons and prepared a few bowls of snacks earlier on so all she and Simon had to do now was bake the cake and call the Pizza delivery place.

Earlier on that day, Peter awoke to breakfast in bed, which had been organised lovingly on a tray by Carla. There was a bacon sandwich, a cup of strong coffee, some of Peter's favourite biscuits, some croissants and pastries and they were all placed on the tray along with today's paper.

After his surprise proposal last night, Carla was more than enthusiastic to treat Peter like an absolute King and had gone out in the very early hours to buy the fresh croissants and pastries from the bakery. She had also cheated and bought the bacon sandwich from Roy's as she wasn't known as the best cook and decided that Peter deserved a treat on his birthday rather than to have to eat her dodgy cooking.

She then handed him what seemed like an endless array of presents, which included a jokey book about getting old, a very expensive pair of shoes and a tour of his favourite football team's stadium. Normally Carla would have tried to persuade Peter to take the day off and pull a sickie so they could spend the day together but today she actually needed him gone for a while, She needed him to go to work so she could prepare his flat for his surprise party.

Simon had also popped round before school so he could see his Dad before hand and give him his present, which was a mini old school arcade machine. It had lots of different games on it and Simon thought his Dad could keep it on his desk at work.

Peter was amused by this idea and thanked Simon after opening his new gift and continued to eat his breakfast before getting ready for work. As usual Peter drove and as he dropped Carla to work she casually mentioned that she might be a little late home later as there was an factory related issue she had to take care of.

Peter nodded and wasn't suspicious at all which was good because Carla had the freedom to return back to his place on her lunch break and begin to get his party ready.

"First we need to measure everything to the amounts we need and then the butter n Brown sugar goes first." Carla said, joining Simon at the kitchen counter, she had tied her long lightened hair up into a ponytail and was wearing an apron as Simon smiled at her and asked,

"Why the butter and Sugar first?"

"No idea… The recipes always seem to say that the butter n the sugar needs to be mixed first..." Carla said with a shrug as she reached over to her weighing scales and pulled it towards her. "

"Oh right." Simon chuckled looking amused, Carla's iPad was rested up against the wall and had the recipe for the chocolate cake she had chosen on screen. He watched as Carla opened the butter and began slicing it and placing chunks into a bowl that she had on her scales. She looked pretty confident in what she was doing as she measured all the correct amounts of each ingredient in separate bowls and as she delved into Peter's kitchen cupboard to look for a large mixing bowl, Simon couldn't help but grin admiringly at his Step Mother.

"What?" Carla asked returning to her feet and reading the expression on Simon's face.

"Nothing…" he shrugged looking slightly sheepish, Carla poked him gently, which led him to say, "I'm just… having fun that's all."

"Good… Me too." Carla said smiling warmly at the twelve year old before her. She handed him the large mixing bowl and a whisk before then saying, "So… do you wanna mix first?"

"Erm… sure." Simon said a little apprehensively, looking down at the butter and the Brown sugar that had now been placed in the glass bowl Carla had given him.

"Don't look so worried kid, you just need to mix it up so it becomes one." Carla said encouragingly.

"I know… I just don't wanna mess it up." Simon laughed as he began to mix the sugar and the butter together.

"Mess it up?" Carla said amused, "Si it's butter and Sugar, how could you mess it up?"

"Oh you avent seen me during Food Tech… I'm useless, I pretty much burn everything I make." Simon said as he continued to mix what was in the bowl.

"Oh don't worry bout that… I were the same…" Carla grinned, "I soon learnt that Microwave ready meals and Takeaway menu's were a girls best friend."

"Yeah but look how far you've come since then." Simon said cheekily, "I mean you can almost make a decent Spag Bol these days." He was grinning but he meant what he said, Carla had become slightly better at cooking. By no means could she cook anything complicated and she still had a habit of burning things because she would forget they were even in the oven but she had seemed to have mastered the art of boiling pasta perfectly not to mention she had become rather skilled when it came to baking cakes.

"See Si, Normally I'd argue with ya n defend myself but you're right..." Carla laughed, bending down and preheating the oven. She then went into the bag that she had brought the ingredients in and took out two cake tins as Simon peered into the bowl and asked,

"What's it supposed to look like when it's mixed?"

"Not like that." Carla said shaking her head at the half mixed butter and brown sugar. "Come on Si… put your elbow into it." She said as Simon began mixing again. He couldn't help but laugh as Carla continued to spur him on and soon enough, After a few minutes the butter and sugar had joined to form a soft and creamy substance. Carla then took a second bowl and began sifting flour, Simon watched her and smiled as he asked,

"What was your favourite subject in school then?"

"Ermm…" Carla began, pulling a face because school had never really been her favourite place growing up. "I guess if I had to choose, it'd probably be Maths."

"Really?" Simon said pulling his own face this time because he hated Maths.

"Yes really, I've always been quite good at Maths n I spose it helped when the factory came along." Carla said as she then added the rest of the dry ingredients to her bowl. Simon nodded as Carla pushed the glass bowl towards Simon. "Right, this goes in there…" She said pointing down at the mixture she had just made.

"Alright." Simon said picking up the bowl and pouring one mixture into the other. He began mixing the ingredients again as a buzzing sound came from Carla's bag. She walked over to it to find her phone was ringing.

"Ello…" She said as she answered it.

"Hey love, I was just wondering if you're still going to be late home tonight." Peter said, calling Carla on one of his breaks from work.

"Oh…" Carla said smiling as Simon continued mixing at the kitchen counter. "I was just about to call you baby… Yeah… I'm going to be late, I'm sorry darlin it's just something I can't get out of n I know it's your birthday but if I don't deal with this thing today it'll only get worse."

There was a slight pause then, One where Carla held her breath and wondered if Peter was buying anything that she had said, Of course he didn't think there was any reason that Carla might be lying so he just responded with a slightly disappointed,

"I understand love… After everything that's being going on ere I know what it's like when you ave to deal with stuff… What time d'ya reckon you'll be out of work then?"

"Erm… probably... after seven." Carla lied, walking over to the kitchen to keep a closer eye on an enthusiastic Simon who had gotten so carried away with his mixing that he almost sent flour everywhere. She gestured at him to slow down trying not to laugh and make Peter ask what she found so funny.

"Okay well you can tell me all about work then yeah?" Peter replied, sounding a little happier just at the mere thought of seeing Carla later.

"Absolutely… and trust me, as soon as I see you later, I'll make it all up to you…" Carla said excitedly, knowing that she seemed to have really convinced Peter that she was working late.

"Oh I can't wait…" Peter said, his tone of voice laced with glee.

"Me neither… I'll see you later then sexy." Carla said feeling utterly delighted with how well the phone call had gone and how Peter didn't even sound slightly suspicious.

"Mmmmm I love you." Peter said and when Carla returned the love, he then hung up.

"Did he buy it?" Simon asked as Carla put her phone down on the counter. He had finished mixing up the dry ingredients and was waiting for his next instructions.

"Yes… Bless him though, he sounded well disappointed when I said I wouldn't be out of work till seven." Carla said reaching over to the eggs and a jug she had set aside earlier.

"Do ya reckon he'll come straight ere after work then?" Simon said watching as Carla took an egg out of the box.

"I bloody hope so." Carla said as she tapped the egg on the side of the measuring jug and emptied it's contents inside it. "I'm imagining he'd want to see you… What did you tell him?"

"I told him I had Basket Ball today after school but that I'd be home after five, He seemed like he believed it." Simon said handing Carla another egg because he'd already read that she needed two eggs.

"Good." She said happily as she took the egg of Simon. He waited for her to successfully crack this egg and then said with a wide smile,

"Are you going to tell everyone about last night then?" Carla's own mouth suddenly grew a large smile and she practically beamed as she began whisking the eggs together with some vanilla essence.

"I think so…" She said, still unable to believe how sweet and sincere Peter had been last night. She had found this morning that Simon had been in on the proposal from the start and had had a hand in keeping her away from her flat for a lot of the day. "I mean I'll speak to your Dad about it first…"

"I'm sure he'll be more than okay with it, he loves ya like mad… I bet he wants everyone to know you're going to be getting married again." Simon said, still smiling, he paused for a moment as Carla stopped whisking her eggs and then said, "I'm dead glad you said yes."

"Oh Si… Course I said yes." Carla said also still grinning from ear. "I mean I know your Dad's getting on a bit." She joked like she always did, "But how could I not eh?"

"Still…" Simon chuckled, "I'm dead happy… happy to ave our little family back again." Carla looked so touched that she reached out and pulled Simon towards her.

"Me too." She said, feeling her eyes prick with tears as she felt Simon cuddle her tightly. They stayed close for a small moment and then Carla smiled even more as she said, "What would you say... if our little family was extended one day?" Simon pulled away from Carla in such a rapid motion that she knew exactly what he was thinking and very quickly added, "I don't mean I'm pregnant now or out… y'know… It's just me n your Dad were sort of… thinking about it… So if I did… get pregnant… what would you say? How would it make you feel?"

"Well…" Simon said quietly, "I… mean does it really matter what I think?" He wasn't asking to be a pain or to be smart he just genuinely wanted to know why his opinion should matter, after all his Dad and Carla were both grown adults who could make this decision on their own.

"Yes…" Carla said sternly, "Simon you and your Dad are the most important people in my life… I love you to pieces… You're my Step Son… You're a part of the reason that I've become the woman I am today… of course it matters what you think..." Simon thought for a moment as a rather anxious Carla stood before him then he smiled at her fondly and said,

"I think it's a great idea…" Carla stopped looking so anxious when Simon spoke and beamed back at him as he continued. "I've always wanted to be a big brother… n I know that any baby would be lucky to ave you as a parent… just like I am." Carla sniffed hard and tried very hard not to let the tears behind her eyes fall but as one did Simon smiled once again and said, "N I love you too." Carla pulled him towards her again for another hug and as they embraced she said a heartfelt,

"Thank you Simon."

"No problem." Simon replied, letting go of Carla and then looking down at their mixing bowl. "We better finish this off before people start to arrive eh?" He grinned. Carla nodded and they both worked together to finish off Peter's double chocolate birthday cake.

* * *

The first party guest to arrive at Peter's flat was Ken. Even though Carla had said after five o Clock, Ken had opted to arrive for four forty five to see if he could help out with anything.

He walked into Peter's flat to the smell of a freshly baked chocolate cake and saw that Carla and Simon had obviously been very busy decorating the flat since they had been home from school and work.

Peter's breakfast bar had been covered in a black tablecloth and on that tablecloth was various different bowls with different snacks in. One had crisps, one had nuts and one had mini pretzels in it. There were also a few plates with mini Sausage rolls on it and mini quiches that Carla had purchased in the supermarket earlier on that day.

Peter's coffee table had also been covered in a table cloth only this one had a set of metallic party hats on it, the kind with the elastic that goes underneath the chin. It also had lots of different bottles of soft drink and plastic drinking cups.

"You're early Granddad…" Simon said, taking his Granddad's coat off him so he could put it in one of the bedrooms. Simon was still wearing his school uniform but Carla was nowhere to be seen yet.

"I know but I was getting rather restless at home…" Ken began, as he gazed around Peter's flat, he couldn't help but smile because it was clear that Simon and Carla had prepared everything with so much love. "I thought you might need some help but it seems as if everything is all done."

"Yeah… pretty much." Simon nodded proudly, "We just have to order all the pizzas..." He still had hold of Ken's coat as they walked across the living room.

"Pizzas?" Ken asked which made Simon chuckle.

"You didn't think I were cooking did ya Ken? Surely you know better than that." Carla suddenly said. She had just emerged from Peter's bedroom and was no longer wearing the black and white work outfit she had been wearing earlier. She was now dressed in a deep red dress that had sleeves that stopped at her elbows and as she approached Ken to say hello he said,

"You look positively lovely Carla." Carla kissed him on the cheek as Simon went to put away Ken's coat and then replied to Ken's comment with a grin saying,

"Awww thanks Ken, Gotta make the effort for the old man's birthday eh?" Simon came back out of the bedroom as she spoke and laughed out loud which made Ken sigh comically and say,

"Well if I'm the father of said old man how old does that make me then?"

"Very old." Simon joked, walking back over to the kitchen along with Carla who squeezed his shoulders and said,

"Right… you better pipe Happy Birthday on the cake so we can hide it before you Dad gets in..." At the mention of cake, Ken followed Carla and Simon to the kitchen and looked rather stunned to see the rather large cake that was sat on a silver cake board.

After taking it out the oven almost an hour and leaving it by Peter's open kitchen window the cake had cooled down rather quickly leaving just enough time for Carla to smother it in some white chocolate buttercream icing that she and Simon had made whilst the cake had been in the oven.

It was touch and go at some points because Carla and Simon couldn't seem to get the consistency of the icing correct but after a few frustrating attempts they had managed to get it just right and Carla had coated the entire cake in it whilst Simon started laying out all of the nibbles. She had also placed some white and milk chocolate buttons all around the top edge of the cake and had made the two flavours go one after the other.

"Okay…" Simon said nervously looking down at the white cake that was in front of him. All he had to write was _Happy Birthday Peter_ on it with some milk chocolate writing icing that Carla had bought but as the cake looked extremely neat and extremely white Simon didn't want to do anything to mess it up.

"Did you two make this cake?" Ken asked, looking around the kitchen and seeing that Carla's recipe was still on screen as Simon took the lid of the writing icing.

"We sure did." Carla nodded proudly, "What do ya reckon? I'm even thinking of applying to next years bake off." She joked as Simon began to slowly ice the word _Happy_ on the cake he and Carla had spent the past hour making.

"It looks truly delicious…" Ken began looking so pleased that Carla thought he might tear up, he saw the slightly concerned and amused look on her face and then said, "I'm sorry… it's just so nice to see Peter's getting treated so well… not that I expected anything less from you two of course, it's just that I spoke to him on his last birthday and he sounded so down. I'm so glad he came back here... and I'm extremely glad you and Peter are doing so well."

"Oh me n Peter are doing a lot better than well…" Carla grinned, Simon grinned too as he started icing the word Birthday, which made Ken say,

"What… what is it?"

"Well…" Carla began, she was about to tell Ken about Peter's proposal last night but then there was the sound of Peter's buzzer. "I'll fill you in later Ken." Carla said before walking over to the buzzer and picking it up. It was Tracy and Amy. They walked into Peter's flat and as they did Amy sniffed and said,

"Wow… what's that amazing smell."

"It's the cake me n Carla made for Dad." Simon said smugly, he put the chocolate icing down and looked at the finished cake with pride as Amy walked over to where he was stood.

"You and Carla made that?" She asked looking slightly impressed as Tracy went over to her Dad and gave him a hug.

"Yeah we did." Simon said nodding as Carla returned to the kitchen with her phone, she took a picture of the cake as Amy went to say hello to Ken.

"Right, what can I get you all to drink?" Carla asked walking back over to Ken and Tracy.

"Well what ave you got?" Tracy asked as she took off her coat and handed it to Simon.

"Well we ave a fine selection of Juices, Soft Drinks and Hot Drinks…" Carla began, knowing exactly what Tracy was going to say next as she pointed over to the table where she and Simon had left many different bottles of drink.

"What? No Alcohol?" She said practically on cue. Ken tutted at her and so did Simon as he took Amy's coat also before heading to the bedroom where he was keeping all the coats.

"No Tracy." Carla said firmly, "No Alcohol… This is Peter's flat remember."

"Yeah I know that but we could ave had a few drinks before he got ere… Come on… You must ave some stashed somewhere." Tracy said grinning but Carla was far from amused.

"No I flamin well don't." She replied offended, staring at Tracy with her hands on her hips.

"Honestly Tracy…" Ken said shaking his head at his daughter, who then rolled her eyes and said,

"Alright… I'm only kidding anyways, Calm down Dad. I'll ave a Coke." Carla nodded and walked towards the table where the drinks were so she could poor Tracy a drink. She offered one to Ken and Amy whilst Simon went into his bedroom to get changed out of his school uniform.

The next people to arrive at Peter's flat were Michelle and Steve. Carla looked thrilled to see her best mate and ran over to her to give her hug. She then took their coats just like Simon had been doing, after a few Hellos after Steve had already began helping himself to the nibbles that Carla and Simon had set out, Michelle grinned excitedly and said,

"So where's this cake then?"

"Oh we've already hidden it now." Carla said with a broad smile, "You can see it later."

"Oh alright…" Michelle said with a nod, Carla smiled down at Michelle's baby bump like she always did when she saw her and asked,

"How you doing today then?"

"A little tired…" Michelle began, "But okay... really okay."

"Good." Carla said happily. It was long before Peter's buzzer went off again and this time, It was Leanne, She arrived just before Santana did, along with her Mother Juliana, Her little sister Carmen and also… Nick.

"Hello everyone." Nick said as they all piled into the flat. Leanne looked slightly disappointed to see that Nick had also turned up at Peter's party but no one really seemed to notice this except for Carla.

Simon had been busy introducing Santana and her family to everyone again and Nick was too busy talking to Steve to notice the look on Leanne's face but Carla hadn't been. She watched as Leanne tried to put on a brave face and said hello to Juliana who had been dating Nick for about four months now.

"Carla!" came an adorable voice from below and when Carla looked down, Santana's little sister was stood waving excitedly at her. Carla had always found her self slightly taken by the little girl stood before her and bent down as she said,

"Hello Carmen." Carmen threw her arms around Carla as other than her family, Nick and Simon, Carla was the next person in the room that she new the most. There had been a few family dinners where Santana's family and Simon's family had met up and had a fantastic time together. They had even gone to the cinema once and then back to Santana's house where Simon, Peter and Carla didn't leave until after midnight.

"I can't wait for Peter to come, I maked him a big card!" Carmen said excitably.

"Oh he'll be ere soon, Don't worry." Carla replied, looking at the clock and seeing it was just gone five and that Peter would be home any minute now.

* * *

At around twenty past five, Carla found her phone and decided she might text Peter to see where he was. If he came straight home, he was normally home just gone five o clock. Everyone had arrived at the party by now and she was starting to think Peter had decided to maybe go for a birthday drink with his work mates, or maybe he decided to work late.

Zeedan and Kal had both arrived at the party at five o clock and Kal could instantly tell that there was something wrong with Leanne. She denied it of course and pretended that everything was okay but Kal wasn't convinced so he made sure he stayed by her side. Dev Alahan had also turned up to Peter's party, along with Luke and Tyrone from the garage. Peter's flat was now pretty busy and as Carla began to type out a text message to Peter, she hoped that he was just stuck in traffic.

"What you up to?" Simon asked. He had seen Carla stood in the kitchen on her own, whilst everyone else at the party was chatting away with each other and enjoying the snacks that had been laid out.

"Oh I were just going to text your Dad n see where he is." Carla explained, "I mean he's normally home now right?"

"Yeah… that's if he leaves work right on time, He's probably left a bit later today, seeing as it's his birthday n all." Simon said, he had a bowl of crisps in his hands and was eating them as Carla pondered whether to send the message to Peter of not.

"Yeah…" She said slowly, "You're right." She cleared the text message and decided not to send it after all. "I'll give him till half past maybe…" Simon smiled at her fondly before being summoned back to his bedroom where he, Santana, Amy and Carmen had been playing a game on the Xbox that Simon had in his bedroom.

Carla left her phone on the kitchen counter and was going to go over and see what Michelle, Juliana and Tracy were all chatting enthusiastically about but then she saw a rather depressed looking Zeedan sat on the sofa all alone. Instead she walked over to him and as she sat down on the sofa she said,

"What's up with you then?"

"Nothing." Zeedan replied with a rather dramatic eye roll.

"Nothing…" Carla scoffed, "Yeah right." She added with a nudge. "Come on Zee it must be summat or you wouldn't ave that downright depressed look on your mush." Zeedan sighed as Carla watched him with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just… me Dad… n Alya… n me Gran…" Zeedan eventually said.

"Okay… what ave they done?" Carla asked intrigued.

"Their just getting on me nerves that's all… trying to set me up with this girl Alya knows…" Zeedan explained rolling his dark eyes again as Michelle walked over to the sofa, Carla moved up so a tired Michelle could sit down which meant that she was no directly next to Zeedan, the sides of their legs touching.

Zeedan tried to ignore how close he was to Carla all of a sudden and tried to keep cool. He cleared his throat whilst Michelle started talking to Ken who was sat nearby on the armchair, she showed no interest in the conversation that Carla and Zeedan were having which pleased him because he was quite the private person and didn't like to talk about stuff like this with many people.

"Is that bad then?" Carla asked slightly confused as to why a young lad such as Zeedan wouldn't want a Girlfriend.

"Yeah…" Zeedan said with a tut, "It is."

"Why?" Carla asked intrigued, "Is she butt ugly?" She joked, nudging Zeedan in the side and making him grin.

"No… she's dead pretty." Zeedan said shaking his head, confusing Carla even more now.

"Okay…" She said, "So what's the problem then? She's pretty… you're handsome… I mean am I missing something ere?" Zeedan tried his absolute hardest not to go bright red because Carla called him handsome and just shook his head saying,

"No… I'm just not interested in her like that that's all… She's great… she's just… not…" He didn't realise that saying this, in the distant and dreamy way he had done, meant that Carla put two and two together.

"Oh… I see… so there's someone else you like…" Carla grinned as Carmen, Santana, Amy and Simon all left his bedroom very quickly and began to say something to all the party guests.

"No!" Zeedan said defensively, "I never said that."

"Ya didn't ave to." Carla said amused, "Who is it then?" She asked, trying to think of all the people in the area she knew that was around Zeedan's age and could be someone he might fancy. Luckily for Zeedan this conversation was interrupted.

"Carla…" Simon said, as he approached the sofa and pointed a remote at the TV so he could turn off the music that had been playing, "I just saw me Dad's car pull up out the window."

"Really?" She asked with her eyes wide, She then shot up and off the sofa and hushed everyone in the room.

"Shhhh!" Simon said, "Me Dad's coming."

Everyone in the room was silent as they waited for Peter to finally arrive, the only sounds in the flat where the ones of breathing and also the ones of Carmen trying her hardest not to giggle. Carla and Simon were both stood the closest to the front door to Peter's flat and they waited with bated breath to hear the sound of Peter's key go into the front door.

Eventually the sound came and Carla and Simon only had to wait a mere few seconds before the door in front of them opened.

"Surprise!" Everyone called out as loud as they could. Peter's face genuinely lit up.

"Wow…" He said, astonished as Carla and Simon both ran towards him.

"Happy Birthday." Carla and Peter both said in unison, throwing their arms around him both at the same time.

"Thank you." Peter breathed, holding them both close to him. He hadn't expected any of this. He hadn't guessed that Carla and Simon had been up to anything at all and he had not been anticipated to see so many people in his flat either.

Carla had told him that she was going to be working late and that Simon wouldn't be home yet which is why he wasn't alone. When Carla and Simon had pulled away from him they realised he had brought someone home with him. Carla looked at the heavily tattooed man slightly confused as she didn't recognise him but Simon knew exactly who it was as he had seen pictures.

"Daddy!" Carmen cried, rapidly running towards the tall man who was stood just behind Peter.

"Princess!" The man cried as he scooped Carmen up into the air. Juliana looked stunned to see her ex husband stood in Peter's doorway whilst Santana looked a little worried.

"Erm…" Peter began, realising that he had probably made his surprise birthday party a very awkward one by bringing Santos home with him. "Everyone this is my friend Santos…" Peter began slowly, "He's also Santana and Carmen's Dad…" Peter then unnecessarily added as Santana eventually walked over her Dad to say Hello to him and it had become obvious who the man was.

After few quiet and awkward moments, Peter then walked over to the party guests and said Hello to them all as Carla and Simon both watched Juliana roll her eyes and walk over to her ex. Nick on the other hand decided to hang back a little, not wanting to interrupt.

"Hey Jules… how ya doing love?" Santos asked as if the whole situation wasn't a complete shock to everyone involved.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with an eyebrow raised, ignoring her ex husbands friendly greeting.

"Peter invited me back ere…" Santos began, looking rather pleased on what he had walked in on. "We're mates."

"Since when?" Juliana asked still confused, "I mean how do you two even know each other?"

"He helps out at that new alcohol support group I go to." Santos said quietly with an overjoyed Carmen still in his arms. He looked at Santana who had already been told by Simon that his Dad had run into her Dad there.

"Oh… right." Juliana said looking at Santana who nodded. Carmen kissed her Dad on the cheek excitedly and said,

"Daddy come and get a drink for the party." Santos nodded at his little girl and put her down, as they began to walk over to the drinks table, Santana shook her head at her Mum and said,

"It's alright Mum… It'll be fine."

Carla and Simon had watched the entire exchange as Peter continued to chat happily to everyone who had come over to celebrate his birthday. It took quite a while but eventually he was finished and Carla had managed to get hold of him saying,

"What on earth did you bring him ere for?" She pulled Peter towards the kitchen by his tie, which was the only place that wasn't full of people. Ken was deep in conversation with Santos as Carmen had introduced them both, Santana and Simon were both whispering about something whilst Juliana had joined Nick and was saying something to him. The other party guests were all chatting amongst themselves leaving Peter and Carla free to have this conversation.

"I didn't know you lot would be ere did I?" Peter replied with a raised eyebrow. "I bumped into Santos after work. He asked me if I'd be going to the AA meeting tonight, I said no as it was me birthday n he looked really disappointed so I asked him why n he said he just wanted to talk to me cause he had really been struggling with staying off the drink… that's why I invited him ere… so we could talk before the meeting n before I saw you…" Peter glanced over at Juliana and Nick who were still talking and then he looked over at Santos who was still talking to Ken but watching Juliana n Nick.

"He still doesn't know about Nick does he?" Carla asked, following Peter's gaze.

"Nope…" Peter said looking concerned, "Although it looks like he might ave worked it out by now… Oh I've proper gone n messed things up ere avent I?"

"Yeah you could say that baby… Oh this is gonna be so awkward." Carla said, she still had hold of Peter's tie as she spoke and it was then that he looked at her properly. "What?" She grinned.

"You aven't kissed me Hello yet…" Peter said quietly, pulling Carla towards him even more. She smiled at Peter affectionately before leaning in to kiss him tenderly. Their little kiss in the kitchen soon turned into something more and as Peter ran a hand through Carla's hair, she moaned softly and pulled away from him a little. "You look… incredible." Peter said huskily, his hand now rested on the back of her neck, stroking it tenderly. Carla didn't answer Peter because she was a little lost for words, instead she just smiled appreciatively at him instead as he slowly ran a hand down the back of her red dress.

"Peter…" Carla eventually said slowly, her voice slightly high as he kissed her on the cheek. "We ave a flat full of people ere…" She said because she knew that she and Peter were starting to get a little carried away and she also knew there were many people watching.

"So…" Peter grinned suggestively as Carla turned around as if he wouldn't be able to tempt her anymore, "We could always… just go off to me bedroom for a moment..." Peter said putting his arms around Carla from behind, luckily for him she was still bare foot and so he was able to rest his head on her shoulders and kiss her on the neck.

"Oh like that wouldn't be obvious…" Carla said holding onto the arms that Peter had around her. Peter kissed her on the neck again and Carla was just about to turn around and return the kiss when Simon warily approached her and said,

"Carla… the pizza guy is here."

"Oh good, I'm starvin." Carla said, gesturing for Peter to let go of her.

"Pizza…" Peter said as he reluctantly let go of Carla.

"Oh you didn't think I were cooking did ya baby?" She laughed as Simon opened the door to the Pizza deliveryman. After helping Simon with the six pizza boxes and all the sides, Carla went around handing out plastic plates to everyone and then said they could help themselves to what ever they wanted.

* * *

"So Peter… how's it feel being so old?" Michelle joked, she was once again sat on the sofa, next to Carla who had Peter on the other side of her. Ken was on the armchair nearby whilst Tracy, Juliana, Leanne, and Nick were all sat on the stools Carla had placed around the coffee table. Santos was chatting away to Zeedan, Kal, Luke and Tyrone in the kitchen area whilst Simon, Santana and Amy were sat on the floor with Carmen. Everyone was tucking in to their pizza's but had started laughing at Michelle's comment, Making Peter nod in amusement and say,

"It feels pretty fantastic to be honest…" He smiled at Carla admiringly with a plate of pizza on his lap. "You know what they say eh, you're only as old as ya feel." Carla smiled back at him whilst Carmen said with a mouth full of Pizza,

"Thanks for getting us Pizza instead of cooking! Pizza is my favourite!" Carla started laughing whilst Juliana looked slightly embarrassed and said,

"Carmen, don't be rude..."

"Nah it's alright…" Carla said shaking her head, "Trust me, If I'd ave cooked you'd all be thinking the same as Carmen."

"She's right." Peter joked earning a nudge in the ribs from his wife. He couldn't help but grin for most of the evening, as he truly felt so blessed to have all these amazing people in his life.

Earlier on that day, Like his Dad, he had been thinking about his last birthday which he had spent working all day and then alone for most of the night in Portsmouth. Peter felt ridiculously loved at his party especially when Carla and Simon both brought out the cake they had made him.

The entire room erupted into a chorus of _Happy Birthday _and after blowing out the candles with some help from Carmen, Steve, Luke and Tyrone began chanting,

"Speech! Speech! Speech!" Peter looked slightly sheepish but Carla spurred him on with an encouraging smile and said,

"Go on baby… Give the people what they want." Peter nodded slowly and cleared his throat as Simon put the cake on the kitchen counter.

"Erm…" Peter began, "Thanks to everyone who has come here today, I really appreciate it, especially when I think about me last birthday…" Peter trailed off slightly now but he then caught Carla's gaze. "Anyways it's been a pretty full on year since then... but I wouldn't ave changed it for the world and as I said, I'm really glad that you've all come ere, So thanks... but whilst I've got all of your attention, There is actually something else I want to say…" He smiled at Carla who was still stood by his side and pulled her towards him as he said, "Now I am aware that we are already married but last night I gave Carla the proposal she actually deserves and well… we are getting married again."

Most of the people in the room started cheering and clapping as Peter and Carla took the opportunity to have a quick kiss, there were two people in the room not clapping, one of those people was Zeedan who as much as he tried couldn't look less pleased about hearing that Carla and Peter would be getting married again and the other person who wasn't clapping was Santos but unlike Zeedan, this wasn't because he might have been slightly jealous of Peter, it was because Juliana and Nick were holding hands at this point and it seemed as if he had finally realised that his ex wife definitely had a new boyfriend.

"We aven't made many plans as of yet… we just know that it'll be on the Fourth of December… our third wedding anniversary so make sure you all keep the date free." Carla said when the clapping and cheering had subsided.

"Congratulations." Michelle said getting up off the sofa and walking over to Carla. "I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner." She hugged Carla as Peter's Dad Ken got up to give him a pat on the back.

"Oh I were going to, it's just I aint had time…" Carla said, raising her hand to show Michelle her brand new ring.

"Oh Carla it's stunning!" Michelle gasped, gazing at Carla's ring and doing it so dramatically that Tracy, Amy and Leanne couldn't help but come over and get involved.

"Wow it's beautiful." Amy said staring in awe at Carla's hand.

"Blimey…" Leanne said looking at it, "That looks like it could be heavy."

"Yeah if it's even real." Tracy joked.

"Oi!" Peter said overhearing his little sister, who rolled her eyes and said,

"I'm only kidding… honestly, No one can take a joke in this place." Peter smiled at her and gave her a quick hug before remembering the cake that was sat on his kitchen counter. "Right… are we gonna cut this cake then?"

"Yay!" Carmen shouted, she had been staring at the cake for a while now and whilst all the other adults had been celebrating she had been waiting patiently to taste it because it really did look scrumptious. Peter walked over to the kitchen where Carla took out the candles they had put in his cake.

"Is this another one of your amazing creations?" Peter asked Carla as Simon approached the kitchen counter with Santana by his side.

"Actually me n Simon made it together, didn't we Si?"

"Yep." Simon said as Peter looked proudly between him and Carla.

"Did ya? Ahhh well it looks delicious." Carla high fived Simon before handing Peter a knife so he could cut the cake.

"Ahh thanks darlin…" Carla then grinned wickedly and added, "Sorry we didn't put the correct amount of candles on it for your age though love… we were worried about the smoke alarms…"

"Oh ha bloody ha." Peter said although he couldn't help but laugh along with Carla, Simon and Santana as he cut into the very chocolaty cake. He cut a slice and after being handed a plate by Carla took a huge bite out of it. Once again Carla and Simon were waiting with bated breath to see what Peter thought of the cake and as he chewed, Santana smiled and asked,

"So… how is it?"

"It's the best cake I've ever tasted." Peter said with half a mouth still full of cake.

"Good!" Tracy cried, "We'll all ave some then, now we know it's safe to eat." Carla and Simon both knew Tracy was only being her usual jokey self and as Simon went to cut more slices of cake for every one, Carla moved closer to Peter and asked,

"Are ya sure it's good? You're not just saying it?"

"Of course I'm not…" Peter said swallowing and pulling Carla towards him, "This cake is absolutely delectable… just like you my love." Carla kissed Peter as Simon began handing out plates of cake and it turned out that Peter was right, the cake did taste delicious.

* * *

"Thanks so much for coming." Peter said, waving goodbye to Tracy, Ken and Amy who were the last people to leave his flat. It was nine thirty pm and his party probably continued even later if it hadn't have been a Monday night.

The first person to leave the party had been Santos who when he had finally got Peter alone had said it was clear Juliana had a new man and that he couldn't stand it. He had also thanked Peter for saying he could come over and that instead he would go to the AA meeting to vent out his issues there.

The next to leave was Juliana, Santana and Carmen had been the next ones to leave along with Nick, Juliana had said she would have stayed longer but as it was a school night she really needed to get Carmen home and into bed. Peter thanked them for coming too and also for the very kind gift they had brought along with them, he especially thanked Carmen for the precious birthday card she had insisted on making him before she had left the house. It was on a piece of bright orange A3 card and it had enough glitter on it to make sure that whenever it was moved, a shower of sliver and blue glitter followed.

A few of the other guests then left including Leanne and it was then that Simon decided to leave his Dad and Carla alone once again.

"You don't ave to Simon." Carla said but Simon still went into his room, grabbed a fresh pair of uniform, his school stuff and said,

"Yeah I do…" He kissed Carla goodbye on the cheek, which made Peter and even Leanne smile because she was happy her son was so content with his current living situation.

"Bye, thanks for everything Simon." Carla said as he hugged her and when Simon walked over to Peter, he got another hug.

"Bye son… thanks for tonight."

"Happy Birthday Dad." Simon smiled before saying goodbye to everyone else, then him and Leanne both left, leaving it just Steve, Michelle and The Barlows.

Michelle was looking more tired than ever by nine o'clock and was practically falling asleep by the time Steve had said it was probably time for them both to go home.

"Thanks for coming Chelle." Carla said hugging her best friend tight. "You make sure you go home and go straight to bed."

"Oh I will…" Michelle said as Steve and Peter said their goodbyes. "N I expect that's what you'll be doing as soon as well all leave… only for a different reason eh?" She grinned, nudging Carla who just laughed and patted Michelle's ever growing bump gently.

"Night Chelle." She said as Steve walked over to them and said,

"You all ready to go then?"

"Yes." Michelle said before waving towards everyone else and saying goodbye.

After they had left Carla made cups of tea and coffee for everyone and after another slice of cake, it was soon time for Ken, Tracy and Amy to decide it was time to leave, especially since it was clear by the desirable way Peter and Carla were looking at each other that they couldn't wait to be alone.

"Bye everyone." Carla said as Peter walked his Dad, Sister and Niece to the door. He thankfully waved at them once more and then gently closed the door. He turned to find that Carla was waving him over to the sofa and very quickly joined her on it.

"Thank you…" Peter said as Carla pulled him towards her, glad that they were finally alone. "For everything… honestly…" Peter said in between the kisses Carla had been giving him. "I wasn't expecting a party at all."

"Well I guess me n Si were better at hiding this than I thought." Carla said, eventually letting go of Peter who entwined his hand with hers. "I was so sure you were on to us at one point."

"Nope… never." Peter said as Carla leant against him and sighed peacefully.

"Good." She said softly. "Did you have a good night then?"

"I had a perfect night." Peter beamed, so grateful for all the effort that had been put in to celebrate his birthday. "Thanks again Carla."

"You are so welcome." Carla replied, raising her and Peter's hand and kissing it lightly. They then sat in a peaceful silence for a moment, just taking in the events of the day.

"Michelle's getting big isn't she?" Peter said, making Carla smile and say,

"Aint she though… I keep joking with her about how massive she's gonna be by the time she's actually ready to give birth to the twins… Which reminds me… I had a little chat with Si earlier…"

"Oh yeah?" Peter asked, "What about?"

"Oh… just about us… n how we're sort of in the process of trying for a baby." Carla said, smiling fondly at how well the conversation with Simon had gone.

"What did he say?" Peter asked, looking intrigued.

"He said he thinks it's a great idea…" Carla beamed, "N that he can't wait to be a big brother." Peter beamed when he heard what Carla had just said and then he smirked suggestively at her like he had done earlier and said,

"Well we better not make him wait too long then…" He quickly gave Carla a rough kiss on the cheek, which made her laugh out loud and say,

"Steady on Barlow…" She looked around at the mess around her and saying, "We ave to tidy up first or we'll ave to do it tomorrow."

"The tidying up can wait…" Peter said kissing Carla again who reciprocated this time, as their kiss came to an end, Peter caught an eye of the card that Carmen had made him and then shook his head saying, "I can't believe how awkward I made it though, y'know the whole thing with Juliana, Nick and Santos… I mean the guy had no idea she had moved on, it's hit him like a right tonne of bricks…"

"Well she had to at some point Peter." Carla said, letting go of Peter's hand and beginning to untie his tie so that he was more comfortable.

"I know…" Peter nodded, "But still, I can't imagine how he must be feeling… I mean I'm not gonna lie I'd be totally gutted if I had of got out of prison to find that you were dating Nick Tilsley."

"As if that would ever happen…" Carla scoffed, pulling Peter's tie off him and placing it beside her on the sofa. Peter chuckled lightly as Carla re-joined hands with his and then said, "What did he say to ya before he left then?" She had seen Santos pull Peter aside and had been wondering what they had been talking about.

"Oh he just asked me how long Nick and Juliana had been dating for and I said I wasn't exactly sure… a few months or so. He asked me how comes the girls hadn't even of mentioned it and I told him I wasn't sure of that ether…" Peter said feeling slightly useless, "He seemed really upset though… I know he desperately wanted Juliana back… I reckon he really thought he was in with a chance y'know."

"Yeah well they've been apart for ages now aven't they…" Carla began, "He can't just leave prison thinking he could just get her back… Life goes on don't it? He needs to realise that."

"I was the same though…" Peter said, half smiling half looking sad, "When I left prison I mean… I genuinely thought you would take me back as well but you didn't… You're right life does go on… I guess Santos has to learn that too…" Carla saw the sad look on Peter's face and shook her head at him before standing up and pulling him with her.

"Right…" She said calmly. "No more of this sad talk about Santos n prison… it is your birthday after all." She grinned, She put both arms around his neck, kissed him passionately on the lips and then said with a raised eyebrow, "You go into that bedroom and get the bed all warmed up and once I've tidied up out here I'll be in to give you one last birthday present." She was smiled so alluringly at Peter that he wouldn't let Carla let go of him.

"Leave all that…" Peter grinned, nodding towards the empty cups and plates that had been left around the flat. The left over cake and Pizza had been put away earlier on so all that was left was rubbish.

"It won't take long though…" Carla began but an excited Peter was already smirking and pulling Carla down his empty hallway towards his bedroom. "Peter…" She giggled but she knew that there was not a chance that the tidying up was going to get done tonight, especially when Peter said,

"Let's get started on this baby eh?"

* * *

_**What can I say? I went on holiday &amp; totally forgot to mention it on here.**_

_**I had a fab time but I'm glad to be writing again as I've missed it loads!**_

_**Thanks for reading this super long chapter &amp; If you could leave a little review of what you thought it would mean the world to me.**_

_**:) **_


	64. Odd Behaviour

It had been three weeks or so since Peter's surprise birthday party and even though it had had it's moments, life had been pretty good to Peter Barlow.

Work was still on the stressful side due to the horrific assault that took place in the staffroom of his building. Claire, the girl who had been assaulted had returned to work even though she had been given as much time off as she wanted and she was finding it difficult to cope with being in the building again. She was still relatively new to the team and tended to lean on Peter a lot of the time which he didn't mind but since this was a subject that hit Peter quite close to home, he'd end up leaving work feeling very stressed out... Other than that though, Peter felt as if life really hadn't been better for him and he wasn't the only one who thought so too.

His and Carla's relationship had gone from strength to strength and they had spent every single night together since Peter's birthday except for one. That one night away from each other had only occurred because Carla had gone on a work related trip to Newcastle and after her train back to Manchester got cancelled she ended up having to stay there for the night.

Carla's business at Underworld was thriving at the moment and they had been receiving so many orders that she had to take on a few new machinists. Her ankle had also seemed to have healed to back to normal so she was able to get back to the gym and some days, Peter would even join her there, even though swimming was more his thing.

Simon's life seemed pretty pleasant at the moment too, in fact he really couldn't remember a time that he was this happy. He still went between his Dad's flat and his Mum's and of course, he spent as much time with his girlfriend Santana as he could. Simon adored the fact that his family got along so well with Santana's family and they had shared many nights out since Peter's birthday party.

One of those nights out consisted of going to the cinema and then out to eat, it consisted of Simon, Carla, Peter, Santana, Her Mum Juliana, Juliana's boyfriend who just happened to be Nick Tilsley and Carmen, Santana's little sister. Their night out was very successful and had the entire group in stitches so much so that they organised another one only a few days later where they all went bowling.

Of course, living in Weatherfield meant that word had got around about Peter's proposal very quickly and for at least a week afterwards, every time Carla and Peter both spoke to someone new be it together or alone, they were both congratulated on their upcoming vow renewal.

Simon was thrilled that so many people were speaking so positively about his Dad and Carla, after years of gossip and cruel words towards the pair, he was glad that people finally had nothing but nice things to say about them both, even his Mum Leanne sounded as if she was pleased and said she was glad that Carla and Peter got another chance.

"Did she really say that?" Peter asked on the last day of April, It was a Sunny Saturday morning in Weatherfield and Simon and Peter were in their kitchen at nine am. Peter was frying bacon whilst Simon was stood waiting for the kettle to boil so he could make coffees.

"Yeah she did…" Simon nodded, "She said that if you managed to get another chance with Carla then there really is hope for us all."

"Who sat said?" said a voice. Peter and Simon both turned around to see Carla walking towards them. She was wearing Peter's fluffy black dressing gown and as she got closer, Peter noticed the rather pale colour of her skin.

"You alright love?" He asked, staring as a tired and feeble Carla sat down on a stool at the breakfast bar. She'd woken up with a very sore head, an odd feeling in her stomach and feeling extremely cold which is why she had Peter's dressing gown on over the top of her pyjama's in late April.

"Yeah…" She said with a nod, although it wasn't a very convincing nod and it made Peter reach out and softly touch her forehead.

"You're really hot." Peter said and with a smirk he then added, "And I don't just mean in the attractive way either." Carla smiled at him weakly and shook her head as the kettle boiled.

"Well I don't feel hot… in fact I'm bloody freezin, why else d'ya think I've got your dressing gown on eh?" She said as Simon began to prepare their morning coffees. "I reckon I caught that bug that were going round the factory." Carla then said, remembering how every day this week someone had called in sick with a virus and how she had joked that they better not give it to her.

"Awww poor Carla." Peter said, he leant forward and placed a soft kiss on her warm forehead but Carla then pulled away slightly,

"Don't…" She said, shaking her head and frowning. "You'll make your self sick too."

"You're worth it." Peter said fondly, going in for another kiss and this one Carla was unable to back away from. She let Peter kiss her tenderly on the head as Simon tried to ignore the mushy behaviour from his Father and Step Mother and simply asked,

"D'ya want a coffee then Carla?"

"Yes please… just a black one will do Simon." Carla replied as Peter returned to the bacon he was frying, Carla smiled at Simon thankfully when he handed her a mug of steaming hot coffee and said, "Cheers love." After taking a small sip and placing the mug down onto the surface in front of her, She then asked, "So… who was talking about me giving Peter another chance then?"

"Oh… me Mum." Simon said, sitting on a stool next to Carla with his own mug of coffee in hand. "She's dead chuffed you n me Dad are getting married again."

"Really?" Carla asked suspiciously, looking at Peter who raised an eyebrow and said,

"That's what I said... Odd right?"

"Yeah she did say that." Simon said looking slightly amused, "She's totally over you Dad, you can be sure of that."

"Oh I know that." Peter scoffed, turning the heat of the hob where he was frying the bacon in a pan. "It's just odd that's all."

"Is it?" Simon asked, looking at Carla who said,

"Yeah, I mean I know we've all sort of been getting along well lately but still…" She picked up her coffee mug again and took another sip as Peter took the bacon out of the pan and placed it all on a plate. "Given everything that's gone on, it's odd for her to be so pleased for us."

"Well, _I_ think she's genuinely happy for you n me Dad." Simon said in Leanne's defence. "She said you two ave shown her that sometimes people deserve second chances... or third or fourth... something like that anyway."

"Third or fourth?" Carla repeated glancing at Peter who raised his eyebrow again.

"I dunno..." Simon continued, "Maybe it's just because she's happy herself these days... Y'know with Kal... I think they are dead serious about things... She was a little bit down a few weeks back but now she seems more like her old self." Peter looked at Carla again, knowing she had noticed that Leanne had been acting a little down, and knowing that they had both come to the conclusion that it was about Nick.

"Right…" Peter said quickly trying to change the subject, placing pieces of bacon in between bits of bread and putting the sandwiches he'd made on a plate. "Breakfast is ready." He handed one to Simon who nodded appreciatively but when he handed a plate over to Carla she shook her head and said,

"No… no thanks Peter…" She turned up her nose at the plate, which made Peter move it away from her quickly n say,

"Are you seriously turning down bacon?" He looked half concerned and half amused as Carla nodded disappointedly at herself and said,

"Yes… what on earth has become of me?" Peter chuckled at her dramatic comment and put the plate on the table as she said, "It's that bug from work... I'm telling ya, The other day right, Beth turned down a cream cake after we'd sent Fizz on the Cake run… I swear the entire factory went silent when she said no… anyways an hour later she was sent home because she threw up." Carla said, pulling a face and then saying, "Uh I hope I'm not actually sick though."

"Me too." Simon said, rubbing her back sympathetically as Peter sat down on the stool opposite Carla and his son and said,

"Why don't you go back to bed then love, take your coffee with ya… just ave a rest."

"Nah…" Carla said, shaking her head, "I'm alright out ere for now… at least until you leave for swimming that is." Peter shook his head at the mention of his normal Saturday morning swim and said,

"No, I'm not gonna go this morning… Not if you're ill… I'll stay n look after you." Carla smiled at him faintly and shook her head before saying,

"I'll be fine Peter, honesty, I'm only gonna be lazing around ere all day. I don't expect you not to go just because I'm ill… besides you're only gonna be gone for what, like an hour or so right?"

"Yeah." Peter nodded, "But only if you're sure." Carla nodded again at Peter and picked up her coffee mug as she turned to Simon and asked, "What are you doing today then Si?"

"Dunno yet…" Simon said, "Might go down to the Trafford centre with some mates… or see Santana, although I think she's out with Carmen, her Mum n Nick today so yeah... I dunno..."

"Aww Santana's on a family day out, that sounds… fun." Carla said nodding slowly, "Juliana n Nick seem like they're pretty serious now."

"Yeah… I think they are." Simon said nodding, "Santana says Nick's around her place most nights… n Carmen loves him which is good." Simon picked up his bacon sandwich and began eating it as Peter sipped more coffee and said,

"Not so good for Santos though." Peter had been hearing nothing but stories about Carmen and Santana at his AA meetings every Monday, Each week Carmen and Santana's Dad Santos would come into the meeting looking slightly depressed and would tell Peter all about the unfortunately wonderful things he'd heard about Nick from his two children. "Seriously, he said they don't stop going on about him… It's really sad actually… Sounds like he really hates Nick, He says he's a prat, n that he's poncy and jumped up." Peter said with a pitying look as he thought about how upset Santos was that Juliana had moved on.

"Pretty sure you've called Nick all those things Dad." Simon said trying not to laugh, which made Carla grin and say,

"He's right." She remembered how Peter used to talk about Nick many years ago and as Peter sipped coffee he nodded and couldn't help but grin back at his wife.

"Yes well… I had perfectly good reasons to think that way… Santos and Juliana were apart when Nick came on the scene." Peter said with his mug of coffee in hand.

"Yes well as I've said before…" Carla began, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "Santos has nobody else to blame for this but himself… he just needs time to move on that's all."

"Even Santana says that too." Simon said with a nod in agreement, "She says her Mum is happier than she's ever seen her, she says that she hopes her Dad doesn't mess things up for her."

"Oh I don't think he'll do that." Peter said shaking his head as he drunk some more coffee, "He says he is happy that Juliana is happy… just that he wishes it were with him that's all."

"Then again..." Simon said, chewing his sandwich and shrugging, "As me Mum says, some people do deserve another chance, I mean look at you two."

"Yes well me n your Dad were a real special case Si..." Carla said, "A lot of people break up and stay broken up forever, Santos should really try to accept that before it ends up ruining his life."

Peter, Carla and Simon all continued talking at the breakfast bar and very soon were onto a whole load of different subjects, they stayed chatting until they had finished their coffees, until Simon had polished off two bacon sandwiches whilst Carla had only made it half way through her coffee.

"Go back to bed." Peter said as he got up off the breakfast bar stool and watched Carla lazily do the same.

"I'm gonna lay on the sofa so I can watch the big TV…" Carla said as Simon got up too, he and Peter both took turns to shower and get dressed whilst Carla had made her self as comfortable as she could on the sofa with a blanket and some pillows that Peter had brought her from his bedroom before getting in the shower himself.

Fifteen minutes later, He had reappeared in front of her with a bottle of water that he'd got straight from the fridge. Simon was in his room playing his Xbox still unable to decide what he was doing today whilst Peter was ready to head over to the leisure centre.

"Ere love." He said, dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a grey T-Shirt. He had a backpack with his swimming stuff in one hand and the bottle water in the other.

"Thanks." Carla smiled, taking the bottle of Peter as he bent down. He was now at her level and rested his chin on the sofa as Carla then said, "Enjoy swimming okay."

"I'll try…" Peter nodded slowly, "Although I'm still not sure I should go… I could still stay n look after you."

"Peter you go every weekend..." Carla said smiling at him affectionately, "I'll be fine, it's just a little bug that's all… I'm just gonna lay ere n catch up with my boxsets."

"Okay…" Peter nodded again, not wanting to leave Carla but knowing that she wouldn't take no for an answer. "Simon's in there… give him a call if you need anything."

"Like what?" Carla asked with a little laugh, although she thoroughly enjoyed it when Peter fussed over her like this. "It's only a headache n a dodgy tummy, baby, now go n enjoy your swim okay."

"Give us a kiss then n don't say you don't wanna make me ill either cause I ain't going without a goodbye peck." Peter said as he leant in towards Carla, she gently pressed her lips against his before smiling and saying,

"Love you."

"Love you too." Peter replied, placing another kiss to Carla's still warm forehead before standing up right and getting ready to leave the flat. As he pulled his jacket on, he hoped that by the time he'd returned back to his flat, Carla was feeling much better.

* * *

Unfortunately for Peter he opened the door two hours later to find an even paler Carla sat up on the sofa, she had taken his dressing gown off and was now just sitting in a vest and her underwear looking as if she'd just been horribly sick.

"Hey…" He said, practically throwing off his jacket and backpack as he reached her. Now he was closer he saw that she had tiny beads of sweat on her head and that she was shivering.

"I'm alright…" Carla said taking a deep breath, "I've just had me head down the toilet for the past fifteen minutes or so that's all." Peter gave her back a sympathetic rub and shook his head saying,

"I knew I shouldn't have gone for a swim." Carla gave him half a smile and poked him playfully before shaking her head and saying,

"Peter I would ave been sick had you been ere or not love." She looked at his rather damp hair and guessed that he must have dashed right out of the leisure centre straight after his swim so that he could get back home to see her. "But thanks… you're dead sweet." Peter went in to kiss her once again but this time she put her hand up to her mouth and said, "No… no more kissing… n I mean it this time."

"Okay." Peter said with a comical pout.

"Eh I'm only doing this for ya own good Barlow... Trust me ere... after that bathroom session you do not want to be anywhere near my lips." Carla said, smiling even though she felt as if she could throw up again at any minute. Peter nodded at her and stayed bent on the floor for a moment, Carla was able to tell that he was deep in thought and waited patiently for him to eventually speak and say,

"Carla…"

"Yes…" She said, in the same drawn out tone he had said he name in.

"Erm… well, this sickness…" He began and Carla knew exactly what he was getting at. Since they had stopped using contraception they had been wasting no time in trying to increase the chances of Carla getting pregnant and as Peter repositioned himself so that he was now sitting on the floor in front of the sofa Carla shook her head and began with,

"I doubt it baby… I mean… I've still got a couple of weeks until I'm even due on... besides there's that bug going around… I had a message from Alya this morning, She's caught it too... I was bound to to get it."

"I know…" Peter nodded slightly disappointedly, "But still… ya never know… I mean is this feeling you ave… anything like last time?" Peter asked, not knowing much about pregnancy symptoms other than it caused the woman in question to get sick rather a lot.

"No." Carla said plainly, "I mean the last time I were nothing like this in the beginning… I didn't feel anything different until I realised I'd missed my period and even then it took a while for the symptoms to really kick in." She looked at Peter longingly before saying, "I really don't think this is anything but a dodgy illness, Darlin."

"Oh well… It were just a guess anyways… I know it can take a long time…" Peter said quietly as Carla leant forwards and took his hand, "I mean we've only been off the contraception what… two months? It is really soon..." He paused as Carla nodded and then said, "Well… whatever this is I hope you get better soon."

"Hey don't look like that…" Carla said, smiling at him again, "You weren't the only one to think that way… Simon asked me the same thing before he left ere earlier?"

"Did he?" Peter asked to which Carla nodded.

"Yeah… bless him, He didn't want to leave earlier, like you he felt as if he needed to stick around n look after me but I practically forced him." Carla said as she gave Peter's hand a yank and pulled him up onto the sofa with her. "Tell ya what though, When I do get pregnant… You n Simon are gonna take dead good care of me aint ya?"

"Too right." Peter nodded as he climbed up onto the sofa. "Where did Si go in the end anyway?"

"Out to meet some kid called... Junior…" Carla said shrugging.

"Junior?" Peter repeated, "Never heard of him." He said because he'd normally heard Simon chatting away about all of his friends and Junior was definitely not a name he'd heard before.

"Me neither." Carla said amused at the look on Peter's face, "Simon didn't stop talking about him earlier though so I reckon they must be good mates... Maybe he's new at his school or summat."

"Why's he called Junior?" Peter asked as he pulled Carla's legs over his so she could still lay comfortably. "I mean what kinda name is that?"

"I dunno do I?" Carla laughed, "I'm guessing he's named after his Dad or summat… or maybe it's a street nickname?"

"A Street nickname?" Peter chuckled he then pondered for a moment before asking, "Do ya reckon, Simon has a street name?" Carla grinned and shrugged at Peter, as the sudden sound of his buzzer echoed through the flat. He and Carla both looked blankly at each other for a moment, neither one of them were expecting a visitor and Simon would have took a key so it couldn't have been him. "Great..." Peter sighed as he got up because he had been enjoying this alone time with Carla. He walked over to this intercom to see who was there and said, "Ello…" as he answered the intercom.

"Peter…" Came the sound of the reply. Carla didn't recognise the voice at all but Peter did, only slightly though, he knew he'd heard it before but he couldn't place a name or a face to it so he said,

"Yeah… who's this?"

"It's Kelly..." Came the cheery reply.

"Oh…" Peter said shocked as Carla sat up properly and asked,

"Who?" She didn't recall ever meeting a Kelly before but when Peter said,

"Come up Kelly." She looked slightly horrified and hissed,

"Don't invite her in Peter… Look at the state of me…" she cried, looking at her bare legs and imagining that her hair was probably a right mess after a rough nights sleep and being sick earlier.

"You still look drop dead gorgeous." Peter said in his smoothest tone of voice but this didn't make Carla look any happier about the situation.

"That's not the point Peter… I'm ill… N anyways who the heck is Kelly?" She asked, wondering why the random woman was suddenly turning up at Peter's place.

"From the leisure centre… you've met her remember?" Peter said, turning to see Carla looking slightly annoyed as she pulled his dressing gown back on.

"Oh her…" She said rolling her eyes and sighing, as there was a knock at the door. She craned her neck as Peter opened the door to a rather tall blonde woman with blue eyes and olive toned skin. Kelly was smiling eagerly as Peter nodded at her politely and said,

"Hi Kelly… is everything alright?" Kelly was still dressed in her leisure centre uniform and looked as if she'd come straight from work as she stood before Peter smiling enthusiastically.

"Yes, of course it is, you just left in such a rush today n guess what?" She asked as if this was all some really fun guessing game.

"What?" Peter replied looking even more confused now than ever.

"You.. forgot this…" Kelly pulled out a wallet from her pocket as if by magic and smiled excitedly as Peter stared at it and realised that it was his.

"Did I? Wow… I hadn't even noticed." He said amazed because he really hadn't known that his wallet was even missing, he shook his head whilst reaching over and taking the wallet off Kelly. Carla kept quiet, still sat on the sofa but kept her eyes on this Kelly the entire time.

"Yeah, someone found it in the men's changing room n they were honest enough to hand it in…" Kelly explained as Peter opened it to find that everything was still in there.

"Wow." He said looking impressed as he double-checked all his cards and his cash.

"I know right... Anyways I saw your licence in there n thought I'd just pop over on my break n give it back to you y'know… just in case you needed it this weekend." Kelly said, still smiling at Peter in a sickly way, one that made Carla want to get up and remind this Kelly that Peter was strictly off limits.

"Thank Kelly." Peter said gratefully, he then paused awkwardly expecting Kelly to say that she was going to head back to work… only she didn't. "I errr… I would invite you in but Carla… me wife, she's poorly so..." Peter would have pointed over to Carla only he wasn't sure that she wanted attention drawn to her so he didn't, instead he awkwardly folded his arms and stood still for what seemed like a really long moment.

"Oh…" Kelly said over dramatically, in a way that made Carla roll her eyes again. "That's okay… I have to be heading back to work anyways… I really hope your wife gets better though."

"Thanks." Peter said smiling again as Kelly waved and said in a rather bossy tone,

"Bye Peter, I'll probably see you at the pool in the week yeah?"

"Yeah…" Peter said, waving back slowly as Kelly began to walk away from his front door. As he shut it and turned towards Carla he said, "That was… slightly odd."

"Slightly?" Carla exclaimed as Peter returned to the sofa. "How did she know where you live? I mean you ain't even got this address on your driving licence ave ya?"

"No." Peter said as he sat back down on the sofa next to Carla and pulled her legs back up so she was comfortable once again. His Driving licence still had his Dad's address on it, so he knew that Kelly definitely couldn't have got it from there. "Maybe… she got it from the system at the centre… like she did with me number that time?" Peter said, only making Carla's expression even more unimpressed than before.

"That's still not normal though is it Peter?" She said, "I mean it's hardly professional, She can't be allowed to do that surely."

"Yeah… but she meant well I guess... I'm serious though Carla I didn't even notice I had left me wallet behind." Peter said shaking his head in dismay.

"There ya go again…" Carla smirked, "Getting forgetful in ya old age aren't ya?"

"Oi." Peter said, gently pinching one of Carla's bare legs.

"Ow." She half cried and half laughed, still feeling ill but unable to stay in a bad mood where Peter was concerned. "All jokes aside though Peter... I know this Kelly probably meant well n all but I just reckon maybe you should be a tad concerned."

"Why?" Peter laughed, "She's harmless." He said looking back at Carla who raised an eyebrow and said,

"What because she's a woman?"

"No." Peter replied, shaking his head but Carla narrowed her eyes at him which made him clear his throat and say, "Carla… you ave no reason to be worried… y'know about me n Kelly…" He had intended to continue but Carla shook her head and very quickly said,

"Baby I'm not worried about you n Kelly… I know you'd never… it's just her I'm worried about in general… I mean come on, Showing up ere out of the blue like that… taking your number and address of the system..."

"I know… it's all a little much isn't it…" Peter said nodding, glad that Carla really wasn't worried about him doing anything with this Kelly because he'd really made sure he'd worked hard to show her he'd changed over the past ten months and he really really didn't want anything to spoil that.

"A bit?" Carla said delicately, "Peter imagine if it were the other way round and some guy at the gym got my number n address of the system n then turned up at my flat out the blue… you'd be absolutely fumin."

"Damn right I would." Peter said nodding and understanding a lot about how Carla must be feeling about this Kelly situation right now.

"See…" She said nodding, "I'm just saying… watch her… that's all, I mean I've seen these things get out of control, it's obvious she fancies the pants off ya." Carla poked Peter in the stomach as he smiled a self assured smile and said,

"Don't blame her really." He received another poke because of this comment and as he chuckled and turned to face Carla, he really had to fight the urge to kiss her because normally these types of moments between them ended up with them kissing… or doing a lot more than that.

"It's not a joke Peter..." Carla said although she looked rather amused as Peter moved up the sofa so his chest wasn't that far away from hers anymore. "It's harmless now but this whole thing could end up like Fatal Attraction.. or like that Obsessed movie with Idris Elba in..."

"Eh?" Peter asked, amused as Carla moved her legs of his body and put her arm around Peter. "What movie is that? I've never even heard of it."

"It's not very good…" Carla said with a laugh, "Let's just say both of those movies end in the same way so as I said… watch out."

"I will." Peter said smiling at Carla who then winced. "How you feelin?" He then asked, looking concerned once again at Carla who sat up properly and took a deep breath.

"Not good…" She said before leaning back on the sofa, resting both feet on the coffee table in front of it and closing her eyes.

"Do ya wanna go to bed?" He asked, watching Carla closely and thinking that his bed would probably be there best place for her.

"No… It's too hot in there… besides I'm closer to the bathroom ere." She said with a weak smile.

"Okay…" Peter said nodding slowly and gently tucking some of Carla's hair behind her ear. "Is there anything that I can do to make you feel better?" He asked. Carla opened her green eyes and just shook her head slowly, saying,

"Just sit ere with me… that'll do."

"Done." Peter said softly, kicking off his shoes and putting both of his feet up on the coffee table next to Carla's. She smiled faintly again and closed her eyes as Peter sat next to her in a comfortable silence. "Eh…" He said after a few quiet moments, nudging Carla and making her eyes open once again, "D'ya reckon I need a street name then?" He asked, which made Carla laugh right out loud.

"Yeah..." She said as if she was trying to think of one, "Peter... the pillock." She teased and even though her stomach was still feeling slightly dodgy and couldn't help but give her rather silly husband a rather big kiss on the cheek.

* * *

**_I know this update wasn't as long as the previous ones but I've spilt this chapter into two because this half was finished and I wanted to update this for you all today because it's been a good few weeks since the last one._**

**_Also thanks for all the lovely reviews on the last chapter, they made my day/week. _**

**_:)_**


	65. Mr Popular

After working in The Rover's Return for so long, Michelle Connor found that she could turn a blind eye to many many different things. She was used to seeing random fights and petty arguments. She was used to seeing lonely people get wasted and she was used to seeing certain couples forget they were in public and take part in rather extreme public displays of affection but tonight she simply couldn't turn a blind eye to the tall blonde woman at the end of the bar.

The rather pretty blonde woman was with two other women that Michelle didn't know. One had dark curly hair and one had red locks that went way past her shoulders.

The blonde one looked really familiar but Michelle couldn't quite place her face, no matter how hard she tried. She was laughing in a really over the top fashion and talking loudly with her two friends but there was another reason Michelle couldn't ignore her.

The real reason why Michelle couldn't ignore this woman was because this woman, seemed to have her eyes permanently fixedated… on Peter.

Peter was sat in the corner of the pub with Steve and they were deep in conversation paying no mind to the hustle and bustle that was going on around them. The blonde woman was only a foot or so away from Peter but he hadn't even noticed that she was even there, he was far too involved in a conversation about an up and coming football tournament to even realise that he was being watched.

It was Monday evening and the pub was rather busy as it normally was at this time. Many of the local Weatherfield residents were sat in the booths of the pub after a long days of work, Some of those residents included Leanne Battersby and Nick Tilsley, they were chatting away in rather a flirtatious manner which Michelle found odd because they both had significant other halves, She watched them for a while but her attention kept getting drawn back to the other side of the bar where the tall blonde woman and her friends kept laughing raucously out loud, looking as if they were trying really hard to get a certain someone's attention.

"Liz…" Michelle said, walking over to her Mother in law who had just finished serving a customer and was now stood in a quiet spot with her arms folded. "D'ya know who that blonde woman is?" She asked, pointing where the blonde woman and her mates were stood.

"No." Liz said shaking her head slowly, she looked at the blonde woman once again and then at Michelle who had one hand placed on her back. "Why?"

"No reason…" Michelle said vaguely, she sighed as she started walking towards the bar and decided it was a duty as Carla's best friend to do some digging. She stopped in front of the mysteriously familiar blonde woman and her two friends and smiled warmly before asking them. "Can I get you three another drink?"

"Yeah why not." The blonde lady replied, her friends nodded eagerly as they didn't seem to want to leave anytime soon either and after they had ordered their next round of drinks, Michelle smiled again and casually asked,

"So I've not seen you three before, what has brought you in this evening?"

"Oh…" The blonde woman replied quickly, she took a slight glance at Peter and then said, "We were just in that Bistro up the road… and thought we'd pop in ere for a drink before we headed back home."

"Oh." Michelle nodded politely noting the quick glance at Peter, "Most people do it the other way around." She laughed, handing some change back to the blonde woman who looked down at Michelle's ever-growing baby bump and gleefully said,

"Awww congratulations… how far along are you?"

"I ave no idea what you mean." Michelle joked with her face dead pan. In the beginning she had gotten into the habit of messing with strangers who chose to comment on her bump and pretend as if she wasn't pregnant at all to scared them into thinking they've offended her but now she was five months gone with twins, it was getting harder for Michelle to continue with this game, especially due to the fact that her stomach was now a blatant pregnancy one.

The three women at the bar immediately knew Michelle was joking with them and laughed in their over the top way before Michelle eventually said,

"I'm five months… with twins." She knew what was going to happen next and sure enough the three women at the bar started gushing and saying how amazing it was that Michelle was having twins.

The three women seemed nice enough and Michelle humoured them for a while as she wanted to keep them on side to find up just where she knew the blonde one from and eventually, when the time was right, Michelle slyly said,

"So what do you ladies do for a living then?"

"Oh we work at the leisure centre." The woman with the curly hair said as Michelle handed them all their next glass of wine.

"Oh right." Michelle nodded, "What d'ya do there?"

"Well I work on the reception." The red head replied,

"And Kelly works as a life guard with me." The curly haired one said. Michelle nodded politely again and said she had to go and serve another customer, leaving the three women to go back to whatever hilarious conversation they had been having earlier on before she had inturptted the.

As Michelle served Beth and Kirk Sutherland, she wondered if the leisure centre was where she recognised Kelly. She'd dropped Amy off there most weekends so it would make sense but Michelle still made sure she kept an eye on Kelly and her friends because she was sure that this Kelly especially had her eye on Peter.

Peter was still completely oblivious to all the attention he had been getting and after a long while, he got up and approached the bar. He smiled wearing the same grey suit he had worn to work and said,

"Can I get another orange juice please Michelle?" Michelle nodded at him and went to get his orange juice and it was then that Peter realised who was stood about half a foot away from him. "Uh oh, what are you three doing in ere?" He joked, smiling politely at the three women he recognised from the swimming pool and immediately realising that Michelle had a raised eyebrow.

Kelly and her two friends laughed at Peter unashamedly and as Michelle came back to the bar she realised that they obviously knew Peter from the leisure centre as well.

"We were just in that bistro, it's alright isn't it?" Kelly said, staring at Peter with utter delight because she'd finally been noticed even though it had taken hours.

"Yeah… I spose." Peter nodded slowly. "Much better in ere though eh?' He said loyally as Michelle handed him his orange juice.

"Yeah yeah." Michelle grinned at him.

"Cheers Chelle." Peter said, handing Michelle the exact money for his drink before going back to the table where Steve was sat. He didn't even say goodbye to Kelly or her mates which irked them slightly and made Michelle have to hold in a quick laugh.

"Who were they?" Steve asked as Peter sat down in front of him.

"They work down at the leisure centre." Peter said, sipping his orange juice casually. "Not sure why they've come down ere though, I mean there's plenty of pubs nearer to their work than ere." Peter said, although he had a slight suspicion why Kelly and her friends might be in the pub.

"Oi." Steve exclaimed, pretended to be alarmed. "Is that the only reason you're in ere eh? Just for sheer convenience?" Peter chuckled and shook his head sayin,

"Of course not."

As they continued to chat, Michelle left the bar and went to the living room at the back for a break, she made sure she took her phone with her, as she sat down on the sofa she went to check her messages.

There was one from Carla, that had been sent ten minutes ago which said,

_"Evening, How are ya? How's the bump? What you up to? I'm dead bored, d'ya wanna come over? X"_

Michelle stretched out on the sofa as she typed out her reply to Carla.

_"Evening babe, I'm alright, Just got a bit of back ache that's all. The bumps fine ha ha. Are you feeling better today? Still being sick? I'm actually working tonight, Steve's got the night off, so I can't come over, just on a break right now, why don't you come over ere for a glass of wine instead? x" _

Michelle waited for Carla's reply, knowing that her best friend had been feeling really ill over the weekend and wondering if she had made a speedy recovery or not.

_"I'm okay, I aven't been sick since yesterday morning thank god. What's the pub like then? Busy? x"_

_"It's quite busy actually… for a Monday anyway. Your hubby's in, chatting away to Steve about Euro 2016, God, it hasn't even started yet n I'm already dreading it. Oh speaking of Peter, he seems to be getting a hell of a lot of attention in ere tonight, not that he's noticed of course, football is way more important than anything else that goes on X"_

Michelle knew that her last message would spark Carla's interest and sure enough, Carla's next reply came through very quickly.

_"Of course, If I hear one more thing about this Euro thing I'm gonna cry… So, Who's mad enough to be giving Peter attention then? X"_

Michelle bit her lip and knew that she was probably stirring the pot a bit by what she was writing but she knew that Carla would want to know about Peter being eyed up by any woman, let alone one that he knew.

_"Some women from the leisure centre or something, so are you coming over then? x."_

Michelle didn't get a reply from Carla this time but that was okay because she knew her best friend very well and she knew that she'd be making an appearance very soon. She got up and made her self a cup of tea and after drinking it, Michelle ventured back out into the pub.

A few minutes or so later and the pub door opened, Carla appeared just as Michelle has thought she would. She was wearing a pair of black jeans, black boots and a fitted grey T-Shirt with her leather jacket and was smiling at Michelle who waved from her spot behind the bar.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing you in ere at some point tonight." Peter grinned, immediately noticing that his wife had entered the room. He stood up as Carla walked over to him with a wide smile on her face and as she put her arms around him and pulled her close she said,

"Did ya now?" She kissed him softly on the lips, glad to see that Peter was pleased to see her and then asked, "Why's that then?" Peter raised an eyebrow at her as he turned around and gave Kelly and her friends a quick glance.

"Just a hunch." He replied, turning back to Carla and kissing her again. He really was pleased to see that Carla had turned up tonight as he hadn't actually seen her at all today. He had left for work this morning when she was still asleep and gone straight from there to one of his AA Meetings. Steve raised an eyebrow over at Michelle who was smirking from the bar. "How are you feeling?" Peter asked, watching Carla who looked a lot more like her normal self again today after spending the past two days in bed looking slightly pale.

"Fine." Carla replied truthfully because she really did feel a lot better. As she stood practically in Peter's arms, She could feel the eyes of a certain blonde woman watching her and Peter. Carla just ignored the slightly jealous gaze she was feeling as Peter said,

"Ere let me get you a drink yeah?"

"Nah I'm alright ta, I'm ere to see Chelle not you." Carla said with a smile, she still had her arms around Peter but let go of him and gave him a nudge.

"Oh _I_ see…" Peter grinned, he gave Carla a playful shove as Michelle waved her over to her and then he said, "Come n find me later alright love."

"Oh _I_ will." Carla beamed, she walked past the table where Peter sat back down at and didn't even give Kelly and her friends the time of day as she walked around the bar and towards Michelle.

"Did you see the look on that Kelly's face?" Michelle laughed, catching the look on her face as she and Carla had started walking out back to the living room.

"No." Carla replied coolly, "I didn't even give her the time of day to be quite honest with ya." They entered the living room together and as Michelle closed the door behind her, Carla said, "Ere this, She randomly turned up to Peter's on Saturday?"

"Eh?" Michelle responded sitting next to her best friend and staring at her. "Kelly did?"

"Yes." Carla said with an eyebrow raised perfectly. "You've met her before, At the Swimathon remember."

"Ohhh! That's it." Michelle said nodding, "I knew I'd met her somewhere… So how come she turned up at Peter's."

"He left his wallet at the leisure centre and she thought she'd just look him up on the system and turn up at his place to hand it back over." Carla explained with eyebrow still raised. Michelle looked slightly freaked out by this, which made Carla nod and say, "Yep."

"That's not normal." Michelle said shaking her head. Carla rolled her eyes and laughed slightly as her best friend continued, "Seriously Carla, what did you do when you saw her?"

"Nothing, I'd spent half the morning with me head down the bog, I could barley move when she turned up." Carla replied, "She was nice enough though… she didn't say or do anything that specifically bothered me but still… it's weird, right?"

"Dead weird." Michelle agreed resting a hand on her stomach before asking, "What did Peter say about it then?"

"Well y'know what he's like, Far too laid back sometimes..." Carla began, "He agrees it were odd too but he weren't too bothered about it, after all, Peter loves a bit of female attention don't he?"

"Well he aint really bothered with her tonight, he barley even noticed that she was ere, even though she was trying very hard to get his attention. You should ave seen her n her mates, laughing loudly, making a scene but he only realised they were they when he came to the bar and even then he just said a quick Hello and then sat back down again." Michelle said with a nod.

"Been keeping an eye out ave ya?" Carla smirked. Michelle nodded at her amused and replied with,

"Well that's what best mates are for eh?"

"Thanks Chelle…" Carla said, nodding along with her but looking serious now. "But there's no need. I trust Peter… I really _really_ do."

"I know ya do." Michelle said also with a straight face, knowing that Carla really did trust Peter. "But still, It doesn't hurt to keep an eye on this Kelly does it? Although by the looks of it I think her mates have the hots for Peter too."

"Yeah well do ya blame them? He's gorgeous." Carla grinned, running a hand through her long hair and making Michelle laugh.

The two best friends continued talking for a while in the living room, discussing their days, Michelle's pregnancy and other topics but very quickly after that Michelle started to feel slightly bad for leaving Liz in the pub to serve alone so she and Carla got up soon and went back out to the pub.

"A glass of wine then?" Michelle asked Carla as she walked around to the other side of the bar.

"Yeah go on then." Carla said with a nod, the only free spot at the bar was next to Kelly and her friends so Carla rolled her eyes and went to stand next to her reluctantly.

Whilst stood next to Kelly it wasn't long before Carla noticed that Nick and Leanne were also in the pub. They were both sharing a bottle of wine in one of the booths and as Michelle grabbed a wine glass for Carla, she nodded towards them and asked,

"How long ave Nick n Leanne been over there then?"

"About an hour." Michelle said following Carla's gaze and watching them too. They looked as if they were extremely comfortable together and Carla couldn't help but wonder if Kal and Juliana (Leanne and Nick's other halves) knew about this little meeting. "Oh god, don't tell me you reckon they're aving it off with each other again." Michelle whispered as she approached Carla with her glass of wine. She read the expression on her best friends face and couldn't help but think she was putting two together and coming up with an odd number.

"I never said that..." Carla hissed back as she went into her pocket to get some money out to pay for the wine.

"Yeah well it's written all over your face…" Michelle replied, as Carla handed her the correct money for a glass of wine, "They're old mates… I reckon it's nice."

"Yeah… whatever." Carla said with an eyebrow raised.

"Do you know something I don't then?" Michelle asked intrigued as she handed Carla the glass of wine that she had asked for.

"Course not." Carla said but she still had a slightly raised eyebrow, which made Michelle even more suspicious.

"You so do." Michelle whispered, leaning on the bar in front of Carla who still hadn't been even acknowledged by Kelly from the leisure centre and her mates. "Go on spill..."

"Look, All I know is that it seems Leanne isn't as over Nick as she lets on… him on the other hand, he seems pretty happy with Juliana so yeah, maybe you're right, they are old mates, avin a catch up." Carla said.

"Anyways, if they really were at it, would they be sat in ere in front of everyone like that? I don't think so." Michelle said, turning to take another look at Nick and Leanne.

"That's true… I hope your right for Kal n Juliana's sake… I mean Jules is such a nice person… n as I said, she n Nick seem really happy, I'd hate for anything to ruin it for em…" Carla said, she sighed as Michelle turned back towards to her and then added, "I know you probably think I'm getting rather involved but this whole situation could get pretty awkward for Simon, after all, He's going out with Juliana's daughter… imagine if his own mother is the one to get in the way of things." Carla said as she picked up her glass of wine. She had planned on staying with Michelle at the bar, leaving Peter and Steve to their football conversation but after a few more moments she heard Peter's voice call her,

"Carla… get over ere love."

"Keep watching them Chelle…" Carla said to her best friend before she took her glass of wine over to the table where Peter was sat and left Michelle to watch Nick and Leanne some more.

"Where's Steve gone then?" Carla asked.

"Said he wants a word with Michelle…" Peter said looking amused, "He wants to ask if they can get a TV in ere so they can show all the football when it starts."

"Oh no... Really." Carla groaned, leaning in and giving Peter a quick kiss on the lips, she budged up the sofa so she was sat directly next to Peter and put her glass of wine down before saying, "God it's bad enough it being on at your place all the time... Nah, Chelle's not going to ave any of that."

"She might, It would be good for business." Peter said nodding as Carla affectionately linked her arm into his. "Other than the real thing, there's no better way to watch the football than on a huge TV with your mates." Carla rolled her eyes at him and shook her head as she thought about there being a rather large television in the pub, she knew that it really would bring in a lot of business and couldn't help but grin at the idea of all the local men, piled into the pub to watch the match.

"So, how was tonight's meeting then?" Carla asked. Monday's were AA meeting days and even though Peter was sober and had been for a while, he still went to them most weeks to help out and give advice.

"Alright… I spose." Peter replied but the look on Carla's face told her otherwise.

"You sure?" She asked in concern, Peter nodded slowly and sighed as he said,

"Yeah it's just… there was this guy in there… it were really sad. His wife n Kids… they've left him cause of his drinking."

"Awww no." Carla replied, shaking her head slowly and giving Peter's arm a quick squeeze.

"Yeah… he's devastated, he said he almost didn't make it to the meeting but I'm glad he came. It's good to talk n besides, it puts stuff into perspective for everyone doesn't it." Peter replied, "Including me… Seeing Rick like that… It really got to me."

"Peter…" Carla said softly, rubbing him gently on his arm.

"I'm okay… all of that kind of stuff only makes me more and more determined to make sure I stay on the wagon." Peter said, he then leant in and kissed Carla tenderly on the cheek. Carla smiled as Peter's lips pressed against her cheek and as he moved away from her she said,

"Love you."

"Love you too." Peter replied back, reaching over Carla's shoulder and putting an arm around her.

"Eh." Carla said after a few moments of silence, nodding over towards Leanne and Nick and saying, "You seen them two over there?" Peter's eyes followed Carla's nod to see Leanne and Nick sitting next to each other in the booth furthest away from them. They were still sharing that bottle of wine although it looked as if it was almost empty by now.

"Well well... don't they look cosy." Peter said suspiciously as Carla sipped her wine.

"That's what I said..." She replied, "I wonder if Juliana n Kal now they're in ere like that."

"Probably not." Peter said as Carla leant forward and put her glass back down on the table.

"Where's Si tonight then if she's in ere?" Carla then asked as Simon had said he was going to be spending most of the week at Leanne's flat and yet ere she was sat with Nick in the pub.

"He's at Santana's." Peter said, "They've got a Science project or something, Juliana's meant to be helping them both out with it which probably explains where she is tonight... She's gonna drop Si home when they're done."

"Ahhh…" Carla said, narrowing her eyes together as she watched Leanne again. Peter grinned at her and after a few moments asked,

"So, other than being a Nick n Leanne surveillance system… what are you really doing ere eh?"

"First of all, I'm not being a Nick n Leanne surveillance system… that's what I've got Chelle doing." Carla smirked, "Second of all, I told you why I came ere, I came to see Michelle." Carla tried her hardest to resist but she still glanced over at Kelly and her friends who were still stood at the bar, although they had lost a bit of steam since Carla had arrived and weren't talking or laughing so loudly now.

"Oh yeah?" Peter replied with an eyebrow raised because he had caught her little glance, "You're not ere cause you heard Kelly was then, did you ave Michelle on Kelly surveillance as well?"

"Well, Michelle took that job on all by herself actually…" Carla began, "But I was coming over before I even found out she were in ere thank you very much." Carla said, poking Peter in the stomach.

"Oh okay." Peter laughed, not looking as if he was convinced by Carla's words in the slightest.

"We've spoke about this aven't we?" Carla said frowning at Peter, "I trust you one hundred per cent Peter Barlow." Carla said, straightening up a little and showing him that she meant what she was saying.

"I know you do." Peter nodded as he picked up his glass of orange juice.

"Do you?" Carla asked and she was the one who raised an eyebrow this time.

"Of course I do." Peter insisted, "I'm just teasing you love… I promise." Carla let her eyebrow go back to normal and grinned at Peter before softening and saying,

"I won't lie though, Had I not already been on the way ere, I would ave eventually come over just to see what that Crazy Kelly is up to."

"Shhhh!" Peter said, nudging Carla who hadn't actually quietened her voice when talking. She ignored him and shook her head saying,

"Seriously Peter, what is she doing in ere though? I mean it's hardly her local is it?"

"She said something about being in the bistro earlier on..." Peter said indifferently with a shrug. Carla nodded and was just about to respond when she and Peter suddenly heard Kelly's sickly voice say,

"See you Peter… Oh Hi Carla!" Kelly spoke as if she hadn't noticed Carla had even been in the pub, even though she had been giving her slightly dark looks since she had arrived.

Carla and Peter, whose gaze had been fixed on each other, both turned to look at Kelly. She smiled sickeningly at them both and said to Carla,

"How are you feeling? Better?" Kelly's friends were already at the pub door to make their way out but Kelly just had to have stopped to speak to Peter.

"Fine thanks." Carla replied with a nod, she made sure she had a strong hold on Peter's arm even though she really didn't need to mark her territory and as Kelly continued to smile, Carla said with a slight tone of sarcasm to her voice, "You off then?"

"Yeah… I'm starting early tomorrow so I think I should get an early night." Kelly said as she pulled on her denim jacket, she returned her gaze to Peter who nodded at her and said,

"Yeah… I reckon we could do with an early night too." He looked towards Carla as he spoke which made her grin and she couldn't help but lean in and give him a sultry kiss. Peter responded to the kiss of course and by the time he and Carla surfaced from it, Kelly was gone.

"Awww we didn't get to say goodbye." Carla mock groaned with her bottom lip sticking out which made Peter laugh and say,

"Oh love, Don't look so sad." Carla nodded at him with an amused look on her face and picked up her glass of wine as she said,

"I think Kelly's the sad one, Did you see her face when you went to kiss me bless her, I think you broke her heart darlin."

"Oh don't worry, she'll live." Peter said, shaking his head as Carla took a sip of wine. As she put her glass down Steve returned looking triumphant. "How'd it go then?" Peter asked, wondering what on earth Michelle had said to his television idea.

"Not bad actually, She hates the football too but she agrees it'll be good for business, we're gonna discuss it properly later after closing time." Steve said nodding proudly, as if he had achieved something marvellous by almost convincing Michelle that a TV would be a good idea for the pub.

"Wait ave you spoke to your Mum about this?" Carla asked, knowing that Liz probably wouldn't take too kindly to the idea of a large TV being installed in the pub even if Michelle did.

"Errr not yet..." Steve said, shaking his head at the mere idea of approaching his Mum with this idea.

"I see, is that so you can get Michelle on board first and then your Mum might be a little more likely to say yes." Carla asked looking amused, Peter chuckled as Steve nodded and for a while, the three of them chatted away together companionably.

* * *

Time in the pub seemed to pass by incredibly quickly and soon enough, Steve saw that Michelle was beginning to get tired and told her he would take over her shift so that she could go off to bed.

After saying goodbye to Michelle, Carla returned back to her seat next to Peter and asked,

"Do ya fancy coming shopping with me after work tomorrow then?"

"Hmmm…" Peter said with a smirk he'd finished his orange juice ages ago and was just waiting on Carla so that they could go home. "You mean do I fancy being chief bag holder whilst you parade around all the shops for hours on end?" Carla let out a silent laugh and cuddled up closer to Peter as she said,

"Oh go on… you know you want to. We could grab something to eat afterwards… my treat eh… You can pick, where ever you want..." Carla didn't wait for a response from Peter, she just moved her head so that she could reach his neck with her warm lips. She only had to press them against his skin once before he sighed and said,

"How on earth can I say no to that eh?"

"Is that a yes then?" Carla asked with her lips still attached to Peter. He nodded and took a deep breath before saying,

"Yes." It was Carla's turn to look triumphant now and as she took another sip of wine Peter nudged her and said, "Hurry up with that wine so we can go home and have that early night eh?"

* * *

The next day after they had both finished work, Peter and Carla were casually strolling down a high street in town. Carla was holding some of her bags but one a few of the little ones whilst Peter had the majority of them as promised. He and Carla walked hand in hand as they went in and out of shops and although he rather disliked going shopping, Peter still had a good time.

He couldn't help but feel ridiculously proud every time he walked with Carla by his side and today was no different. Every so often he and Carla would stop and kiss each other fondly in the middle of the street and more than a few times they almost bumped into unsuspecting members of the public.

"Woops, sorry." Peter said, apologising for about the tenth time that afternoon after almost bumping right into two women, Carla giggled but suddenly, Peter smiled a friendly smile at the two women and said, "Claire, Hi."

"Mr Barlow, Hi… How are ya?" Claire said looking slightly startled as Peter stood before her. Carla watched for a moment, wondering who this Claire was until she realised that Claire was the girl who worked with Peter, the very same girl who had been tragically attacked a month or so ago.

Claire had long wavy brown hair as was shorter than Carla even though she was wearing heels and she was smiling at Peter in a way that was slightly reminiscent to the one Kelly had had last night, although Carla didn't feel so worried about this smile Claire had.

"I'm great thanks." Peter nodded, he was still holding hands with Carla and gave her hand a squeeze as he said, "Claire this is my beautiful wife Carla, Carla this is Claire from work..."

"Hello Claire." Carla said, smiling pleasantly at the girl before her who genuinely looked as if she wasn't a day over twenty, she also looked slightly shy… as if she really didn't want to be meeting anyone new right now, she was wearing a big grey coat even though it was May and was starting to get warm and she seemed to be hiding in it as Carla said, "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." Claire nodded with her hands in her pockets, "Peter's told me so much about you…" She trailed off and bit her lip and in that moment she and Carla exchanged eye contact… Eye contact that meant they both knew exactly what the other had been through and exactly how it felt.

"You too…" Carla eventually said, looking down at the way Claire was stood with her head down a little and her hands in her pocket and unable to forget how she used to stand in the very same way after her was as if standing like that, hands tucked away, shoulders hunched together meant that no attention was being drawn and as Claire stayed silent, the woman next to her smiled fondly and looked at Peter as she said,

"I'm Carol… Claire's Mum." She put her hand out to shake Peter's and as Peter let go of Carla's hand to shake Carol's because his other was full of shopping he said,

"Hi Carol, I'm Peter..." As soon as the name Peter had left his lips, Carol suddenly gasped and threw her arms right around him, she was so enthusiastic that she almost sent Peter flying backwards.

"Mum!" Claire cried, mortified as her mother embraced Peter in a way that made Carla's eyebrows raise, although she was also rather amused by the way Claire's Mum was hugging Peter so tight. "For god sake you're embarrassing me, let the poor man go."

"I've heard so much about you Peter!" Carol cried, finally letting go of a stunned Peter who hadn't been expecting that reaction from Claire's Mum at all. "She's told me and her Dad all about how supportive you've been during these trying times." Carol sniffed.

"Oh…" Peter chuckled with a slightly nervous nod, Claire shot him an apologetic look and shook her head, which only made Carol tut at her daughter and say,

"What? I was only showing Peter how grateful me and your father are." Carol then turned to Peter, gushing as she then said, "Honestly Peter, It really sounds as if you've been a rock to my little girl." Claire winced at being called a little girl and rolled her eyes at Carla who couldn't help but smile at the situation. "Thank you." Carol said again.

"Don't mention it." Peter said, taking hold of Carla's hand again. "I wouldn't ave it any way."

"You truly are a wonderful man Peter." Carol said then she looked at Carla eagerly and said, "You're a very lucky lady, to have such a caring husband."

"Oh I know." Carla nodded, nudging Peter in the side proudly and grinning at him as Carol continued to say,

"Claire speaks about him so highly, it's honestly been a pleasure to meet you." She was looking at Peter again and at the risk of her Mum hugging Peter again, Claire quickly took her by the arm and said,

"Right that's enough Mum… Let's let Peter and Carla get back to their evening." She looked embarrassed as her Mum nodded disappointedly and said, "Bye Mr Barlow, See you tomorrow, Bye Carla, it was really good to meet you."

"You n all…" Carla said, she was going to leave it at that because Claire looked desperate to make an escape but Carla then stepped forward slightly and said, "Erm… Claire... if you ever wanna talk y'know about… stuff… Please just ask Peter for me number yeah?"

Carol looked confused by this kind gesture of Carla's because she didn't know about what horrible circumstance her daughter had in common with Carla but Claire's face brightened slightly and she nodded at Carla before saying,

"Okay… thanks... Thanks a lot. Carla." She then had to drag her mother away before she asked more questions and as she did so, Peter waved goodbye before turning to Carla and giving her a rather unexpected kiss on the lips.

"What was that for?" She asked, slightly taken aback but the passionate kiss Peter had just planted on her.

"For offering to talk to Claire." He explained as he and Carla began walking hand in hand up the high street again. "It's dead sweet of you love… and brave, It can't be easy for you to offer to do that."

"It's not… but if my pain can do some good… then I'm glad." Carla said softly, "Look at the state I got myself in… I mean I know I had you but it might have helped if I had someone who'd been through it to talk to y'know." Peter nodded at Carla and gave her another quick kiss once they had got to a crossing and were standing still.

* * *

Later on that day, back in Peter's flat when he and Carla were curled up on the sofa together watching TV, Peter could tell that Carla was deep in thought about something especially as she had been rather quiet since they had got home after a spot of dinner.

"You alright?" Peter asked, giving Carla a slight nudge.

"Yeah…" She said quietly, "I'm just thinking about Claire…" Peter waited patiently for Carla to continue and just put his arm around her as she said, "She's just so… sweet… n small… I just can't believe someone would want to hurt her..."

"Yeah me neither…" Peter said nodding slowly.

"I know it doesn't work like that..." Carla said rolling her eyes, "It doesn't matter what you look like n all... I know it can happen to anyone, It's just... She's so young... n she had this frightened look in her eyes even when she were smiling."

"Yep n the Claire you met today wasn't even half the girl that all of us at the office used to know. The old Claire was bubbly, confident and now… well now she's had all that taken away from her, She tries so hard to be brave all the time... It's so sad."

"I'm really glad Claire's got her Mum about though." Carla said with a sigh, "and her Dad too, That's what she needs, A strong support system."

"Yeah, from what I've heard they've been really supportive about everything, Even offered for her to move back in with them but she said no." Peter said as Carla moved her head, she gave him a soft kiss just below one of his ear lobes as he continued speaking, "It was nice to meet her Mum in town earlier actually."

"Yeah…" Carla said with a slight laugh as she pressed another kiss on to his neck, "N Vice versa by the looks of it… Honestly Peter, between Crazy Kelly, Claire n Her Mum you're a right Mr Popular aren't ya?" Peter rolled his eyes in a coy fashion with led Carla to stop kissing him on the next and say, "I'm being serious baby, everyone just seems to love you..." She fiddled with a few of his fingers before holding his hand. "Not that I blame em, Carol's right, I really am a lucky lady."

"No..." Peter said shaking his head as he raised his hand, He kissed Carla's whilst her hand was still attached to his and said, "I'm luckier... You really are something special offering to speak to Claire the way you did."

"I really hope she gets in contact." Carla said softly, leaning against Peter even more and sliding an arm around him too. "I wanna tell her that it's okay to be scared, I wanna tell her that it may take time but it all gets better... Life... get's so much bloody better." Carla whispered, smiling at Peter lovingly and affectionately reaching up to stroke his bearded chin. She and Peter kissed tenderly for a moment and as Carla pulled away from him, she grinned wickedly and said, "Come on then Mr Popular... Let's get to bed."


	66. Life Is Beautiful

"Okay…" Carla said, leaving Peter's bedroom with her hands on her hips and walking towards the sofa where he was lazily sat, "I'm ready…" Peter turned around with his bowl of Ice Cream in his hand and wolf whistled when he saw Carla appearance.

She was stood in pair of very tight, black skinny jeans and a navy blue chiffon shirt that was slightly see-through so Carla's black bra and stomach were faintly visible underneath.

She had her newly washed long hair, hanging either side of her shoulders and had spent a long time applying her make up but she wasn't wearing shoes yet, just a pair of black socks and after Peter wolf whistled again, Carla rolled her eyes and asked,

"How do I look then?" Peter practically scrambled up off the sofa and within seconds he was stood right in front of Carla.

"Incredible." He said smiling at her infectiously so it was all Carla could do not to grin back.

"Good." She preened as Peter put an arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. "So… what ave you got planned for tonight then?" She asked.

"I'm watching a movie with Simon and Santana." Peter replied after Carla leant in and tenderly kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh you big gooseberry." She teased, poking him in the stomach and laughing. "Don't they want to be alone?"

"Yeah well, that's what I said at first, even though I'm not keen on the pair of them aving alone time together but apparently they actually want me around, Simon said Santana thinks I'm dead funny." Peter said as Carla put her arms around his neck.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure if that's a compliment, baby." Carla said with a grin, "I mean is she laughing with you or at you?"

"Probably… at me." Peter laughed, nodding at Carla who was also laughing.

"How about later then?" She asked, "You could always meet me in town if ya want..."

"Yeah I could…" Peter said nodding again, "Although I'm not sure I should leave loves young dream at home alone." Peter's eyebrow was raised as he spoke, remembering the few times he'd walked in on Simon and Santana who were taking full advantage of being alone. "I'll see what happens eh? What time you meeting Claire again?" Peter asked, looking at the clock that was on the wall.

It was almost six thirty pm on Saturday and he and Carla had spent a rather relaxed day at home just the two of them, watching movies and catching up on their boxsets, the only reason Carla had even got up off the sofa and got dressed was because she was meeting Claire from Peter's work.

Claire had gotten in contact with Carla on Thursday night, two days or so after they had first met in town. She had called Peter at first who eventually passed the phone over to Carla, they talked but it was eventually Carla who suggested that she and Claire actually meet somewhere so they could talk.

Carla had been imagining that she would invite Claire over to her place so they could talk in private but Claire seemed to have other ideas and asked Carla if they could go out to eat in a restaurant.

Even though she had some reservations, Carla had imediately said yes because she wanted Claire to feel one hundred per cent comfortable so if a restaurant in town was where she wanted to go, that was where Carla was going to go.

"I've got a cab coming ere to get me for seven." Carla said nodding.

"Hmmmm…" Peter said softly, looking at the clock once again and then grinning. "So that means we've got half n hour to kill…"

"Yeah yeah n I know what that look means n all Barlow." Carla said with a raised eyebrow, "N the answer is no, I've just done me hair n make up, I'm not aving you mess it all up again."

"Oh come on…" Peter said huskily, pouting at Carla in a comical way and pulling her even closer to him so their torsos were now pressed right up against each others. "You never turn me down."

"Well y'know what they say, there's a first time for everythin…" Carla nodded amused, as Peter leant in and pushed his lips against hers in an impatient fashion.

"Peter…" Carla giggled as he guided her over to the breakfast bar, She didn't try too hard to resist and as Peter snaked a hand up her shirt, she said, "Oi… you better not crease me shirt."

"Y'know… we do ave this magical appliance called an iron that can sort out any creases that I make in no time…"Peter laughed before passionately kissing Carla again.

"Uh, aven't you two had all day to do that?" said Simon who was stood by the door with his keys in his hand. Santana was stood behind him and waved sheepishly as Carla and Peter let go of each other.

"Oh Ello to you n all son." Peter said to Simon, as Carla smoothed down her shirt.

"Hi." Simon grinned as he shut the door behind him.

"Hi Santana." Peter nodded. Santana smiled at Peter and Carla and as she said hello to them both, Simon walked straight over to Carla and said,

"How comes you're still ere? I thought you were going out tonight?"

"I am…" Carla said, giving Simon a little hug and kissing him on the cheek, "I'm waiting for a cab."

"Where are you going?" Santana asked, taking off her denim jacket and then handing it to Simon who was waiting for it.

"I'm going to Las Iguanas, it's that Mexican place in Deansgate." Carla said.

"Oh I've been there…" Santana nodded as Simon went and hung up her coat. "It's dead cool, we went there with Mum n Nick that time, init Si."

"Yep." Simon nodded casually, walking over to the sofa, unaware that Carla and Peter were watching him and that they were slightly offended.

"Hang about, you two went on a double date with Juliana n Nick but when me n your Dad invite you out with us, you always say no?" Carla said as Santana and Simon sat down. She looked at Peter in mock upset and said, "The flamin cheek."

"It wasn't a double date." Simon said with an eyebrow raised but Peter shook his head acting disappointed at his son and said to Carla,

"I can't believe it, snubbed by our own kid." Carla couldn't help but smile softly because Peter had used the word _our _to describe Simon and she followed him into the living room space as Santana shook her head and said,

"It's not like that at all. We'd love to go on a double date with you guys, wouldn't we Simon."

"Hold on..." Simon laughed as Peter sat down on the armchair that sat adjacent to the sofa. "First of all, When we went out with your Mum n Nick that time, It was not a double date, It was just a meal, the only reason Carmen wasn't there was because she was at a sleepover and second of all, Trust me Tan, you do not want to go on a double date with these two."

"Eh?" Carla exclaimed, sitting on the arm of Peter's armchair and looking at Simon in shock. "And why on earth not?"

"Yeah." Santana said, nudging Simon in the side with her elbow and making him laugh out loud, "Why not? Your Dad n Carla are a right laugh, Much cooler than my Mum n Nick who just sit there chatting about work all day." Carla and Peter both smiled smugly at Simon after hearing that Santana thought they were cool. Simon rolled his eyes at them and said,

"Yeah they are…" Simon sat grinning at his Dad and Carla and for a while they just grinned back but then Peter put an arm around Carla and yanked her onto his lap which made her cry out in excitement. "You see, that's why we don't go on double dates with them two." Simon nodded, his turn to look smug as Peter gave Carla a quick peck on the lips. "I knew it wouldn't take em long to start the PDAS."

"Yeah well, as I've told you a thousand times before, It's much better to see your parents kissing than it is to see then argue." Santana said looking slightly annoyed at Simon as Peter let go of Carla although she still stayed perched on his lap.

"I know…" Simon said, looking apologetically at Santana. She smiled again and moved up closer to Simon, reaching over and taking hold of his hand.

"You sure they don't want to be alone?" Carla asked, leaning back slightly and whispering in Peter's ear so she couldn't be heard by Simon and Santana.

"Even if they do… there's not a chance in hell of it happening." Peter whispered back. Carla grinned at him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips before saying,

"Right, I'm gonna go n get me shoes on." She had to nudge Peter a few times before he let her up but eventually Peter let go of her and as she walked towards her bedroom where she had left her shoes last night, Peter watched her go.

"How's your little sister Santana?" He then asked, leaning forwards and picking up the TV remote.

"She's alright, when I was getting ready to leave she kept asking where I was going, When I eventually told her that I was coming ere she kept saying she wanted to come over." Santana said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"Aww you should ave brought her along." Peter said but Santana raised her eyebrows and said,

"No way… Don't get me wrong, I love Carmen to death but sometimes it's so hard to get away from her, She practically follows me everywhere."

"Oi… don't be mean." Simon said shaking his head and feeling sorry for little Carmen. "I'd love a little sister or a little brother, you're so lucky to have her." Peter kept quiet at this comment but Santana nodded and said,

"I know that, I really do…" She grinned at Peter as Carla left the bedroom wearing a pair of very high-heeled boots and then said, "And don't worry Si, I'm sure you'll get a little brother or sister soon, isn't that right Mr Barlow?"

"How many times Santana? It's Peter." Peter replied with a mysterious look in his eyes, ignoring the baby question which made Simon and Santana grin at each other.

"Is she right Dad?" Simon asked enthusiastically, as Carla then went into the bathroom to touch up her make up once more, "Am I gonna be a big brother some time this decade?" Peter raised an eyebrow and instead of answering Simon, he just smiled mysteriously at him and Santana.

When Carla walked back over to the armchair where Peter was sat, she had noticed that Simon, Santana and Peter had all stopped talking, as she sat down on the armchair's arm she squinted at Simon and said,

"What?"

"Nothing." Said Peter, Simon and Santana all said in unison, Carla laughed at them and rolled her eyes as Peter very quickly began chatting away to Simon and Santana about what film they should watch.

"Let's watch a scary one…" Santana said with her eyes gleaming, "A really bad one, One that's rated eighteen."

"Oh yeah? n what would your Mum say about that eh?" Peter asked as Simon leant forwards and took hold of the remote control so he could see what films were available to rent.

"She won't mind." Santana nodded, "Seriously… She knows I can handle it. It takes a lot to properly scare me init Simon."

"She's right, she's not scared of anything." Simon said as Carla squeezed onto the armchair next to Peter who put an arm around her.

"When my big sister Gabby comes back from Uni we always watch the very worst movie we can find…" Santana said smiling excitedly, "I proper love watching scary movies, I can't wait until I can actually get into the cinema's to see em."

"Me too." Simon nodded, grinning at his Dad who stayed silent, Carla on the other hand was highly amused and gave Peter a rough kiss on the cheek before she said,

"Good luck with tonight Peter." Simon started chuckling but Santana looked worried and then said,

"Oh, do you not like scary movies then Mr..." Santana paused sheepishly for a moment and then said, "Peter."

"Oh they're alright." Peter began but once again Carla looked amused and said,

"Alright? Peter hates scary films… he's a right baby."

"Oh and I suppose it wasn't you screaming out loud when we watched that twelve movie last week?" Peter replied, nudging Carla with his elbow as she sat next to him.

"A twelve movie?" Simon laughed with his eyebrows raised, "Seriously."

"Yeah, It was well scary." Carla said, she and Peter both nodded as Santana shook her head in amusement and said to Peter,

"Oh that's alright, we don't ave to watch a scary movie if you don't want to."

"Ahh man, Come on, it'll be dead fun if we do." Simon said still pointing at the telly with the remote and scrolling through the list of films.

"How about we decide that later?" Peter said, "I'm feeling slightly hungry, should we order a Pizza or something?"

"Sound idea Dad." Simon said nodding, "I'll get the menus." Santana nodded enthusiastically too as Simon jumped up and went to the kitchen to fetch the Pizza menus, which were kept on the fridge.

Carla laughed silently to herself and leant towards Peter before saying,

"Nice distraction there baby…" Peter smiled smugly at her as she continued and said, "Although I don't think it's going to get you out of this scary movie."

"It might…" Peter smirked as Simon returned with the pizza menus. He sat down on the sofa next to Santana again and they set about ordering their pizzas.

The door buzzed at Seven pm sharp and after answering it, Carla found out that it was her cab driver. She walked over to where she, Peter and Simon hung up their coats and as she did so, Peter quickly got up and said,

"Ere let me help you love…" Carla thought this was rather an odd gesture but when she turned around she saw the look on Peter's face and could tell he was slightly concerned about the night she had ahead.

"I'll be fine." She said, pulling her leather jacket on. "Promise." As she flicked her hair out of her coat, "Please try n believe me darlin…" Neither Carla and Peter were aware that Simon had turned his head and was watching their exchange, he couldn't quite hear what was being said but he knew that something wasn't quite right about this night out that Carla was about to go on.

"I do..." Peter nodded, speaking as if he did believe Carla but deep down inside he couldn't help but feel a little bit worried about how this meal with Claire was going to go. He knew how much Carla had wanted to help, she had been going on about Claire getting in contact from the moment they had met in town but Peter knew Carla… very well and he knew that she would probably find tonight seriously hard.

"Gimme a kiss then." Carla said, pouting at Peter who leant in and kissed her lovingly on the lips. "I'll give you a text afterwards okay."

"Make sure you do." Peter nodded, leaning in to kiss Carla again. Afterwards Carla walked over to the sofa where Simon and Santana were still sat hand in hand and said,

"Bye you two, ave a good night, don't make your Dad wet his pants too much Si."

"We won't." Simon laughed but as he got up to hug Carla, he frowned at her slightly.

"Eh what's that look for?" She asked as Simon let go of her.

"It's just... It would be dead fun if you stayed ere." Simon said sadly. He didn't actually know anything about Claire from his Dad's work, nothing at all so of course he didn't even know that Carla was going to meet her, all he knew was that Carla was going out to dinner with some friends. "Do ya ave to go out tonight?" Simon was now looking hopefully at Carla, so hopefully she almost weakened.

"Yeah, I do ave to…" She said giving Peter a quick glance but then looking back at a disappointed Simon, "It's important I go out tonight… Maybe I'll explain it to you later but trust me Si, I'd stay ere if it weren't so important." She gave Simon a soft kiss on the cheek as he nodded at her and said,

"Alright… Well... ave a good time... If you can…" Simon had sensed that what Carla was doing tonight wasn't exactly something she looked forward to due to the slightly nervous she had look on her face and in her eyes. He smiled at Carla as he sat back down on the sofa and after one more kiss with Peter, Carla left the flat to catch her cab into town.

"Everything is alright isn't it Dad?" Simon asked, watching his Dad closely because he was still sure that something wasn't quite right.

"Of course it is." Peter replied with a nod although it wasn't quite convincing enough for Simon who raised an eyebrow and then asked,

"Who's Carla gone out with again?" Santana gave him a little poke in the side and shook her head as she said,

"Don't be so nosy Si..."

"I'm not…" Simon said to Santana before turning to look back at his Dad. "I'm just curious that's all…"

"She's gone to meet a friend… someone who's been through a lot and who just needs to talk... That's all." Peter said almost completely truthfully. "Look… When Carla get's back if she wants to tell you… I'm sure she will but believe me Si, Everything is fine." Simon nodded at his Dad and decided that was probably all he'd get from his Dad on the situation. "Let's order these Pizza's eh?"

* * *

"Thanks for coming." Claire said, smiling nervously. She was wearing a black off the shoulder dress with her long blonde hair tumbling past her shoulders. She and Carla had arrived at almost the exact same time and after being shown to a table in the corner of the busy Mexican restaurant, Carla hung her leather jacket on the back of her chair and said,

"Don't mention it, I love a good night out me… Any excuse." She smiled warmly at Claire who nodded as enthusiastically as she could given the reason why the were meeting. "Although… If I'm honest I weren't expecting you to pick somewhere like ere… I thought you'd want somewhere… I dunno more private." Carla thought about how long it took her to get used to going out properly after her attack and couldn't help but wonder if maybe Claire was starting to regret coming to such a busy place, after all it was Saturday night and the restaurant was heaving with people looking to have a good time.

"I did at first…" Claire began, "But then I thought, I aven't actually been out since…" She paused and shook her head very quickly, not wanting to mention the word until she absolutely have to. "Anyways, I just didn't wanna stay in again… I really needed to get out… especially for me Mum n Dad's sake bless em, They've practically spent every night with me since. I expect they could really do with some alone time."

"Yeah, but I bet they don't mind fussing over you, You are their little girl after all n you're blessed to ave em." Carla said, trying her very hardest not to sound patronising.

"I know…" Claire nodded again, she picked up the menu in front of her and glazed over it for a while, so Carla did the same. She had so many things that she desperately wanted to say to Claire and so many questions she wanted to ask but she didn't want to force Claire to talk about anything until she was ready.

Conversation very quickly picked up between Carla and Claire, they spoke about their days and also a little about Peter, they both ordered a cocktail each and then their meals and for a while, it generally seemed as if Carla and Claire were both two friends who had met up for a casual dinner but of course there was a rather large elephant in the room... A subject that didn't come up until Carla and Claire were in the middle of their meal and were back on the subject of Claire's parents.

"Were your parents around then?" Claire asked putting her fork down on the table. "Y'know… when you were… raped." Carla put her own fork down and took a deep breath as that had been the first time what had happened to Claire had actually been mentioned. "One of us had to start talking about it eventually." Claire shrugged nervously.

"I spose." Carla nodded, she gave Claire a nervous smile of own as Claire asked again,

"So? Were your Mum n Dad about then?"

"No." Carla said plainly, She sighed and decided the easiest and almost truthful option was to just say, "They were already dead when it happened... so..."

"Oh." Claire quietly replied. "I'm so sorry."

"No..." Carla said shaking her head, "Let's just say things between me n my parents were always quite… complicated… it wouldn't ave mattered if they were there or not to be honest." Claire still looked apologetically at Carla who sighed and said, "It's alright… I had other people… Well… mainly just Peter actually... not many people believed I were actually raped."

"I know the feeling..." Claire said quietly, she watched as Carla shuffled a little uncomfortably in her seat and then quietly asked, "Who… was he then?"

Carla's mouth grew increasingly dry then. She desperately wished that she had of prepared herself for this moment a little more. She knew that eventually Claire would ask these sort of questions and yet she hadn't psyched herself up for it at all. She stayed quiet for a while and tried to just come out with it but for some reason, the words would not leave Carla's lips.

"I'm sorry." Claire said after a few moments, She shook her head quickly and apologetically and was about to speak when Carla firmly said,

"No. That's the first thing I wanna tell you… You really really ave to stop saying sorry." Claire swallowed as Carla looked at her dead in the eye and said, "I mean it Claire, None of this is your fault, what happened to you is not your fault and no matter what people say to you or what the outcome of all of this is, you ave to remember that okay?" Claire nodded at Carla but her nod just wasn't enough and it led Carla to say, "Look… I know that me sitting ere n telling you that it wasn't your fault isn't going to be all that comforting… Hell I had Peter saying it to me every single day for weeks n weeks on end and I still didn't believe him... not at first anyway… but eventually... I worked it out for my self… n one day was eventually able to sit there n say… It wasn't my fault… One day you'll get there Claire, I promise."

"I hope so." Claire said hoarsely, nodding her head as two cocktails arrived on a tray and a waiter placed them down and onto the table. Carla smiled and thanked the waiter for the drinks as Claire sat breathing in and out quietly. After taking a small sip of her cocktail Carla looked at Claire and cleared her throat before saying,

"He were my fiancé." Carla really didn't want to go there and talk about him but she guessed that Peter hadn't told Claire too much about the situation and even though it was painful, Carla knew eventually it would help.

"Your fiancé?" Claire's eyes went wide when she went over what Carla had just said.

"Yeah… well actually I ended it with him that very day… n well as you can probably guess he didn't take it too well." Carla said nodding slowly, she had to take a sharp breath at the end of her sentence because she wasn't used to talking about Frank Foster with anyone but Peter, not even Michelle, So for Carla to be sat talking to almost a complete stranger about him was an enormous deal and she didn't realise how how this was going to be until now. "He were such a good guy, everyone liked him… I honestly never would ave dreamed he could ave hurt me like that…" Carla paused for a moment to try and stop her self from tearing up, what she really wanted to do was stop talking but she knew she had to continue. "Neither did everyone else really, It didn't matter what I said or did, some people were just beyond convincing… I knew the truth though and so did Peter..."

"What happened to him?" Claire asked anxiously, "Mr Barlow told me you called the police straight away and that it went to trial… did he go down for it?" Carla was quiet at first, she took another sip of her cocktail and shrugged as she tried to casually say, "Does it matter?"

"Of course it does." Claire replied, staring at Carla anxiously. "Did he go down for it?"

"No." Carla said delicately, knowing that this was exactly what Claire didn't want to hear right now. She looked terrified as Carla shook her head and she then took a deep breath as she nervously asked,

"How? I mean… all those questions they ask when you report it, all the… horrible and degrading tests they do…" Claire winced as she spoke, "How on earth could they not have enough evidence to send him down?" Carla could tell that Claire was going through all the unimaginable stuff she'd been through over the past month and a half and that the question she had just asked meant a hell of a lot to her.

"Because... he were very good at manipulating things, because him and his defence team made it look as if me n Peter set the whole thing up and to be honest… it definitely looked that way even I'll admit that." Carla explained, "I left Frank because I were hopelessly in love with Peter and Frank knew it. I guess he also knew that deep down Peter felt the same way too and he used that to his advantage… He had a P.I follow us about n get pictures which were then shown in court…" Carla saw the petrified look on Claire's face and knew that she had to do some damage control, "You ave to understand how bad it looked Claire, as frustrating as it was the jury just didn't believe me but you also ave to understand that it's a completely different situation for you and it won't turn out the same way as it did for me."

"But you were telling the truth…" Claire replied with tears in her blue eyes, "You were telling the truth and... it did absolutely nothing." Carla shook her head in disbelief wishing she hadn't of told Claire about how Frank's trial had gone because now Claire was obviously thinking that things would go the same way when it came to the trail of her attacker.

"That's not true, Telling the truth did not do nothing." Carla said, "Claire… getting up on that stand and telling everyone what happened was the hardest thing I've ever had to do… but it was the truth and no matter what anyone said or did… they couldn't take that truth away from me… It's the same with you… no one is going to be able to take the truth away from you either."

"So…" Claire breathed, "How… I mean what happened next then? I mean this Frank… what he just went back to his everyday life… he went back to work like normal?"

"Yeah…" Carla began nodding because even now she was in denial at how Frank had got away with it at first. "For a while anyway and then long story short... his Mother killed him."

"What?" Claire exclaimed as that had been the last thing she had been expecting to hear. "Are… you being serious?"

"Yes." Carla said giving Claire half a smile because as if she would joke about something like that although she didn't blame Claire for thinking that way because it was slightly ridiculous. "I am being serious. She overheard him bragging about what he did to me and… she killed him."

* * *

Back at Peter's flat, he, Simon and Santana were sat in the living room area making their way through a rather large amount of pizza. They had ordered two large pizzas, garlic bread and some chicken dippers along with some drinks for each of them and as Peter leant forwards to take another slice of Pepperoni Pizza, Simon swallowed the mouthful he was in the middle of and said,

"Dad we better make sure we save some for Carla."

"Oh good idea..." Peter nodded with his eyes wide.

"Wait… She's gone out to eat hasn't she?" Santana said as Peter leant over from his armchair and pulled three slices from one of the pizza boxes that were on the coffee table in front of them. He got up to take them into the kitchen and put them into the microwave for Carla as Simon said,

"Yeah but she loves cold pizza, she'll eat it when she gets back... or for breakfast." Simon said as Peter returned to his seat.

"My Mum hates that, she always insists that we eat it all or she'll throw it out, she insists we have a proper breakfast n that Pizza is not a good start to the day... although when Nick stayed over last week he was allowed to eat leftover Pizza." Simon laughed as he tucked into another bite of Pizza and as his Dad said to Santana,

"It sounds as if your Mum n Nick are doing really well though."

"Yeah they are…" Santana nodded enthusiastically, "I don't think I've ever seen me Mum so happy y'know, I love it… Even though they've only been going out for like four months they're dead serious. He might be coming on holiday with us too." Santana then paused because she knew that Peter knew her Dad from his AA meetings and she couldn't help but maybe think that Peter was looking for some information.

"Don't worry…" Peter grinned, "I won't say anything to your Dad, I honestly was just curious." Santana smiled at Peter warmly as Simon swallowed another mouthful and said,

"That's a big step though… going away together already, it must be proper serious."

"Yeah I know... It won't be until the proper summer though. Gabby might be back then and we always go n visit my Gran in America anyway so we'll see." Santana said, Simon nodded and then turned to Peter with a grin.

"Hey Dad… are we going on holiday this year then?" Peter had mouthful of pizza and just shrugged at Simon before saying,

"Dunno... maybe."

"Oh come on Dad, we ave to." Simon groaned childishly, "You n Carla promised you'd take me to L.A with you one day, we can do it this summer can't we?"

"Erm I think that you're forgetting that holidays cost a lot of money kid, especially holidays to California." Peter said with a raised eyebrow. Simon nodded at his Dad and picked up his can of coke before saying,

"Okay okay, I get that… but can we at least think about going away somewhere… even to one of those all inclusive destinations that are dead cheap… like Tenerife or Benidorm."

"Tenerife… Benidorm…" Peter repeated with his eyebrow still raised, "Can you really see Carla going on one of those types of holidays, ones where the airlines have no first class flights?"

"True…" Simon laughed, imagining Carla's face when being asked to go to Benidorm, he looked at Santana and said, "Carla always says those places are dead tacky."

"So does my Mum." Santana nodded, "But I bet it would still be so fun to go somewhere like that, the entertainment at night time is supposed to be proper hilarious, Charley went on one last year and she said they made them play all sorts of games, they had families competing against each other and everything, it sounds so funny."

"Imagine us doing that eh Dad? We'd so win." Simon said laughing at Peter who still had an eyebrow raised because he knew what Carla would say when presented with the option of a holiday to such a busy tourist destination.

"Never mind…" Santana said smiling, "Me n you will go on our own when we're old enough won't we Si?"

"Yeah, Deffo... When we're like sixteen we'll go n ave a proper good time." Simon said also grinning widely. Peter couldn't help but keep his eyebrow raised at the idea of the two teenagers before him planning their first proper holiday away together. He couldn't wait to tell Carla about it but as he though that thought his mind was instantly brought to where Carla was right now and how she was getting on with Claire...

* * *

There was another long silence at the table between Carla and Claire mainly because Claire was still in awe of what she had just heard.

The unbelievable silence between them continued as they both went back to eating their meals. They had both stayed so silent because they were full of so many questions but they didn't quite know how to get them out, Carla still didn't want to push Claire too much as she knew exactly how she was feeling and Claire was still in shock from hearing how everything had turned out for Frank.

"Did it help?" Claire eventually asked putting her fork down and looking at Carla directly.

"You mean did Frank being dead help me cope with what he did?" Carla asked staring at Claire who nodded quietly, "What do you think?" Carla asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No." Claire sighed, shaking her head and looking down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. "I didn't think it would."

"Everyone else did though… People really assumed that because he was dead I'd be able to move on but in a way it were worse because he never truly paid for what he did to me…" Carla said shaking her head slowly, she had finished her meal ages ago and as the waiter came over to take their plates, Claire shook her head slowly and said,

"Aaron…" She spoke so quietly that Carla almost didn't hear her. "He's the one who…" She took a deep breath before saying, "I've wished him dead so many times… so many bloody times but… I guess it's true… his death it would mean nothing… It wouldn't erase what he did to me... I wouldn't feel any different."

"Exactly." Carla nodded, "I hate to say it but nothing ever will ever erase the memory … even almost five years down the line… It still manages to completely take over me sometimes… Not often mind just every once n a while... It's as if I'm back there... In that very moment and it scares the hell out of me sometimes."

"So it doesn't get better then?" Claire sniffed, but this time Carla smiled at her and shook her head,

"Now that's where you're wrong, Claire… yes what he did to me will be with me forever but y'know what, I refused to let him win and look where I am now… it does get better… So much better… Life... Life is beautiful and I honestly never thought I'd see beautiful again." Carla said firmly, She had tears in her eyes as well as Claire but her voice stayed strong and the tone of it made Claire really sit and listen.

"You're right…" She practically whispered, "I'm…. I can't... I can't let him win… I just can't…"

"No you can't… you're so beautiful Claire... you're young n I hate sounding so cliché ere but you've honestly got your whole life ahead of you, you're at that age when you have the time to do anything you want to do, please don't let that bastard ruin it for you Claire. Please… take it from someone who knows… take from someone who almost let what happened to her… end her life…" Carla's voice wasn't so strong anymore, she now had tears pouring down her cheeks as she spoke and the sight of her crying made Claire start too.

"How did you do it?" Claire asked wiping her eyes as Carla moved her chair around the table so that she was sat next to Claire rather than opposite. "How did you not let it ruin you cause right now... right now I feel like a completely different person?"

"You fight." Carla nodded, "You take each day as it comes n you make sure that you remember not to let him win… Some days will be easier than others… some days are gonna be downright dreadful and those are the days where you need to remember how good life can be..." Carla took hold of one of Claire's hands supportively and said, "If there is one thing you get from tonight Claire, know that everything that you are feeling right now…. every thought, every emotion… it's all okay. It's okay to be scared about the future… If you feel like screaming and shouting, do it, if you feel like smashing something to pieces… do it… Don't hold back n if you feel like crying your heart out… do it, it's all normal." Claire nodded at Carla and took a deep breath before she nodded and said,

"That's what me Mum says and my councillor, She keeps telling me I'm normal… but it's so hard to believe them when they aint been through it."

"Well I ave aven't I?" Carla said assuringly, "So believe me." She smiled at Claire lovingly and then said, "It's good to hear you're seeing a councillor, I was gonna ask if you were… how is she?"

"Yeah she's great… She's offered me some sound advice I spose…" Claire began but Carla nodded at her instantly and said,

"But it's not like talking to friend and that's what you need right now isn't it?"

"Yeah." Claire admitted, she sniffed hard and ran a hand through her long hair as Carla asked,

"Ave you told any of them? Your mates that is…"

"No… I mean I've got two proper best mates n I aven't even told them. I've just told them I'm not too well at the moment… just so they don't wonder where I am all the time." Claire said sadly, she let another tear dribble down her cheek as Carla squeezed her hands and said,

"Do you trust these best mates of yours?"

"Yes." Claire nodded, "I trust em one hundred percent, they've been my mates since primary school."

"Then… I think you should tell em." Carla said calmly, "Tell em, cry with them… and d'ya know what? I bet that a little time with your mates would make you feel so much better… I bet you miss them a lot."

"I do." Claire said nodding again, "I really do n I know they would support me… I've just been so scared to talk about it…" Carla gave Claire's hand another supportive squeeze and said,

"I promise ya Claire, you're so going to get through all of this one day… You've got an amazing support system with your parents, Plus Peter will definitely be keeping an eye on ya at work…" Carla and Claire both laughed lightly because they knew how Peter could be. "Life will be beautiful for you again Claire, you'll see…"

"I hope so." Claire said sniffing with more tears running down her cheeks. "I really hope so."

"Oh I know so." Carla said smiling, "Just make sure you keep talking… talk to your parents whenever you need to, you can even talk to me again if ya want, I'll always be around just please make sure you never bottle things up inside because that's when things can become really rough." Claire nodded at Carla suddenly she reached forwards and put her arms around her tightly.

"Thank you for this… it means the world to me." Claire said, still sobbing slightly as Carla pulled away from her. "I know how hard it must ave been for you to talk about all of this... You're so brave."

"It was hard…" Carla nodded, "But it were really really worth it." Claire had black mascara on her cheeks from where she had been crying and as she wiped them and saw the black stuff on her fingers, Carla smiled at her and said, "Ahhhh not wearing waterproof mascara? Rookie mistake." Claire actually laughed out loud at this comment and as Carla got up off her chair she then said, "Come on, lets go to the toilets n sort our selves out before we get another drink in."

* * *

"I'm gonna tell them…" Claire said quietly whilst gazing out of the window. She and Carla were sat in the back of a taxi on their way home from the restaurant where they had almost stayed until closing time. They had ordered a pudding each and some more cocktails and even though they talked some more about the terrible thing that they had in common which included Claire going into more detail about things, They had both kept their spirits up as much as they could. "My mates… I'm gonna invite them both over tomorrow n speak to them about it."

"Good." Carla nodded with a warm smile, she had the side of her head rested against the window on her side as she spoke and as Claire smiled back at her, Carla couldn't help but feel as if she achieved something rather special tonight. "Let me know how it goes won't ya?"

"I will, I promise." Claire said before yawning. It was almost twelve pm and as the cab that she and Carla were in pulled up in front of her Mum and Dad's house, Claire couldn't help but feel glad to be home, She took one last and very thankful look at Carla before waving at her and saying, "Bye Carla… and thanks again for tonight."

"You're welcome." Carla said waving at Claire, who opened the door to the cab and then disappeared. As the door closed, Carla gave the driver Peter's address and then she took out her phone, She hadn't checked it all night as she had wanted her attention to be entirely on Claire. There were a few messages that hadn't been read by Carla ignored them all except for one…

**_"Just checking in love, I hope everything's going okay n it's not too tough on you both. You're so amazing for doing this Carla! Text me when you're on the way home. Love you. Xx" _**

Carla smiled as she very quickly typed out a reply for Peter, even though Claire's parents lived only five minutes or so away from where Peter did and she'd be home soon.

**_"On my way home now gorgeous, Will tell you all about it when I get in. Love you n all xx"_**

Peter was sat on his sofa in the living room softly listening to some music when he received his message. The lights had been dimmed considerably and he was playing a playlist he and Carla had made of their favourite songs. He didn't have to wait for too long to hear all about it because he soon heard the sound of keys and saw his door open.

"Hey…" He said, practically shooting off his space on the sofa to greet Carla.

"Hi…" She breathed, quietly shutting the door behind her, "Where's the other two?"

"Santana's gone home n Si's in bed." Peter said as Carla walked towards him and pulled him towards her for a hug. He breathed in her familiar and sweet scent for a moment as Carla did nothing but cling onto him she was silent for a while as Peter kissed her on the head but when she pulled away from him, He saw her face he saw that she was crying, it was as if the time alone in the cab had given Carla the time to go over everything that had happened tonight properly and so once again she was in a state of tears.

"Dumb question…" Peter began as he dried one of Carla's eyes, "But how was it?"

"Upsetting…" Carla said nodding as Peter used both hands to slide her leather jacket off her shoulders. He didn't hang it up though, he just threw it onto the armchair he had been sat on earlier and then said,

"Come ere…" He took Carla by the hand and led her over to the sofa, She didn't say anything as Peter sat her down and began to take off her heeled boots but when he'd finished she smiled and said,

"Thank you."

"You're more than welcome." Peter grinned, he then sat on the sofa next to Carla but he had moved right up so he could rest his back on the arm of it. Carla didn't have to be told to join him and within seconds Peter had his arms wrapped right around her and was stroking her hair.

He waited patiently for Carla to begin talking about how things had gone with her and Claire and the more he found out about the night, the more in awe of Carla he was. He was still unable to believe how selfless it was of her to offer to help Claire and when he found out that Carla had even convinced Claire to tell her friends, he was even more in shock because this was something he'd been trying to do for ages.

"So yeah…" Carla said once she had pretty much explained it all, "All in all… I'd say that tonight went really well." Peter gave Carla a tender kiss on the head and held her even closer to him as he said,

"You... are incredible Mrs Barlow."

"Yeah… so ya said earlier." Carla grinned as she put one of her hands up Peter's T-Shirt so that she could rest it on his bare chest.

"Inside and out Carla… I mean it… The strength you ave never fails to amaze me. I've honestly never met anyone like you." Peter said quietly, kissing Carla again but this time raising her head slightly so he could reach her lips.

"Mmmm n you never will." Carla replied smugly but then she looked seriously at Peter and said, "I'm only this strong because of you y'know…"

"Rubbish…" Peter replied but Carla nudged him and said,

"I really mean it darlin, I couldn't have got through tonight if I didn't know I had you to come back to." Peter smiled at Carla and kissed her on the head again before saying,

"I guess we just bring out the best in each other eh?"

"Absolutely." Carla nodded, she took her free hand and found Peter's entwining them as she then asked, "So how was your evening then? How was the movie you watched?"

"Bloody horrible." Peter replied which made Carla giggle as she sat up to face him and ask,

"Was the pun intended?"

"Oh absolutely." Peter said with wide eyes, which made Carla laugh even more. "I won't even get into how disgusting the movie was just be glad you weren't ere to see it."

"Awww my poor baby." Carla teased, poking Peter underneath his T-Shirt before lying down again. "How was the rest of your evening though? Did you ave fun with Si n Santana… did you get a pizza in the end?"

"Yes and we saved you some so don't worry." Peter smirked, Carla did too and laughed before Peter continued, "But yeah, I actually had a really nice evening with Romeo n Juliet, they're actually planning a holiday to Benidorm actually, it's to go on when they turn sixteen."

"Benidorm." Carla scoffed which made Peter laugh this time.

"Yes, we were talking about maybe going on Holiday in the summer…" He nodded, as he continued to stroke Carla's hair. "Simon n Santana actually think it would be really fun to head to one of those really popular tourist destinations… Don't panic though, I did tell Si you'd never be caught dead in some where as tacky as Benidorm."

"Too right." Carla said shaking her head as she lay next to the hand she had rested underneath Peter's T-Shirt. "Although…" She began, her tone of voice softer than before, "I could possibly be talked into something like that… for Simon that is… I'd do anything for that kid y'know."

"Oh I know you would." Peter nodded gently, smiling down at Carla affectionately and adoring the love she had for Simon.

"N you of course…" Carla sighed, kissing Peter on the chest, through his T-Shirt as the song that was currently playing on Peter's speaker system ended. "Ahh… Video Games." Carla said softly, as the opening chords of Lana Del Rey's first single echoed through the flat.

"Perfect eh?" Peter said sighing peacefully as Carla sat up and looked at him properly, she didn't say anything though, instead she just nodded at him because he was right, the song that was currently playing, was perfect for them and rather than talking and interrupting it, they both stayed quiet for the rest of the song.

* * *

_**Sorry for my lack of updates, I hope this pretty long one has made up for it a tiny bit.**_

_**Don't forget to review :)**_


	67. Holiday Plans & Heart Ache

"Alright, before we start this, I just wanna get one thing straight…" Carla said, sat with her feet rested on the coffee table in front of her as Simon sat down next to her holding his laptop. Peter was sat on the armchair adjacent to the sofa and was grinning from ear to ear as Carla continued and firmly said, "No tacky holiday suggestions... I'm a five star kinda girl so classy places only please."

Peter and Simon both laughed at Carla who was happily sat in her Pyjamas with Peter's black fluffy dressing ground on top of them. In fact, Peter and Simon were both wearing their Pyjamas too and after some chit-chat at the breakfast bar, they all decided that there was no time like the present to book a almost last minute summer holiday.

The three of them had never been on a proper family holiday before and the prospect of them all going away somewhere together and sharing new experiences was an extremely exciting one. So much so that Simon had literally rushed into his bedroom for his computer and insisted they sorted it all out this morning.

It was now eleven am on Sunday and as Peter picked up a slice of toast off his plate that he had taken with him to the living room area, an amused Simon shook his head at Carla and said,

"So no Benidorm then?" Peter bit into his buttery toast as Simon clicked onto a few travel websites and he was more than entertained to hear that his Dad was right about how Carla felt about tacky holiday destinations.

"Definitely no Benidorm." Carla nodded, she pulled a face as she spoke and took a bite of the cold Pizza she was eating from last night as Simon laughed at her again. "You can save that for you n Santana's first holiday away together okay?"

"Okay." Simon nodded, "But I reckon you'll regret it one day."

"Oh I doubt that very much Simon." Carla replied smugly, shaking her head as Simon typed again.

"Eh, What's Benidorm ever done to you love?" Peter asked leaning forwards and taking hold of his coffee mug, still grinning foolishly as he was still not used to these delightful family mornings he always had with Simon and Carla. He wasn't used to them yet because at one point he was so sure he'd messed everything up forever, at one point Peter was sure he'd never be this happy again so each time he was sat with Carla and Simon doing normal family activities like this, he always made sure that he counted his blessings.

"Nothin, it's just far too busy for my liking that's all, I mean thousands of people flock to the beaches in Benidorm, it's ridiculous." Carla responded to Peter as Simon stared at the screen in front of him.

"Thousands?" Peter chuckled with an eyebrow raised, "Isn't that a bit of an overstatement?"

"I'm serious Peter, Google it if ya don't believe me, Go on images n all there is, is a sea of pasty people n beach umbrellas. I mean how are you meant to get a decent tan n relax when you've got hundreds n hundreds of people right in your face all the time?"

"Isn't it like that every where in the summer though?" Simon asked with his eyebrows furrowed together, not even beginning to understand where to start with all the holiday offers that were on screen right now.

"No it is not." Carla scoffed, she watched Simon for a moment who laughed again as she said, "Well not where I go on holiday it isn't... and whilst we're on the subject can we try n go with a decent airline too?" Peter rolled his eyes at Carla and then let out an over the top and overly fake cough as he said the word,

"Snob." Simon laughed out loud at this but Carla was far from impressed.

"Oi… I heard that." She cried picking up a cushion from the sofa she and Simon were sat on and throwing it at Peter who snickered and then said,

"Careful love, I've got a hot cup of coffee over ere…" Carla shot him a not so apologetic look as she shook her head and said,

"Hot? I doubt it Peter, you made that like fifteen to twenty minutes ago."

"Lukewarm then." Peter said picking up the cushion Carla had thrown at him and launching it back towards her. She had to duck to avoid being hit square in the face. "Oooh so close." Peter laughed.

"You are so lucky that missed me." Carla cried, putting her slice of pizza down on the plate next to her and giving Peter a dark look.

"Luck had nothing to do with it love, if you hadn't of ducked that would ave been a complete and utter bullseye." He replied whilst Carla was busy picking up the cushion again, a tickled Peter got ready for her to throw it at him again but Simon intervened and put his laptop down on the coffee table.

He had initially thought that separating his Dad and Carla would mean that he wouldn't have to deal with how carried away they could become but it turned out that even being sat a few feet apart didn't stop them from forgetting what they were supposed to be doing and letting their fondness for each other take over.

"Errrr can you not!" Simon cried, reaching over and taking the cushion off Carla who had been mere seconds away from dashing it back towards Peter. Instead she childishly poked her tongue out at Peter who shook his head at her and chuckled at her once more. "Honestly… It's like I'm the parent ere…" Simon tried to sound cross but his face said different and he couldn't help but laugh at Carla and his Dad who eventually nodded at him apologetically and said,

"Sorry, Si…" Peter took a sip off coffee as Simon picked up his laptop again.

"It's okay… I just want to get on with this as quickly as we can… I said I'd meet Junior at the Trafford centre at one thirty… There's some new trainers out we wanna look at." Simon explained.

Carla and Peter both smirked at each other in silence for a moment, thinking over many conversations that they'd had about Simon's friend Junior. Carla was eventually the one who grinned widely and then asked,

"Sorry… we really ave to ask, Why is this kid called Junior?" Peter let out a little laugh because he and Carla really had been wondering this for about a month now, ever since they'd heard about Junior in fact and since then, they'd had heard about him a lot, they just hadn't met him yet.

"Durrr cause he's named after his Dad…" Simon said as if it was totally obvious, looking between Carla and Peter again and rolling his eyes.

"Thought as much." Carla said calmly which made Peter laugh out loud and say,

"Actually love, I think you said that you thought it was his street nickname."

"Errr actually darlin I think I said it _might_ be his street nickname." Carla replied, shooting Peter a slightly irritated look.

"Street nickname?" Simon exclaimed, half laughing as Carla now looked faintly sheepish and said,

"Well I dunno do I? You hear all sorts about kids these days choosing their own nicknames, for all me n your Dad knew this Junior could be one of them."

"Well he's not." Simon said shaking his head still amused at the current conversation he was having with his Dad and Carla. "His Dad is called Theodore n so is he… Sometimes we call him TJ." Carla and Peter both nodded as Simon then laughed again and said, "Anyway who would pick their street name to be Junior?" Carla and Peter both shrugged comically at Simon who shook his head slowly at them again and then said, "Ave you two really been waiting this long to ask?"

"Yes." Said Carla and Peter in unison, they were grinning at each other again and Simon couldn't help but chuckle out loud again and say,

"Oh I can't wait to tell him later…." He knew this would be a funny story to tell later once he had met up with his newest best friend.

"Oi don't you dare." Carla groaned, "He's gonna think we're proper weird." Simon just laughed again and shrugged at Carla who then looked over at Peter.

"Yeah… don't tell him Si… I mean imagine if you invite him round ere one day, how awkward is it going to be if he knows that we were taking the mick out of his name." Peter said but Simon was grinning in a way that told Peter and Carla he would definitely be telling everyone about this conversation later.

"Don't tell him Simon, Don't ruin our rep like that, I mean don't you want your mates to still think we're cool." Peter said with a grin and an accomplished nod.

"Errr who said that me mates think that you're cool?" Simon asked, screwing up his face a little and raising an eyebrow at his parents.

"Santana says we're cool all the time thank you very much, Si." Carla said reaching over and poking Simon in the stomach. He giggled as he batted her away and then she leant closer to him so she could look at his laptop screen to see which holiday website he'd gone on.

"I think she just says that to be polite to be honest." Simon said although he knew that Santana and most of his friends for that matter really seemed to like his Dad and Carla.

The times when Simon had friends over to his flat, Peter and Carla had just been themselves, making jokes and ordering in takeaways because neither of them were really that good at cooking and those evenings always resulted in Simon's mates saying to him the next day at school that he was lucky to have parents like his Dad and Carla.

"Oh yeah?" Peter replied, "Well I'm gonna ask Santana that when I see her next."

"Like she'd say otherwise though Dad?" Simon laughed, shaking his head and then pointing at the laptop screen. "Come on… let's continue with this holiday thing shall we?"

"Maybe we should decide when to actually go on this holiday before we choose where Si." Peter said, leaning back with his cup of coffee and making himself comfortable because he felt as if this decision could take a long time, especially considering how fussy Carla could be when deciding on holidays. "When exactly do you finish school again? End of July?"

"Yeah, it's on the twenty somethin'th but I'd rather go at the end of the holidays, That way I can still cling on to all the good memories of it when I ave to go back to school." Simon said frowning at the thought of having to go back to school even though he hadn't even had finished for the summer yet. He then looked at Carla and then asked, "When did you wanna go Carla?"

"Not too fussed really." Carla shrugged which made Peter snigger and say,

"That's a lie."

"It's not." Carla cried, "I mean yes I said I didn't want to go anywhere tacky but I honestly don't mind other than that, as long as it's hot I'm there."

"So end of August then?" Peter asked smiling at Carla and then saying, "Maybe just before the Bank Holiday or something like that?"

"Sounds good to me…" Carla nodded, she moved up the sofa so she could see the screen of Simon's laptop from where she was sitting instead of having to lean over.

"What's the budget then? Money wise…" Simon asked, scrolling down the screen and looking at some summer getaway offers and seeing that they exceeded over one thousand pounds, Peter looked at Carla for a suggestion but she was already in the middle of saying,

"Oh don't worry about that now Si, Let's just see what's on offer n work out the money stuff afterwards."

"Uh oh." Peter said, watching Carla in amusement.

"What now?" She laughed as she took another bite of cold Pizza. Peter raised an eyebrow at her again and chuckled before saying,

"Let's just make sure this holiday doesn't bankrupt us eh?" Rather than answer Peter, Carla just poked her tongue out at him again as Simon pointed at the screen and said,

"I don't even know where to begin… There are loads of deals but where?" Simon was looking at Peter as he spoke which made Carla raise an eyebrow and say,

"Don't ask him… You know what your Dad is like with travelling, he hates long journeys, he'd be happy just going up to Blackpool or something…" Simon laughed again as Peter frowned at Carla and asked,

"Not that I'm suggesting it for a holiday but what's wrong with Blackpool?"

"Oh god, where do I even start?" Carla replied, shaking her head at Peter.

"Carla Barlow, I love you dearly but you are such a snob." Peter said, as he leant forwards and put his mug back down onto the table.

"Peter Barlow, I love you dearly but if you call me a snob one more time, I will get up off this sofa and make you pay for it." Carla said firmly, although she was staring at Peter with such a fond look that he didn't take her seriously for one moment.

"Oh I'm sure you will..." Peter replied with a saucy wink, Carla giggled and bit into the rest of her pizza whilst Simon frowned slightly at his Dad and Step Mum and said,

"You two are seriously no help."

"Alright, Alright... where do you wanna go Si?" Carla asked with a mouthful of pizza.

"Dunno." Simon shrugged, "Somewhere with stuff to do, really cool water parks or at least somewhere with water sports. Santana went to Spain last year with her Mum n Carmen, she went on one of those Banana boat things and there was an amazing swimming pool that had loads of crazy slides, She even went scuba diving… She said it was the best holiday she's ever been on."

"I like the sound of Scuba diving…" Peter nodded, he had grown really fond of Swimming and any activity where he could get to show a bit of that off pleased him. "Look it up Si." Simon went to start looking up holidays that offered water sports but then he looked at Carla and said,

"Yeah…. but this isn't just about me… I mean _where_ do you two want to go? What sort of things do you look for in a holiday?"

"Hot weather n a decent beach… that's it." Carla said looking over at Peter who nodded, "Oh n decent places to eat of course."

"Yes that's very important Simon… other than that though, I'm not too fussed either." Peter nodded in agreement, "Go on, search some places, choose which ones you like n then me n Carla will take a look."

After ten or so minutes went by, Simon had found a few good holiday deals in places that he felt looked good and he had left them all on screen for Carla and his Dad whilst he'd gone off to start getting ready to meet his friend at the Trafford Centre.

When he returned in the living room about half an hour later he saw that Carla and Peter were both sat on the sofa next to each other and to his surprise they hadn't put the laptop down and decided to focus on each other instead, they were sat staring at the screen in concentration, looking as if they were putting a lot of thought into the holiday they were about to book.

"So… did ya find somewhere then?" He asked, sitting down in an all black, sports tracksuit with a black cap on and matching black trainers. Carla and Peter both looked at him and then did a double take.

"Woah, what's with all the black?" Peter asked when he looked at Simon properly, "You look like a street version of the grim reaper." Peter laughed quietly at his own joked but Simon remained straight faced.

"Oh ignore him Si…" Carla began, nodding at him approvingly because she always liked to wear all black. "I reckon you look dead cool."

"Thanks." Simon smiled as he sat down on the armchair his Dad had been sat on earlier. "So… what's the verdict on this holiday thing then? Where are we going?"

"Well we've been looking at all the hotels you've picked out n the one we like the look of the most is in Skiathos… That's in Greece." Peter said nodding.

"Greece…" Simon nodded back, "I think mate of mine has been there… He was saying he rode Jet-skis n stuff whilst he was out there… it sounded dead good."

"Oh it's better than good…" Carla said with wide eyes, "This hotel we've found looks absolutely gorgeous." She handed Simon the laptop and she and Peter watched as he scanned the hotel on the screen.

"Wow… it looks well posh…" Simon said nodding in agreement, deciding that the place Carla and his Dad had chosen looked stunning and like somewhere he really wanted to go.

"Well posh but not well expensive which is good... and they do have loads of water sports you can do there which look like a lot of fun." Peter said as Simon handed them back the laptop, he looked at Carla who started scrolling through the website and then said, "So are we leaning towards Greece then?"

"Definitely." Carla nodded, smiling at Simon who looked enthusiastic too. Then they both looked at Peter who raised an eyebrow and said,

"Right then…. Let's look a bit more into this hotel shall we?"

* * *

An hour and three coffee's later and Peter, Carla and Simon had completely booked their holiday. They were going to be travelling to Greece on Sunday the twenty first of August and coming back the Sunday afterwards. After much deliberation and after Peter and Carla had a mini disagreement over who got to pay for the trip, It was all sorted and paid for by almost one pm in the afternoon.

"All done." Peter nodded, looking triumphantly at Simon and then at Carla who also looked very excited.

"Yay!" She cried with her hands in the air.

"Amazing." Simon nodded with glee, "Thanks Dad, Thanks Carla." He said because after everything, they had both agreed to go halves on the trip in the end.

"You're welcome." Carla said as Peter closed Simon's laptop. "Uh I actually can't wait." Simon nodded as he looked over at the clock but then he saw the time and it made him practically jump up and say,

"Sorry guys but I've got to go. It's one o clock…" He picked up his mobile phone off the coffee table and looked apologetically between his Dad and Step Mother because he didn't want it to seem as if now he had got a holiday out of them, he was ready to leave them alone.

"It's fine Si… just ave a good time won't ya?" Peter said, "Are you gonna eat out or do you want us to wait for you before we get dinner?"

"Erm… I'm not sure but I was thinking I'd stay at me Mum's tonight, I asked at the Bistro and she's not working tonight so I'll probably stay over n spend some time with her." Simon replied as he picked up his black backpack that he'd gotten ready earlier.

"Oh alright then." Peter said as Carla smiled softly and said,

"Awww that's really nice Si…" Both her and Peter were glad Simon made the effort to spend time with Leanne and it seemed that even though he had moved out he actually spent more time with her now than he ever did.

"Yeah… just make sure you let us know if your plans change okay?" Peter said, with a look of warning. He remembered the time Simon had said he was going to stay at his Mum's and had secretly invited his girlfriend round to the flat when his Dad and Carla weren't there so they could both be alone.

Simon remembered it too and remembered how his Dad had walked in on him and Santana kissing, He remembered how he had felt as if that was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life and so he just nodded at his Dad quickly and said,

"Of course I will." Before walking back over to the sofa, he gave Carla and his Dad and hug goodbye and then said, "Thanks again for the holiday." Before leaving them alone.

"You're never going to let him forget that are ya?" Carla smirked, shaking her head at Peter who nodded and said,

"Never… in fact I might mention it at their wedding."

"Aww... do ya think Si n Santana are gonna stay together forever then?" Carla asked with a soft smile, finding it odd to talk about Simon getting married because in her eyes he was still a little kid.

"I hope so." Peter nodded, "I mean I know most men would probably prefer their son's play the field a bit but I know how perfect things can become when you settle down properly… n I want Si to ave that… I really want Si to ave what we ave."

"Awww…" Carla nodded admiringly, "That's sweet baby."

"So…" Peter said smirking as Carla put both feet up on the end of the sofa so that her legs hung over his. "You looking forward to our holiday then?"

"Yep." Carla nodded, "I'm soooo excited… In my mind I'm already shopping for it n everythin."

"Yeah I can imagine…" Peter nodded, he turned his body slightly and gently moved Carla's legs apart so that suddenly he was sat in between them rather than underneath them.

"Do ya fancy going real shopping?" Carla asked although as Peter moved closer to her, she knew what he was after and a shopping trip was not it. "After all… August is only two months away…" Peter's head was now only a few centimetres from hers as she spoke and after he kissed her lightly on the lips she then whispered, "It'll fly by."

"I am so not going holiday shopping with you Carla Barlow…" Peter said shaking his head as Carla put her arms around his neck. "You'll ave me traipsing round the shops n carrying your bags for hours n hours on end."

"Oh come on baby." Carla moaned lightly, "Now this holidays booked I've got shopping on the brain…" She grinned at Peter who didn't look like he'd be swayed on the shopping front as he hovered almost above her and then said, "You can help me pick out some bikinis if you want… n I'll try em on for you when we get back ere…"

"Hmmm…" Peter sighed peacefully, looking as if he had weakened a little, "As tempting as that sounds… I still don't fancy a shopping trip… not today at least…"

"Owwwh." Carla groaned, pouting a little as Peter sat before her, she couldn't stay mad for too long and after Peter lightly kissed her again she said, "Speaking of holiday prep… I reckon we should hit the gym later?"

"Eh are you saying I'm fat?" Peter asked, pretended to be offended and it was his turn to pout now.

"Don't be ridiculous…" Carla laughed, poking Peter in the stomach and then teasing him by saying, "Although now I think about it…"

"Ha ha." Peter said, shaking his head and poking Carla back as she looked serious now and said,

"Don't act like you didn't say you'd come with me to the gym when I asked you this morning."

"I'm not…" Peter grinned again at Carla as he gently undid the dressing gown that she was wearing. "However…" Carla laughed an extremely dirty laugh as Peter moved even closer to her, knowing what was coming next as he said, "We can get a decent workout… right... ere…"

* * *

Carla and Peter never made it to the gym… However they did make it to the Rover's Return Pub that evening and as they walked in to the pub at six pm, they saw Steve stood in one corner of the pub with Michelle by his side and with her hands on her hips. She didn't look too pleased at all but Steve looked thrilled on the other hand and as Carla and Peter approached them, they laughed at Michelle's expression as she then said,

"I can't believe I'm even agreeing to this..."

"Agreeing to what?" Carla asked, nudging Michelle in the side gently.

"Hi babe." Michelle smiled when she saw Carla but then she frowned at Peter who was rather taken aback and said,

"What's that look for eh? What ave I done?"

"I know it were you who talked him in to this." Michelle said, pointing at an empty space on the wall in the corner of the pub.

"Into what?" Peter asked as Carla looked amused.

"This is where the TV is going." Steve said excitedly.

"Tv? Oh... For the footie… amazing... Nice one mate." Peter said, patting Steve on the back as Carla frowned, Peter read her and Michelle's expressions and then added, "And I didn't talk Steve into this at all... I just… supported his decision."

"Oh god really Chelle? I can't believe you said yes." Carla said, shaking her head.

"How could I not? I mean it will be really good for business… I spose." Michelle said with a sigh, She put her hands on her stomach and rubbed her bump as she said, "Uh you two... See what you've done... I aven't even got the patience to argue with Daddy anymore." Carla and Peter both smiled at her as she spoke down towards her tummy and Steve leant over and gave Michelle a quick kiss before saying,

"I love you."

"Yeah yeah… I know ya do." Michelle smiled, she then looked at Peter and Carla and said, "Let me get you both a drink eh?" The three of them walked over to the bar and left Steve to measure how much space there was for this television and as Michelle walked around to the serving side of the bar, Peter asked her,

"How are you doing today Michelle?" He hadn't seen her for a few days but he was sure that she looked as if her stomach had grown considerably since then.

"Yeah…" She nodded slowly as she went to get Carla's favourite wine. "I'm alright, Just starting to get really tired that's all and me back hurts but it'll all be worth it in the end."

"Absolutely." Carla nodded, smiling at her best friend proudly as she took off her leather jacket. Michelle handed her a glass of red wine and then said to Peter,

"Orange juice?"

"Yes please." Peter nodded, he put an arm around Carla's middle as Michelle went to pour his juice, he kissed her softly on the cheek just as Tracy approached them.

"Evening you two." She said, rolling her eyes at how loved up they looked but staying put next to them all the same.

"Hi Tracy." Carla said as Peter nodded at his sister with a smile. "You alright?"

"Yeah…" She sighed, "I just had to get out of next door… Dad had Audrey round, I felt like a right gooseberry in me own home."

"Oh." Carla said, nodding understandingly as Peter rolled his own eyes and said,

"Let us get you a drink Tracy, what do ya want?"

"I'll ave a large glass of red thanks." Tracy said smugly, as Michelle returned with Peter's orange juice, he then ordered Tracy's wine and after Tracy was given it, Michelle said to Carla and Peter,

"So what ave you two done with your selves today…" She then paused as she looked at Peter's arm which was still wrapped around Carla's waist and said, "As if I ave to ask eh?"

"Actually… We booked a holiday." Carla said smiling excitedly at Michelle.

"Well it's alright for some." Tracy said jealously, Carla and Peter ignored her as Michelle looked intrigued said,

"Oh really? Where?"

"Greece." Peter said, giving Carla a little squeeze because he could tell how excited she was.

"Ohhh lovely, Greece is supposed to be stunning, where abouts in Greece?" Michelle asked leaning on the bar slightly to ease the pain of her back.

"Skiathos." Pete replied in his best version of a Greek accent, Michelle and Carla both raised their eyebrows at him whilst Tracy tutted loudly before saying,

"Don't ever do that again bro."

"It weren't that bad was it." Peter chuckled and when Carla and Michelle both nodded, Tracy then laughed silently and said,

"See." Michelle then gasped and her eyes went wide as she said,

"Hang on… isn't Skiathos near where they filmed Mamma Mia?"

"Yep." Carla nodded eagerly, "It is."

'Okay I'm officially jealous now. I've wanted to go there ever since I've seen the movie, it looks like paradise." Michelle moaned.

"There's this boat we can get there from a beach near our hotel…" Carla said excitedly. "Although Si reckons he doesn't want to go and will spend that day alone listening to music."

"He is not doing that by the way." Peter said, shaking his head.

"Awww Si's going too?" Michelle said smiling.

"Of course he is." Carla beamed, "It's going to be a proper family holiday."

"Too right." Peter nodded proudly, getting more and more excited about the holiday the more he thought about it.

"When are you two going then?" Michelle asked.

"August twenty first." Peter said but then Carla realised just when that date was, it was just before Michelle's due date and she hadn't even realised until just now.

"Which means you better not ave them babies until we get back." Carla said, pointing to Michelle's ever growing stomach.

"Oh I'll try." Michelle nodded, looking down at her stomach again and saying, "Can't ave them being born without their godparents around eh?"

"Definitely not." Peter said with a proud grin.

"Hang on…" Tracy said amused pointing at Carla and Peter, "You're telling me that you n Steve ave picked those two for Godparents?"

"Yes." Michelle said irritatedly, "Not that it has anything to do with you of course."

"Aren't you supposed to pick people who are good role models though?" Tracy asked, although she was smiling and making it clear that she was joking with Peter and Carla.

"Oi... we are good role models." Peter said but Carla laughed quietly and said,

"Or we will be by the time the twins arrive."

The banter in the pub continued as Carla, Peter, Michelle and Tracy all chatted together at the bar. They talked about the holiday Carla and Peter had booked and about Michelle's pregnancy but an hour or so later when Peter had gone out back for a cigarette, Zeedan appeared in the pub with his Dad.

Kal sat down at a table and Zeedan looked so miserable when approached the bar and ordered some Lemonades, that Carla simply had to intervene.

"Hey… what you doing in ere?" She asked because unless it was a special occasion or event night, Zeedan and his family weren't seen in the Pub too often because they didn't drink alcohol.

"Trying to hide from my Gran." Zeedan said sighing and leaning on the bar next to Carla.

"She still trying to set you up with that girl then?" Carla asked casually, finishing the wine that was in her glass.

"Errr yeah." Zeedan said, slightly shocked and touched that Carla had remembered what he had told her last month at Peter's birthday party. "She invited her for dinner n everything."

"When?" Carla asked amused.

"Today… She just left now actually." Zeedan said, although he wasn't smiling at all.

"Wow… what's she like then?" Carla asked intrigued.

"She's great… really smart… pretty…" Zeedan began but he shrugged again and made Carla frown.

"But…?" She asked curiously.

"But… I'm not interested in her like that." Zeedan answered nervously, licking his lips anxiously and wishing he wasn't having this conversation was happening right now.

"So just tell your Gran that then." Carla said as if it was all that easy. Zeedan raised an eyebrow at her in a way that made her understand instantly and then he said,

"I dunno… maybe I should just go out with her a few times… maybe then I will start to feel something for her."

"No." Carla said shaking her head adamantly, thinking way back to when she had began dating Frank Foster even though she was hopelessly in love with Peter. "Don't do that… you'll only string her along and that's not fair… plus I've been there, I've done the whole dating someone else in the hope that they'll distract me from the person I actually want n believe me Zee, it doesn't work." Zeedan paused for a moment, a little loss for words and then he went over what Carla had said to him and asked her,

"Who... who said I liked someone else?"

"No one…" Carla smirked, "But I can tell, I can see it in your eyes… It's written all over ya face. So go on then, Who is it?" Carla nudged Zeedan in the side with her elbow and grinned at him as she eagerly asked, "Do I know her? Does she live around ere?"

"No." Zeedan said quickly, shaking his head because he couldn't bear it if she knew who he was really hung up on, he'd be so embarrassed if she ever found out… she couldn't find out… not ever.

"Okay." Carla nodded slowly, "Well… whoever she is, I'm sure she'd be thrilled to know that you're interested in her... You're a really good guy Zee… I think you should tell her how you feel."

"There's no point…" Zeedan said with a unhappy sigh, "She's... She's with someone already… So…"

"Oh…" Carla said, sounding disappointed and shaking her head. "I'm sorry…"

"It's fine." Zeedan said as Michelle put two Lemonades in front of him, he handed her the money for the drinks and then said to Carla, "Honestly… I'm fine." He watched Carla closely and could tell that she looked genuinely saddened to hear that this woman he liked was taken.

"Well… if it helps… I've also been there too." Carla eventually said, "Falling for someone who's already in a relationship is torture… I feel for you kid, I really do." Carla reached out and gently touched Zeedan on the back as she spoke to offer him some comfort.

"What did you do in the end then?" Zeedan asked curiously, watching Carla intently, "How did you get over this person?" Carla grinned at Zeedan and raised an eyebrow as she nodded towards someone and said,

"I didn't, I married him." Zeedan turned his head to see that Carla was looking and practically beaming at Peter who was making his way back to the bar.

"Oh…" He said quietly, smiling as best as he could as Peter stopped to talk to Steve who was at the other end of the bar.

"I know that doesn't help…" Carla said apologetically and delicately, "I were really lucky that Peter felt the same way as me in the end."

"Yeah I know…" Zeedan nodded, "Don't worry I'm not naive enough to believe that I'm even in with a chance with this woman." He looked back at Carla who with a hopeful expression on her face said,

"Well ya never know…" But Zeedan was already shaking his head at Carla. He remembered the way she had smiled when she saw Peter enter the room again and said, "No… There's no way… I'm so sure of it... They're really happy together n besides, She's way too good for me anyways."

"Ohhhh don't Zee, You're making my heart ache ere." Carla said, wanting to reach out and hug him but he'd already picked up his Lemonades and said,

"I better get back to me Dad…" He looked around the pub and at Peter who was walking towards Carla and then said, "Could you… not tell anyone what I was saying yeah?"

"Course not." Carla nodded slowly and she smiled at Zeedan as he began to walk over to his Dad.

"You alright love?" Peter asked, gently touching Carla on the back and standing next to her at the bar.

"Fine." Carla nodded, smiling at Peter genuinely even though she still felt really bad for Zeedan. She leant in and kissed him tenderly on the cheek before she enticingly asked, "Should we get another drink or go home n make the most of an empty flat before Si get's back."

"The second option is definitely the most tempting one…" Peter began with a smirk, "Although I got a text from Simon outside, he is going to stay at Leanne's tonight after all… so there's really no rush." He sensually rubbed Carla's lower back which made her tingle inside and say,

"Ohhh well in that case… should we go n get some dinner somewhere nice in town then?"

"Didn't you just go out to dinner last night?" Peter asked, although he definitely wanted dinner in town with Carla.

"I did." She nodded but she raised an eyebrow at Peter and then said, "However there is no decent food back at the flat n for what I've got in mind… we're going to need all the energy that we can get."

"Mmmm that is very true." Peter nodded, moving closer to Carla and giving her a quick kiss on the back of her neck.

"So unless you fancy cooking... town sounds like the best option really doesn't it?" Carla said quietly, smiling because she knew there was no way that Peter wanted to start cooking tonight. "Well?"

"Put your jacket on." Peter impatiently ordered and sure enough, Carla grabbed her leather jacket off the side of the bar.

* * *

After a fun day with his friends, Simon got to his Mum's flat at almost half seven on Sunday evening. He'd spent most of his afternoon at the shopping centre where him and his mates got dinner and had spent some time in the bowling alley there too. After booking the holiday with Carla and his Dad in the morning He was in an extremely good mood.

Simon genuinely felt as if his life right now was perfect and couldn't wait to fill Leanne in on all he'd done today and his holiday plans. He'd packed his backpack earlier on in the morning before leaving his Dad's flat and he thought it would be a nice surprise for his Mum if he just turned up out of the blue. He hadn't felt the need to ask her because he knew she'd be home, after all he'd asked Steph at the Bistro and he knew she wasn't working tonight.

Simon was the one who got the surprise in the end.

He let himself into Leanne's building and happily ran up the stairs, excited to see how pleased she'd be to see him walk through the door, only when Simon finally let himself in to the flat he found his Mum couldn't possibly see him.

She couldn't see him because she was far too busy… too busy because she was in a passionate embrace with Nick Tilsley.


	68. Anger & Disappointment

An agitated and angry Simon had been sat silently at the breakfast table in his Dad's flat for almost an hour now. He had been sat there since almost seven am, which was very unusual because Simon normally didn't surface from his bed until seven forty five at the earliest.

He was drinking a cup of coffee when his Dad and Carla walked into the kitchen hand in hand. They were both already dressed smartly for work as they sat at the breakfast bar and were highly surprised to see that Simon was already dressed too, he'd normally stay in his Pyjamas until he absolutely had to get dressed.

Peter started to make some toast for everyone even though Carla had said she wasn't hungry and just wanted a coffee and at first they made general chit chat with each other and they tried their best to include Simon in it too.

Carla spoke about something that was going on at work and Peter spoke about a meeting he had this afternoon at work and also about tonight's AA meeting. He spoke about how he was oddly looking forward to it but Simon stayed quiet and barley even joined in.

He just sat still with his head in his hands and tried to figure out what he was going to do about last night. The image of his Mum and Nick kissing swirled around his brain and he hadn't been able to get it out of his mind for hours and hours now.

At first, Peter and Carla were so busy talking about the busy days that they had ahead of them that they didn't even realise how odd Simon was behaving. In fact, it was only after Peter leant in and gave Carla a rather passionate kiss that they both realised just how much Simon wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to them, normally he'd screw up his face and tell his parents to get a room when he saw them kiss like that but as he didn't even raise an eyebrow at them, Carla and Peter both looked concerned.

"You okay Si?" Peter frowned, leaning forwards slightly and looking at his son closely.

"Yeah…" Simon replied although he didn't look the slightest bit okay, his eyes were slightly red and he had dark circles underneath them because he'd been up for most the night worrying about what was going to happen next.

"You sure?" Carla asked with her head on one side, watching Simon as well as his Dad. "I mean you ave been acting a little off since you came home last night."

After walking in on Leanne and Nick kissing on the sofa last night, Simon had very quickly decided that he obviously couldn't stay there. Neither Leanne nor Nick had noticed that Simon was there at first and he could have let it stay that way… only he didn't… he couldn't.

Instead Simon let anger and disappointment take over, instead of quietly sneaking away, he ended up shouting right out loud and making his presence more than known. Of course, Leanne and Nick sprung apart and were full of all sorts of explanations but Simon didn't want to hear them.

All he cared about was that his Mother was having an affair with Santana's Mother's boyfriend. How on earth was he going to break this kind of news when he knew that Juliana was blissfully happy.

Leanne and Nick both started blurting ouch cliché lines such as,

_"__It was a mistake…"_

_"__It just happened…"_ and _"It won't happen again." _

They also begged Simon not to say anything to anyone but it wasn't long before he ended up just storming right out of his Mum's flat and heading back towards his Dad's flat instead.

Upon arriving to his other home, Simon found his Dad and Carla lying snuggled up together on the sofa underneath a thin blanket. They were in the middle of watching a series on Netflix when Simon burst in on them and his sudden appearance made them both jump.

Earlier on that day, Simon had told Peter and Carla he was sleeping over at Leanne's, so of course they were very surprised to see him standing in the doorway looking rather stunned and rather upset.

For a moment, Simon thought about telling them, he thought about letting it all come out and telling his Dad and Carla what he had seen but when he took another look at how cosy and comfortable they looked, he went against it.

At the risk of ruining their night, Simon just lied to his parents. He said he changed his mind about staying over at Leanne's and he was so convincing that Peter and Carla let him go into his bedroom without asking him any more about the situation.

The next morning however, Peter and Carla were both watching Simon looking highly worried and he knew his current mood wouldn't let him stay quiet for very long.

"I'm fine…" He sighed. Half of him wanted to tell his Dad and Carla about his Mum and Nick but the other half made him want to keep quiet on the matter so he didn't have to face up to what had happened... Not yet anyway. "I was just up really late last night that's all…"

"Oh yeah?" Peter asked suspiciously, picking up his coffee mug to take a sip. He raised an eyebrow as he then asked, "On the Xbox all night again were ya?" Simon's phone buzzed on the table in front of him and as he looked down he saw that there was a text from Santana.

The sight of Santana's name on his screen made him feel sick because he imagined having to tell her what he witnessed last night. Not only would she be devastated to hear that her Mother was getting cheated on but she would hear that it was Leanne that Nick was doing the cheating with.

"Errr yeah…" Simon said, getting up off the stool he was sat on without even opening the text message from Santana and quickly saying, "I… better get going for school." He then headed towards his bedroom to get his backpack before his Dad and Carla could say anything else to him.

"Do you believe him?" Carla asked, leaning on Peter slightly.

"Nope." Peter replied shaking his head and narrowing his eyes. Then there was a sudden knock at the door, one that neither Peter nor Carla were expecting. They both looked confused because no one normally visited the flat at this time of the morning, Peter gave Carla a playful nudge as he said to her, "Go n get that will ya?"

"Why me?" Carla asked, sliding off the stool with half a smirk, "It's officially your flat." She added on her way to the front door. Peter grinned at Carla as she raised a hand to open the door.

"Where is he?" Leanne said, practically bursting into Peter's flat uninvited, looking frantic as she almost pushed past a very unimpressed Carla.

"Erm, Good Morning to you too Leanne." Carla said dryly, folding both her arms as Peter got up from the breakfast bar with a mouthful of toast and asked,

"Oi… what's going on?"

"Simon, where is he?" Leanne asked, she went to walk forwards towards Simon's bedroom door but Peter stopped her from going further forwards by gently placing a hand on Leanne's shoulder and saying,

"Lea… calm down… what's happened?" Carla was still frowning at Leanne for her rather abrupt entrance to the flat.

"Nothing's happened…" Leanne began, shaking her head and trying her best to act calm although she was failing to do so. "I just wanna speak to Simon… … Simon!" Carla rolled her eyes at Leanne's slightly erratic behaviour as Peter frowned even more and said,

"He's getting ready for school Leanne, can't it wait?"

"No it can't… Simon come ere!" Leanne cried again, raising her voice, which didn't help the situation.

"Leanne I really think you need to calm ya self down a bit." Carla said with a raised eyebrow.

"N I really think you should mind ya own business." Leanne snapped. Carla's eyebrow rose even high and as her hands went to her hips, Simon appeared.

"What?" He scowled, his tone surprising both Carla and Peter who looked between him and Leanne.

"Can I please talk to you Simon?" Leanne asked, smiling nervously at him. She then looked back at a still annoyed Carla and concerned Peter before saying, "In Private?"

"Private?" Simon said with an eyebrow raised, "If you ave anything to say you can say in front of me Dad n Carla… that's if I actually wanted to talk to you of course… which I don't, so you can leave now." Simon said bluntly.

"Si…" Peter said because his son's tone was so shocking even he found it out of order. "Don't speak to your Mum like that."

"Oh yeah right, Some Mother she is!" Simon shouted, going back into his bedroom.

"Si…" Leanne cried she went to walk forwards but Peter had guessed that something serious must have been going on, he stepped in front of Leanne and then said,

"Look Lea, I think Si's made it very clear he doesn't want to speak to you right now… maybe you should try again later." Peter said calmly.

"I don't want to try again later… I wanna talk to him now" Leanne said shaking her head desperately, Carla still had both hands on her hips as Simon left his bedroom with his jacket and backpack on.

"Uh you still ere? Ave I not made me self clear?" He snarled, shaking his head at Leanne in anger.

"Si, I've already told you not to speak to your Mum like that." Peter said sternly. Simon had a lot he wanted to say but he simply couldn't, he just gave Carla a quick kiss on the cheek and then began to walk towards the front door as he said,

"I'm going to school… Bye Dad, Bye Carla." Simon didn't even glance at Leanne as he spoke and he didn't hesitate before he opened the door in front of him, he left the flat in a hurry before Leanne could say anything else to him.

"What the hell happened?" Peter asked, staring at Leanne who had tears in her eyes. It was clear something had happened but Leanne still lied,

"Nothing…" She said.

"Oh somethin's flamin happened..." Carla remarked, she knew it would irritate Leanne but didn't care because she couldn't hold her tongue for much longer, the look on Simon's face when he spoke showed Carla that he was seriously hurting and that it was obviously due to something that Leanne had done.

"Don't get involved Carla." Leanne sighed again, rolling her eyes at her.

"Erm it's hard not to get involved when you storm in ere like a flamin whirlwind in the early hours of the morning." Carla replied, hating how Leanne was starting to give her attitude when they had both been getting along rather well recently.

"Oh please this isn't even your flat." Leanne scoffed but Peter's response beat Carla's.

"It's as good as." He said getting angry now, frowning at Leanne and folding his arms. Carla couldn't help but grin smugly at Peter's comment as he continued, "Now I don't know what has gone on between you n Simon but you can't just come in ere n get him wound up before school, look at the mood he's gone in… He's gonna ave a dreadful day now."

"Yes well I'm really sorry about that Peter…" Leanne sighed, sniffing as she walked towards the front door. "Just tell Simon I said I'm sorry… okay."

"What for?" Peter asked as Leanne just opened the door in front of her. She didn't look back as she walked out and Peter took a deep breath because he hated the thought of not knowing what had gone on between Simon and his Mum and he also hated the thought of Simon going to school in this terrible mood.

Carla reached over to the kitchen counter and picked up her phone as Peter closed the door, which Leanne had left open. She hit dial on Simon's number and waited patiently for him to answer.

Eventually Simon picked up the phone with a very gruff sounding,

"I'm okay." Carla looked at Peter as she put Simon on loudspeaker and said,

"You sure?"

"Yes." Simon replied.

"Simon come back ere n tell us what happened." Peter ordered.

"No Dad…" Came Simon's voice, he was on the bus already and was sat amongst some of his classmates as he spoke.

"Do as your told Si!" Peter shouted but Carla shook her head and said,

"Peter he can't miss school."

"And he can't go in like that either..." Peter replied.

"I'm fine." Simon said, sounding as if he was trying very hard to act fine. "I promise..."

"I still want you to come home n tell me what is going on between you n your Mum." Peter said irritatedly, leaning in and speaking loudly into the phone that Carla had in hand.

"Dad I can't." Simon tutted. "I can't just miss school for no reason… besides you n Carla ave to go to work soon anyways."

"Then just tell us on the phone Si." Carla suggested, leaning forwards slightly and putting an arm around Peter's middle because she could see that he was starting to get stressed out.

Simon glanced around the bus and knew that there was no way he was about to get into the dirty details about what had happened last night.

"I can't… it's not really something I wanna talk about on the bus… or at all for that matter… At least right now anyways…" Simon said, "I'm gonna be fine Dad… Okay. I'll see you later."

"Simon…" Peter said quickly but then Simon very quickly said goodbye and hung up the phone. Peter took in another long intake of breath and shook his head as Carla put her phone down and said,

"Okay…" She put both arms around Peter this time and looked at him in the eyes as she said, "Ere's… what's gonna happen… We're both gonna go to work n I'm gonna leave work early cause I know you can't today due to your big meeting. I'm gonna pick Si up from school… I'll talk to him… see if he'll tell me a bit about what's gone on."

"Yeah…" Peter said with another sigh, Carla watched him for a moment and then said,

"Or not… if you want me to wait for you before I speak to h-"

"No." Peter replied quickly, "It's not that at all… It's just… I hate the idea of something going on with Si without us knowing about it."

"Me too baby… me too." Carla said, stroking the back of Peter's neck lovingly. "But I'm sure he'll tell us when he's ready… What ever it is I'm sure it's nothing dangerous… Si n Leanne ave probably just had a bad argument that's all… Everything's going to be fine…"

"I hope so…"Peter nodded, he took another deep breath before leaning in and giving Carla a soft kiss on the lips. "You sure you don't want anything to eat? We still ave time to go to Roy's for a bacon balm?"

"No, I told ya, I'm not hungry…" She then smirked suggestively at Peter and reached around so she could give him a playful smack on the bottom. "Not for food anyway…"

"Oh…" Peter grinned, "I see…" He chuckled as Carla left a wet kiss on the side of his neck and then said, "Well… we still ave time for that too…"

"Exactly what I was thinkin…" Carla said with her lips still pressed against his skin and with that, they both headed back towards the bedroom with Peter laughing and saying,

"I ave no idea why we bother getting dressed so early…"

* * *

After an extremely tiresome day, Simon couldn't have been happier to walk out of school at three fifteen. He walked straight out of his last lesson of the day, which was Maths as soon as the teacher dismissed everyone and he went so quickly he didn't even wait for his friends like he usually did.

He put his headphones in as soon as he'd got the chance, deciding he'd walk home from school so he could just have some peace with his music but as he actually walked out of the school gates, he saw something and someone familiar parked outside.

"Alright Si?" Carla asked, she was sat in the driver's seat of her very shiny and very expensive black car and her windows were rolled down as Simon approached her.

"What are you doing ere?" He asked, pulling out his headphones with half a smile, raising an eyebrow at Carla because he knew she was picking him up from school because she was worried about what had happened this morning.

"Came to pick you up didn't I?" Carla smiled, watching Simon to see if he had cheered up yet, he didn't look as if he was completely back to normal but he looked considerably better than he had done this morning.

"You're not supposed to park ere ya know?" Simon grinned, knowing the school forbid parents to park right outside the gates because it used to cause traffic build up and because it was potentially dangerous.

"Oh yeah?" Carla asked shrugging, "N who's gonna stop me?"

"Normally there's a teacher out ere… giving everyone who parks ere a grilling." Simon said, looking around him, surprised to see a teacher hadn't made it out yet.

"Please..." Carla scoffed, she smirked at Simon and then rolled her eyes as she said, "Come on then, get in."

"Thanks for coming..." Simon smiled, he walked around the back of Carla's car and got in it, thankful that she'd had made the effort to pick him up and thankful that she truly cared about him in this way. "Dad not with ya then?" He asked, as he pulled his seatbelt on. He'd remembered his Dad's tone this morning and knew that he'd worried him.

"Nah he's got an important meeting at the mo…" Carla said, starting the ignition, she had to wait a while before she could even move because the road was suddenly so full of school kids who were too busy chatting and messing about to realise that someone was trying to drive nearby them. "Move!" Carla cried out of the window, impatiently honking her horn and tutting as some of the school kids comically ran out of the way of her car even though she was driving rather slowly.

Simon chuckled as some of the kids looked amused, some looked angry and some looked impressed as Carla rolled her eyes again, she beeped her horn again and eventually managed to manoeuvre her way out of the crowds of teenagers and get back onto the main roads before one of the teachers could make it to her car to tell her off for parking where she shouldn't.

"Idiots." Carla sighed but Simon just laughed again and said,

"That's why you're not supposed to park there." Carla just rolled her eyes again and kept them on the road as she chose to change the subject and say,

"Never mind all that… how was your day then?"

"Rubbish." Simon sighed, he stared out of the window as Carla drove in the direction of home, he knew exactly what she was going to ask next.

"So what was all that about this morning with your Mum then?" Simon didn't answer Carla at first so after a few moments of silence and once she'd got to a red light, Carla glanced at Simon compassionately and said, "Look Si… if you don't want to tell me… I'd understand. Maybe you just wanna tell your Dad, I get it… I just want to know that you're going to be okay."

"I do want to tell you." Simon said almost instantly, not wanting Carla to think that he didn't trust her, "It's just I'm enjoying not talking about it… Makes it not feel as real that way."

"Okay…" Carla responded she smiled at Simon softly before returning her gaze to the road and then saying, "How about we wait until we get home then eh?" Simon nodded at Carla and it wasn't even ten minutes until Carla was parking in the car park of her building.

Simon opened the door and climbed out as Carla's phone started ringing from her jacket pocket. She pulled it out and then rolled her eyes when she saw that it was someone from Underworld calling her even though she had been asked not to be disturbed for the rest of the day.

"Honestly…" She muttered before she pressed answer on her phone and then said, "Yes?"

Simon watched as Carla began talking to one of her employee's and it soon became clear that something had gone wrong because Carla tutted and said,

"Well how the hell did that happen? I told you I were going to be busy this afternoon didn't I? I can't just come in I've got plans…"

"Yeah you can." Simon said but Carla shook her head adamantly at him so he then added, "I'll come too…"

"Hang on Sally…" Carla said, covering the receiver of her phone and then saying to Simon, "Are you sure Si?"

"Yeah, I'm sure whatever it is won't take long… I've got some homework I can get on with whilst I wait." Simon said nodding and looking as if he really and truly didn't mind. Carla nodded back at him appreciatively and then went back on the phone to tell Sally she'd be back at the factory within minutes.

As Carla got to work finding out exactly what had gone wrong with a very important order, Simon went into her office and sat down at her desk. As he pulled out his Maths book so he could make a start on his homework, he wondered what his Mum, Leanne was doing right now.

He wondered if she was maybe with Nick again or if she was with Kal who was her actual boyfriend. He wondered how long his Mum and Nick had been cheating on their other halves for and for a while he had begun to wish he had stuck around last night for some more information.

Simon didn't have to wait much longer to find out what his Mum was up to, She walked through the factory doors at almost four forty five pm and called out his name louder than he'd heard it in a very long time.

All of Carla's employees, including her self looked up from what they were doing and Simon knew if he didn't do something quick he'd end up having to talk to his Mum again.

Carla had been stood reading over an email on the company Ipad when Leanne walked in and as she put it down on Sinead's workstation she sighed. She then took a glance at her office, which looked seemingly empty and guessed that Simon was still not in the mood to speak to his Mother so Carla folded her arms as Leanne approached her and said,

"He's not ere." The tone of Carla's voice was enough to make every single one of her employees know that they weren't to say otherwise even though they had seen her lead Simon over to her office with her hands on his shoulders almost an hour ago. Carla had gotten into such a bad mood since arriving to the factory everyone knew that she wouldn't take to kindly to being interrupted. "In fact I don't know where he is."

"I don't believe ya?" Leanne asked, not looking so convinced, "I've been sat outside Peter's place since three fifteen waiting for him to come home so I could speak to him and since there was no show I decided to phone up Juliana… she said he's not round hers and he's not got any after school clubs on a Monday so he must be with you."

"He's not…" Carla replied coolly, her eyebrow was raised but she was starting to feel bad because it genuinely looked as if Leanne wanted to speak to Simon about something, especially for her to wait outside Peter's flat for hours on end.

"I still don't believe ya…" Leanne said anxiously with her hands on her hips, staring around the factory and starting to realise that there really was no sign of Simon anywhere.

"What?" Carla said, letting out a little laugh before shaking her head.

"I spoke to Tyrone outside n he said he saw Si come in ere with you earlier, I mean I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you've stood there n lied to me face, You've had a lot of practice at that avent ya? Especially where Peter n Si are concerned."

"Oh ere we go." Carla said, letting out a frustrated intake of breath as Leanne stood before her. "What on earth has this got to do with Peter?"

"Oh just stop messing me around Carla, Tyrone saw him come in so where is he?" Leanne said, clearly getting irritated.

"He's not ere anymore." Carla replied smoothly, not even blinking as she spoke to Leanne. "He was ere yes but he's gone so I think it's time you leave ere Leanne… I sympathise with you n all but quite frankly there's a time n a place for this conversation n it's not now. I've got a job to do so shut the door on your way out, okay?" Carla went to walk away from Leanne but then she half shrieked,

"Let me look in your office then." This made Carla turn back towards Leanne with a dark look. She didn't say anything at first because she was rather stunned but as she walked back to Leanne she tried her best to stay calm as she said,

"What?"

"If you reckon he's not ere… you'll ave to let me check your office." Leanne replied, looking as if she was going to march forwards at any moment and burst into Carla's office.

"I don't ave to let you do anything Leanne." Carla said, her tone of voice even firmer than before. She had her own hands on her hips now and the entire factory floor had gone completely silent, they still all knew better than to get involved in such a dispute.

Everyone watched with bated breath to see what Leanne's next move would be, she sighed and took one step forward but so did Carla and she gave Leanne an irate look before saying,

"Take one more step forwards n I swear you will regret it…" Some of the factory employees who'd been there for many years looked as if they might get to see another Carla verses Leanne fight if things carried on in this way.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it eh?" Leanne said, staring at Carla in a way, which she hoped would be intimidating.

Carla raised an eyebrow at Leanne, hating this situation because she knew Leanne had to be desperate to be acting like this and also hating it because she knew Simon was only a few feet away.

There were so many things that could have happened had this been a few years ago. Had Simon not have been there to witness it and had Carla not actually felt sorry for Leanne, she probably would have lost her temper with her but instead she just nodded towards the door and said,

"Just turn around n leave Leanne. Seriously… I am not in the mood to be messed with today."

"I'm not scared of you Carla…" Leanne said, she had tears in her eyes, which Carla had guessed was more to do with Simon than anything else.

"I don't want ya to be scared of me Leanne, I just want you to leave me building." Carla said, giving Leanne a look of pity. "If I see Simon I will tell him you came ere n how desperate you are to see him okay." Carla's tone of voice softened as he spoke and Leanne swallowed as she took another look towards the office. It still looked totally empty so she really had no choice to agree that it was time to leave.

"I just wanna talk to him… n say I'm sorry… that's all." Leanne sniffed.

"I'll tell him." Carla said quietly as Leanne turned around and began to walk towards the exit of the building, she watched as Leanne left and made sure she was gone for a minute or two before she said, "Right… let's get back to work shall we?"

The factory employees all got back to sewing and stitching immediately whilst Carla walked towards her office. She gently opened the door and walked inside to find Simon sat on the floor next to her desk. He looked half amused and half upset as Carla didn't even hesitate to sit down on the floor next to him.

"Did you hear all that then?" She asked.

"Most of it." Simon nodded.

"So you heard your Mum say she's sorry then?" Carla replied.

"Yeah." Simon said plainly. Carla waited for him to say more but he didn't so she eventually said,

"She seemed really upset y'know."

"Yeah well she should ave thought about that before she…" Simon stopped for a moment and sighed heavily. He remembered where he was sat and shook his head before he said, "Can we go now?"

"Absolutely." Carla nodded, "Well… maybe we should wait for a few more minutes, just in case your Mum is still out there"

"Okay." Simon chuckled slightly, "She's got a well bad temper at the moment."

"You're telling me?" Carla said with a raised eyebrow, "She's just lucky I'm feeling quite mellow today."

"That was you mellow?" Simon asked, raising his own eyebrow at Carla who had really had at go at her employees when they had first walked in.

"Yes it was." Carla nodded with a smirk, She remembered the look on some of her employees faces and then said, "I reckon that lot out there thought they were about to see a full on fight y'know."

"Ha, bet they're well disappointed." Simon laughed, reaching up to Carla's desk so that he could gather all of his school stuff together. Carla laughed as she helped Simon get all of his school things and as they both stood up, she said,

"I think they've seen enough drama from me n your Mum to last them a lifetime…" She watched Simon's slightly intrigued expression and then said, "Let's just say we've had our moments."

"Yeah… I can imagine." Simon chuckled as he closed his backpack. He took a deep breath as Carla picked up her handbag and her leather jacket and said,

"You ready to go?"

"Spose so." Simon said.

"You sure?" Carla asked, "I can go out n check she's not there if you want?"

"No… I'll be alright… if she is there I'll just deal with it." Simon said as he put his backpack on. Carla nodded as she opened her office door and as they walked out of it, She looked at her staff with eyebrows raised and said very loudly,

"Simon came ere for a moment n then left ages ago, that's the story. What you're seeing right now, is not happening…" She proudly had him bye the shoulders again whilst they walked towards the exit and as they did so, Simon could help but grin at how helpful and how protective Carla was being towards him, he laughed again as she then said, "And if anyone outside of ere hears otherwise then I'll know that it's come from one of you lot."

As Carla and Simon exited the building, Simon quickly looked to see if his Mum was outside. She wasn't and he took a breath of relief as Carla said,

"It's a good thing Eva wasn't working today, that could ave gone very different in there…"

"Yeah." Simon laughed, knowing that his auntie wouldn't have been able to stay quiet about his presence at the factory.

"So…" Carla said as they began to walk down the factory steps, "Do you wanna go back to your Dad's?"

"Can we go to your flat?" Simon asked, "That way we definitely won't be interrupted… y'know just incase me Mum starts knocking again."

"Sure." Carla nodded she then grinned as she said, "It could probably do with some company, no one's been in there for about a week." She and Simon companionably made the short walk over to Victoria Court and once they were in Carla's practically unused place, she and Simon settled on the sofa with cups of tea.

Carla was just about to speak when her phone went off in her pocket, she checked it just in case it was Peter, which it was and his text message read,

**_"_****_How's it going with Simon? Thanks so much for picking him up, You're an Angel Mrs Barlow! I hope he's okay, I've decided I'm not going to go to the AA meeting tonight, I'm gonna come home so I can be there for Si n be with you both x"_**

"Is that Dad?" Simon asked, knowing that Carla only had that dreamy expression on her face when she was talking to his Dad.

"Yes." Carla nodded, She looked at Simon as she then said, "He reckons he's not going to the AA meeting tonight because he wants to come home n be with us."

"He can't do that?" Simon said shaking his head, "People count on him to be there… Text him back and tell him I said I'm fine."

"I will but you know what you're Dad is like." Carla said as she began texting Peter back.

"I'm not in trouble or out." Simon said with his eyes wide, "I didn't do anything bad or I'm not in danger… tell him that he doesn't need to worry… it's just something stupid me Mum has done that has got me like this."

"Alright." Carla nodded, "Although we really didn't think you'd done anything bad Si." She continued to type her reply to Peter, which said,

**_"_****_Oh no you don't, you're going to that AA meeting Peter Barlow. Si's fine, in fact he insists you go. People are counting on you turning up tonight n he would hate for you not to go because of him. We're at my place right now so come ere afterwards alright? Oh n Si tells me to tell you he's okay, he's not in trouble or in danger… bless him x"_**

Peter's next reply came with in the next minute or so and whilst Simon went to the toilet, Carla read it.

**_"_****_So what is it then? What was that whole Leanne thing about this morning then? x" _**

**_"_****_All I've figured out is that it's something that's she done n what ever it is it's upset Simon a lot. He's a lot calmer than he was this morning, which is good. I'll give you a call later n tell you more, just make sure that your cute behind goes to that AA meeting tonight, do ya hear? X"_**

**_"_****_Alright Miss Bossy I will. Love you x "_**

**_"_****_Love you too x"_**

"So is he going?" Simon asked when he returned from the bathroom, he sat down on the sofa next to Carla who nodded and said,

"He sure is..." She put her phone down on the coffee table and took a sip of tea before she looked at Simon and said, "So… what's... your Mum done then?"

Simon took a deep breath, knowing that this was the last time he could sort of pretend that last night hadn't of happened, Carla waited patiently for him to start speaking and when he did he said,

"It all happened last night…" He paused for a moment because he realised how easy it was for him to talk to Carla about this, he had been dreading the subject all day but now he was actually sat in front of Carla he didn't feel the slightest bit nervous telling her about what he had seen. "After being out with Junior I went back to me Mum's n… when I walked in there I saw her and Nick…"

Carla didn't have to wait for Simon to finish his sentence, she could tell by the look on his face what had happened and even though her initial reaction was shock, after a few moments she wasn't all that shocked on what Simon had walked in on.

"They were kissing…" Simon said unnecessarily, "And something tells me this aint the first time they've been kissing recently either… even though they both said it was…" Simon looked at Carla who was watching him sympathetically and then shook his head, "How can they do that? What about Kal? What about Juliana? It's so unfair."

"I know it is…" Carla said as she watched Simon sigh in a depressed sort of way, She put her cup of tea down and moved closer to Simon who sniffed hard.

"I mean don't get me wrong… I've always loved Nick… I still think of him as my sort of StepDad… but I also really like Kal… he don't deserve this." Simon said.

"No he doesn't…no one does." Carla replied softly.

"And Juliana…" Simon said, his voice breaking as he spoke this time. "She's Santana's Mum… did my Mum not even think about me at all when she was having it off with Nick?"

Carla didn't quite know what to respond to this comment this time so she just gave Simon's arm a supportive touch and said,

"I'm so sorry to hear all this Si… I wish you would ave told us all this last night, you've had to deal with all of this on your own all this time."

"I didn't wanna ruin your night." Simon sniffed, "You n me Dad looked well cosy when I walked in." Carla smiled at Simon's sweetness and shook her head at him as she said,

"You can tell us anything… anytime, not matter what. Okay? Remember that next time Si…"

"I will." He nodded, he then sniffed again and shrugged his shoulders because he wasn't sure what was going to happen next.

"I'm guessing you haven't told Santana yet then…" Carla said delicately.

"No..." Simon said, shaking his head. "She was off sick today so I didn't see her… I don't know what I would ave done if I had."

"You know what? It's not your place to tell her anyway." Carla began, actually starting to feel angry about the situation now because of what it was doing to Simon. "Your Mum needs to come clean… Nick needs to come clean."

"They asked me not to say anything… said it would hurt a lot of people if I did…" Simon explained miserably, which only made Carla even angrier.

"The flamin cheek!" She cried, "Uh I've a good mind to call up that Mother of yours y'know… how dare she put something like this on you."

"Well… she didn't know I was gonna walk in on them did she?" Simon said, surprised at him self for almost sticking up for his Mum.

"She shouldn't have been with Nick in the flamin first place." Carla said irritatedly, she watched Simon who stayed slightly quiet and then rolled her eyes as she then said, "Look… I know I'm not one to talk given the way me n your Dad got it together but still… she had no right to ask you to keep quiet… none at all… Now I know why she was so on edge this morning n this afternoon."

"Yeah…" Simon said, letting out a dry laugh. "She probably just wanted to make sure I haven't told you or anyone… So selfish."

"Well…" Carla began, taking a deep breath and then shaking her head, "I mean as wrong as she is… I know she's sorry… I mean after you left she was almost in tears… n at the factory she was the same…" Simon didn't answer Carla this time, he just shrugged as if he didn't care what his Mum was feeling and after a few moments, Carla found herself saying, "Y'know… I don't think this thing with your Mum n Nick is easy… I mean I'm not gonna lie I reckon they've been harbouring their feelings for each other for a very long time… maybe they just couldn't hide it anymore… Don't get me wrong Si, it doesn't excuse what they've done of course not, no way. I'm just saying… I don't think they've risked their current relationships just for the sake of a sha…"Carla trailed off for a moment, remembering that she was talking to a twelve year old and eventually ended her sentence with an awkward, "well for the sake of... y'know."

Simon was quiet for a very long time after that, he just stayed sat next to Carla without saying anything but after a while she heard him quietly ask,

"Do ya think Santana is gonna dump me when she finds out?"

"What..." Carla said as if her heart was aching at the mere thought. "Why would she dump you?"

"Cause… when she finds out what my Mum's done… everything's gonna change." Simon began with tears in his eyes, "I mean imagine what it's gonna be like if I go round to her place, Her Mum… well her Mum might not even want to see me." Carla shook her head and pulled a very upset Simon towards her as she said,

"Simon… I doubt Santana or her Mother will take any of this out on you darlin." Carla hugged Simon tightly and kissed him on the head before saying, "None of this is your fault, kid."

"What if Juliana doesn't want Santana to see me anymore? What if she stops us from going out?" Simon asked.

"Uh let her even try." Carla replied which made Simon laugh a little even though he was feeling wretched, "She'll ave me to deal with if she does n I never lose so don't you even worry about that." Simon let out another little laugh as he stayed in Carla's arms but it still didn't stop him from worrying about what might happen with his girlfriend. Carla knew he was still concerned by the way his body had tensed up and she shook her head slightly as she said,

"I really don't think your Mum n Nick ave the slightest idea what they've done to you…"

"They've ruined everything." Simon sniffed.

"I know it might seem like that at first…" Carla said as she continued to hold Simon in her arms, "Things might be difficult and awkward but I promise you everything will turn out alright in the end… Yes Juliana will be hurt… Kal will be hurt… you're hurt and Santana might hurt too but one day this will all be in the past… in the mean time you've got your Dad n you've got me… always… we'll be ere for you no matter what n you can tell us anything."

"Thanks Carla." Simon said, holding her as close as possible and feeling truly better about the situation because she had been so supportive.

* * *

Peter arrived home at half past eight, at lot earlier than he normally did after an AA meeting because he normally stayed afterwards and helped tidy up but as he let him self into Carla's flat, she'd guessed that he'd left as soon as the meeting had finished.

"Hey…" She said, getting up from the dinning table where she'd been sat working. "You're back early."

"How could I not be?" Peter said as he closed the door behind him, he practically scooped Carla up and greeted her with such a powerful kiss that she moaned quietly and was almost lifted right up off her feet. "I… love… you." Peter said in between some more kisses, keeping a tight grip on Carla and holding her tightly.

"Mmm… you're always in this mood when you get back from your meetings." Carla smiled as Peter finally gave her some air although he still had his arms around her, not that she minded of course.

"That's because they always remind me how lucky I am and I how thankful I should be to ave you in me life." Peter said, giving Carla another hug before looking around her flat. "Where's Si?" Carla pointed over to her sofa and sure enough, Simon was lying fast asleep, still in his school uniform although Carla had placed a blanket on top of him to keep him warm because even though it was May the nights could still be a little cold.

"I went to the loo at half sevenish n when I came back he were fast asleep… He said he was up most of the night so it makes sense I spose." Carla said as Peter let go of her. He walked over to the sofa as he took off his suit jacket and smiled softly at the sigh of his sleeping son.

"Poor kid." Peter said, leaving his suit jacket on Carla's armchair and then shaking his head. "Did you find out what happened then?" He asked quietly. Carla nodded at him and waved him towards her as she said,

"I sure did…" Peter looked confused at the way she was gesturing for him to come over to her and as he reached her, she said, "Let's go to the bedroom…"

"The bedroom?" Peter said, even more confused as Carla took him by the hand and pulled him towards her room.

"Yeah…" Carla replied, she grinned at Peter's expression and then added, "I just think it's better we do it in ere in case we wake Si up… and by _it _I mean talk Peter so you can get that filthy look off your face."

"Yeah well I wouldn't ave such a filthy look on my face if I didn't know you so well." Peter replied as he and Carla walked into her almost unused bedroom.

"Ahhh…" She said as she practically threw herself down onto her bed. "I've missed this beauty..." She said, practically rubbing her soft cushions as Peter kicked off his shoes.

"Eh? What you trying to say about our bed back at mine?" Peter asked as he climbed onto the bed next to Carla who had actually rested a head on her cushions now.

"Oh come on Peter, our bed back at yours is amazing but it's nothing compared to this one…" Carla gushed.

"Oh well I'll remember that next time you try get in it shall I?" Peter replied jokingly.

"Oi I never said it were bad…" Carla said, sitting upright again so that she was sitting opposite Peter. He was smiling but she could tell he was desperate to find out what had got Simon in such a way this morning.

"Go on then…" Peter said as Carla moved slightly closer to him. "What was wrong with Simon this morning?"

"Three words…" Carla began raising her eyebrows. "Leanne and Nick."

Peter's eyes actually rolled before he said anything back to Carla, he then sighed as he shook his head and said,

"Really?"

"Yes really." Carla said nodding, "I mean come on are you really that surprised, I mean we had our suspicions a few weeks ago didn't we?"

"Yeah I know we did… and I not surprised… more disappointed really." Peter said, sighing again. "So how did Si find out?"

"He walked in on them…" Carla said, almost cringing at the thought.

"Doing what?" Peter asked with wide eyes.

"Just kissing from what I gathered…" Carla said, "But of course that was enough to send Simon the way it did… he said they both said it was the first time it had happened in years n that they said it was a mistake."

"Yeah right." Peter tutted with another roll of his eyes.

"They also asked Si not to say anything n keep it a secret… they said it would hurt a lot of people if he said anything…" Carla said, knowing this would get Peter going and it did.

"They did what?" He almost shouted, he then swore a lot and Carla nodded at him as she then said,

"This is why I wanted to come in ere…"

"I can't bloody believe it…" Peter said, shacking his head in disbelief. "Wait till I speak to them two… imagine putting all of this on Si's shoulders… the boy is twelve, what the hell where they thinking?"

"I don't think they were thinking." Carla said, "Anyways… Simon's very upset about it all because well as you can imagine he's worried about what Santana and her Mum are gonna do… the poor thing even thinks Juliana might stop Santana seeing him." Peter felt his heart ache at the news that Simon was thinking in such a way and somehow this only made him even angrier about things. "I've told him she wont do that… but who knows how on earth Juliana's gonna take it… I mean she adores Nick… anyone can see that."

"Is Nick gonna tell her then?" Peter asked.

"No idea." Carla shrugged, "He flamin well should though… n Leanne needs to tell Kal." Carla then caught the look in Peter's eye and they both couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "God how hypocritical do we sound eh?"

"We're allowed to be hypocritical when it's messing with our kid's happiness." Peter replied, shaking his head and then pulling Carla towards him, he kissed her on the forehead as he said, "Thanks for taking care of Simon today like you ave."

"Oh it were nothing…" Carla said, shaking her head as she put an arm around Peter who had sat back at little so he was leaning against Carla's headboard. "I love that kid in there… I hated seeing him like that this morning n then when he were tellin me all about it earlier… He really likes Kal too… Peter he was in tears it were heart-breaking."

"Ah, I'm so angry at Nick n Leanne…" Peter said, letting out an exasperated moan. "Not cause they are at it again, they can do what they want just not when it messes with Si's life like this... uh I could kill em."

"Me too…" Carla said frustratedly then she sat up properly with a slight glint in her eyes and took hold of Peter's tie. She loosened it up and began taking it off as she said, "That Leanne's so lucky I saw her before I found out what she'd done."

"You saw her? Where?" Peter asked as Carla pulled his tie off in a swift motion and threw it on the floor behind her.

"Oh…" Carla said, rolling her eyes, "She came bursting into the factory earlier demanding to know where Si was, said she'd sat outside your place for ages waiting for him to come home which is why we came ere in the end so we could ave some peace… Anyways I told her Si wasn't there so she starting shouting n saying it wouldn't be the first time I've lied to her face when it comes to you n Si?"

"What's she bringing me up for?" Peter asked as Carla gently reached forwards and began undoing his white shirt.

"Who knows? Anyways she then said if I wasn't lying I should let her look in my office…" Carla said fiddling with the buttons on Peter's shirt.

"Who does she think she is?" Peter asked, almost laughing when he saw the look on Carla's face.

"I know right, I almost swung for her at one point but I'm better than that…" Carla said as she undid another one of Peter's buttons.

"Really?" Peter grinned, he earned a poke from Carla due to that comment but then she grinned too and said,

"I'm not gonna lie I wish I flamin had hit her now…" She let out a slightly wicked laugh as she undid the last button on Peter's button and said, "I mean it has been a while since me n Leanne had a good old catfight after all..."

"Oh, there's the Carla I know n love." Peter chuckled, "Bet your employees loved the floor show all the same."

"Oh they sure did… it were clear that the likes of Beth n Sean were gagging for me n Leanne to start scrappin." Carla said as she slowly began undoing her own shirt now. "Not that I would ave done anything of the sort with Si there."

"How was he after he told you everything then?" Peter asked although he was finding it hard to not get distracted now that he had realised what Carla was doing.

"I think he's glad to ave it all of it chest…" Carla said, her bra now on show as she stopped unbuttoning her shirt and climbed onto Peter's lap. She had been reading his signals for a while and knew that he would be more than okay with what she was doing. "He seemed much calmer n happier… we even played the Wii U for a bit."

"Good…" Peter breathed, he smiled at Carla who put her arms around his neck and then said, "I thought we were just in ere to talk?"

"We were…" Carla said, moving her body just enough to get Peter to breath out sharply. "But you're angry…" She said as she began to stoke the back of his neck gently, "I'm angry… we might not be angry at each other but we can sure as hell make use of this adrenaline we've got flowin through us right now…"

"Not that we need an excuse of course…" Peter said quietly, using both hands slip Carla's shirt off her shoulders…


	69. Mood Swings & Motherly Love

"Morning Simon." Peter smiled, nodding towards his almost teenage son who walked into Carla's kitchen with a soft smile on his face. He already looked a lot better than he had done yesterday morning and looked as if he got a better nights sleep too.

"Morning Dad." Simon replied, he was already dressed in school uniform seeing as he had fallen asleep in it last night. "Morning Carla." He then said to Carla was sat next to his Dad, they were both dressed in a make shift pair of pyjamas which consisted of a few old T-shirts and some boxers that Peter had left behind one day because they didn't have a spare change of clothes at Carla's flat in Victoria Court.

"Good morning Simon." Carla said as he sat down opposite them both. She then took a sip of coffee as Simon smirked at the plate of toast that was in front of his Dad, he also grinned at the packet of biscuits and the cartons of milk and juice that were on the table too.

"Woah, There's actually food here, No way..." Simon gasped dramatically, surprised to see what looked like fresh food because they hardly ever spent time in Carla's flat and when they did, they always ordered take away food because her cupboards and fridge were obviously empty.

"Cheek." Carla replied, giving Simon a friendly wink to show that she knew that he was joking. Peter bite into a slice of toast as Simon looked at him in an amused fashion and then asked,

"You sure that bread's safe to eat Dad?"

"Yes." Peter nodded, he then pointed at Carla as he said, "I'm sure because was forced to go to Dev's about half hour ago n buy all this stuff."

"Errr that is a downright lie, you were not forced to do anything baby..." Carla began, shaking her head at Peter who looked amused and then asked,

"Oh really?" Simon started pouring himself a glass of juice whilst Carla nodded and smugly replied to Peter's question.

"Yes really… I simply gave you an idea of what might happen if you didn't go that's all."

"Trust me Si… I were forced." Peter said, not wanting to say anymore about what Carla had said would happen if he didn't head to the shops because it was very inappropriate for Simon to hear.

"Yeah I'm not sure I wanna hear anymore…" Simon nodded. He leant forwards and took a biscuit and as he did so, he could feel his Dad watching him closely. Simon could tell that his Dad was desperate to start talking about something that definitely wasn't to do with breakfast or going to the shops which is why he eventually sighed and said, "Carla told you all about it then?"

"She did..." Peter nodded, glad that Simon was the one to bring the situation up first. "And as horribly hypocritical as this is going to sound… I think that your Mum's behaviour is absolutely disgraceful." Carla frowned as Peter finished his sentence and nudged him rather hard in the side, which made him turn to her and say, "What was that for?"

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't do that?" Carla said, hushing her voice quietly even though Simon was still sat opposite and could hear everything.

"Do what?" He asked looking confused as he reached forwards and cheekily picked up a piece of toast that was on his Dad's plate, he then bit into it with half a grin.

"Yeah, do what?" Peter asked Carla although he gave Simon half a frown for stealing some of his breakfast. Carla rolled her eyes at Peter for acting as if he didn't remember their conversation last night and she tutted before saying,

"Last night we agreed that we wouldn't bad mouth Leanne… didn't we?"

This was true, at around midnight Peter and Carla spoke more about the entire situation with Leanne and Nick and in the end, They had both decided that Simon needed their support, he needed support with how to get through it and what he didn't need to hear was Carla or his Dad slagging off his Mum… even if she had made a big mistake.

"I'm not bad mouthing Leanne…" Peter said, leaning forwards and picking up a mug of coffee. "I'm just voicing my opinion on her behaviour that's all."

"Same thing Peter." Carla sighed and the almost irritated look on her face told Simon that maybe Carla wasn't really in the best of moods this morning.

"No it's not..." Peter replied, although he regretted saying that straight after the words had left his lips because he knew it would wind Carla up even more.

"Yes it is... Stop being a pain." She rolled her eyes again and then looked back at Simon who raised an eyebrow at her and Peter slightly stunned because he hadn't seen them bicker like this for a very long time.

"Don't start arguing about it…" He said, "The last thing I need is me Mum's behaviour messing up things between you two as well." Simon looked genuinely concerned which made Carla and Peter both shake their heads in an apologetic fashion.

"We're not arguing Si." Carla very quickly said, not wanting Simon to have something else to be worried about.

"Yeah... Carla just woke up on the wrong side of the bed that's all..." Peter said, grinning at his wife who tutted at him and said,

"Errr I did not." She gave Peter a playful poke on the arm as she got up from the table with her cup of coffee in hand. She walked into the kitchen where her own toast had just popped out of the toaster, leaving Peter to raise an eyebrow at Simon and very quietly say,

"Seriously… She's been in a right mood ever since she got out of bed…" Peter glanced back towards the kitchen to make sure Carla wasn't looking and then added, "I dunno... I reckon it's almost her first time of the month since she came off the pill, the doctor mentioned to expect it in May so…"

"Yeah thanks Dad." Simon recoiled, pulling a face at his Dad for mentioning such an embarrassing subject but then they were both startled when Carla suddenly swore out loud because she burnt a finger on the toaster. "Hmmm maybe you're right." Simon said quietly.

"Not that I'm gonna ask her of course... I mean I'm not completely stupid." Peter said as he took another sip of coffee.

"But Carla's your wife… Surely you can ask her anything right?" Simon inquired innocently. Peter's eyes went wide and then he quickly made sure that Carla wasn't in earshot.

"Si… listen to me n you listen good because I know this from experience alright… No matter how good your relationship, you never… ever ask a woman if her bad mood has to do with her time of the month… never… okay."

"Okay..." Simon nodded, looking amused at his Dad who looked utterly serious about what he was saying.

"I mean it kid." Peter said, leaning backwards and sitting in his chair properly again. "If you only listen to my relationship advice a few times in life you make sure that this time is one of them. Trust me. If I were to ask Carla if her current fiery mood was to do with her… y'know... then you would know within an instant why I just avoid the entire subject."

"Are you talking about me?" Carla suddenly called from the kitchen as she bent down an opened her almost empty fridge.

"Course not." Simon said amused, trying to keep from laughing as Peter raised both eyebrows and said,

"We were just discussing the whole Leanne and Nick thing my love."

"Then why are ya whispering then _my love_?" Carla asked, walking back to the table with a jar of jam and some toast on a plate. "Although you weren't being as quiet as you think because I'm sure I heard one of you say my name... n Peter I'm pretty sure that it was you that said it…" Carla looked at him suspiciously with her head on one side and waited for a response so Simon quickly said,

"You did hear your name… cause Dad was saying that he was really shocked when you told him what had happened."

"Mmmmhmmm." Carla said dryly not believing Simon as she sat back down next to Peter. She put down the jam and bread on the table in front of her as Simon grinned at his Dad.

"So… what's happening next then?" Peter asked him, the tone of conversation going serious once again.

"What do you mean?" Simon asked, although he sort of knew what his Dad was getting at.

"With your Mum, I understand that you're angry I really do... but eventually you will ave to speak to her again." Peter said.

"Why?" Simon shrugged, as Carla began spreading jam on her toast in silence.

"Because she's your Mum that's why." Peter said with a light sigh, "As much as you might like to right now, you can't ignore her forever."

"She don't care about me." Simon said, he tried to sound indifferent but his voice cracked and it was clear to both his Dad and Step Mother that he was finding this situation extremely difficult.

"Now come on Si, That's definitely not true. Your Mum loves you to pieces."

"Yeah well she don't show it well does she? It were so out of order asking me to keep a secret like that from Kal… from Santana and her family." Simon said, shaking his head because he still couldn't believe it. "Juliana n Nick were getting along perfectly, Santana says her Mum was so happy with him n Little Carmen adores Nick… I don't know if I can forgive Mum for making me lie to them all."

"I agree completely Si n as I said I think that your Mum is being disgraceful…" Peter began, "And just so you know, you don't have to forgive her right away, I just think that you both should talk… soon." Peter said, he turned to Carla who still didn't say anything and just continued putting jam on her toast because given her slightly bad mood this morning, she knew that she'd only have negative things to say about Leanne and as they had promised not to bad mouth her, Carla decided she needed to be quiet. "Do you want me to have a word with her?" Peter asked Simon, wondering if his son would find things easier if he had someone else start up the conversation.

"No." Simon shook his head and he rose an eyebrow as he then said, "Could you imagine what she'd ave to say if you started lecturing her about cheating?"

"Yeah well I don't care about any of that, I only care about your happiness..." Peter said, watching Simon who looked miserable as he sat before him. "And Madame Moody over ere of course." Peter added, leaning sideways and giving Carla a gentle kiss on the cheek, which made her smile even though she was still feeling funny this morning. "What _can_ I do to help then?" Peter then asked, turning back to face Simon.

"Nothing…" Simon shrugged, hopelessly. "Don't get me wrong Dad, I really appreciate you n Carla's support a lot but… unless me Mum comes clean I don't know what I'm going to do… How I'm meant to face Santana at school? Or Kal if I see him? I'm meant to be hanging out with Zeedan later after school, How am I meant to do that as well?"

"But Si you've done absolutely wrong to them… remember that." Peter said as Carla started spreading jam on her next piece of toast, still remaining silent.

"I know… but still, I'm keeping secrets from them aren't I?" Simon said, looking utterly devastated at the thought of not being honest with people he was the closest to other than his three parents. "Maybe I should just tell em… they deserve to know right? Although me Mum did say it would hurt a lot of people if I did say something…" Simon looked shamed as he spoke and shook his head as he dejectedly added, "I really don't want to do that... I don't want to hurt anyone." Carla suddenly slammed her knife down on the table, which made an abrupt clanging noise and made Peter and Simon both jump in their seats.

"Alright, I've had it up to ere!" She said raising her hand to her forehead and shaking her head at Simon. "This is so unfair on you Si n I meant what I said last night it's not your place to say anything. You're twelve flamin years old!"

"Carla's right…" Peter nodded, gently reaching behind her back and giving her a supportive touch because he could see how irate she was starting to get. He looked at Simon who bit his lip and then added, "You don't ave to say anything to Kal or Santana but you really need to explain how you feel about all this to your Mum, she has to know how much this has affected you."

"She should already know Peter, Simon should ave been her first priority..." Carla said to Peter, angrily biting into a slice of toast before she got too worked up.

"Do… you think me Mum loves Nick?" Simon asked, "Like… do you think that's why they did what they did?" Peter and Carla both looked between each other and then back at Simon who waited for one of them to respond.

"Even so Si… it doesn't make it right." Carla said with sigh, she then shook her head and tutted before saying, "Uh I hate how pot,kettle,black this whole thing is." She sighed exasperatedly and put her slice of toast back down on the plate in front of her.

"Yeah well as I said last night, we're allowed to be hypocrites when it comes to our child." Peter replied, nodding at Simon and smiling at him in a way that he hoped would be encouraging. Simon nodded but he didn't answer his Dad, he looked over at the clock on the wall and saw that it was just gone eight am, he sighed as he stood up and said,

"D'ya know what, I don't wanna talk about this anymore this morning and I really don't want to see don't wanna see me Mum or Nick yet… I dunno. I'm gonna go n get a clean set of uniform from our place n then I'll probs just go straight to school after that as well... Maybe that will take my mind off it for a while… until I see Santana that is."

"Have you heard from her this morning? Is she better?" Carla asked because yesterday Santana had been off sick from school.

"Not yet… I want her to get well but here's hoping she takes one more day off just to make sure she's totally better." Simon said going over to where he had hung up his jacket last night.

"Hang about Si, do you want us to come with you?" Peter asked, looking at Carla who nodded.

"I'm alright, you both stay ere n I'll see ya later." Simon said pulling on his coat, he gave Carla and Peter an encouraging smile and then said, "No more arguing though okay."

"Eh, I said we weren't arguing." Peter said firmly as Simon walked around the table and gave Carla a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks so much for last night." He said, genuinely smiling at her.

"You're welcome… N don't you worry about me n your Dad…" Carla said giving Simon a warm smile as she affectionately took hold of Peter's bearded chin.

"I'll text you both on my lunch break." Simon said, waving at both Carla and Peter.

"Bye." Peter said waving as Simon opened Carla's front door and left her flat. The moment the door slammed shut, Peter turned to Carla who let go of his chin with pursed lips and as she bite into her toast again he delicately asked, "You alright then?"

"Yeah…" She sighed, but then she shook her head and said, "I think so…" Peter rose an eyebrow at Carla who nodded and admitted, "Okay… so maybe I'm just a little on edge this mornin..."

"A little." Peter joked, causing Carla to reach over and give him a playful shove. He grabbed her hand quickly and kissed it tenderly as Carla sighed and then said,

"I've just woken up feeling really annoyed. I reckon it's cause I hate seeing Simon so hurt… It breaks my heart actually."

"Me too." Peter nodded, looking depressed about the state his son was in right now and wishing there was something he could do to help. He still had Carla's hand in his and he gently kissed a few of her fingers before letting it go.

"He's still got what Leanne said to him about how being honest will hurt people on his mind as well, which kills me. How dare she say that to him? Uh I swear if I see that bitch today she better watch out."

"What happened to not bad mouthing her eh?" Peter asked as Carla turned to him and folded both arms in a frustrated manner.

"We only agreed to not bad mouthing her in front of Si… when he's not ere we've got free rein to say what we want." Carla said leaning in and giving Peter a kiss, a kiss where he could practically feel how tense she was feeling this morning just by the touch of her lips.

"I gotta say…" Peter began as Carla pulled away from him. "On a more positive note, I seriously can't get enough of how protective you are of Simon."

"Course I'm protective of him..." Carla said nodding proudly as Peter stood up, "I told you last night, I love that kid to death."

"I know you do." Peter nodded holding his hand out for Carla to take hold of it again, as she did so he then pulled her right up and out of her chair, she giggled for the first time that morning as she asked Peter,

"What are you doin?"

"Well…" Peter grinned looking down at he and Carla's attire, "We need to get ready for work don't we?"

"We?" Carla said with a raised eyebrow although she knew exactly what the look Peter had on his face meant.

"Yes _we_, unless you plan on going to work in an oversized grey T-Shirt and a pair of me old boxers that is." Peter chuckled, he leant in to kiss Carla again and after their lips met passionately she smiled smugly and said,

"Mmmm... I'm not going to work today…"

"Eh?" Peter replied, looking at Carla who nodded at him and said,

"It's true, I've got today off, I said I go shopping with Michelle. She wants to get maternity clothes."

"Oh right." Peter nodded back at Carla who looked thrilled to get the chance to go shopping. "Well... you'll still going to need a shower this morning so come on… Let's go" Peter began walking in the direction of Carla's bathroom, practically pulling her along with him as he moved and even though Carla was still feeling odd today, she didn't resist Peter at all.

* * *

"I can't believe this..." Michelle moaned, shaking her head as she stood in the queue for H&amp;M with Carla next to her. "I've got a basket full of clothes to fit this huge tummy of mine n yours is full of skimpy dresses n Bikinis."

"What can I say Chelle?" Carla said, shrugging and smiling down at Michelle's shopping basket, which had many pairs of maternity jeans and tops inside it. "I need to get me holiday gear sorted out at some point, no time like the present eh?"

"You're not going until the end of flippin August." Michelle cried as she and Carla moved up the queue. They had met outside the pub at twelve pm and after trying many different stores in town, Michelle had finally found some clothes that she actually liked in H&amp;M. Carla on the other hand had been busy in the swimwear section of the shop and by the time she and Michelle got in the queue, she had a basket full of clothes that would be perfect for her summer holiday to Greece.

"I know…" Carla nodded, "But it'll come around before I know it." She looked down into her basket excitedly at all the items she had especially picked out for the family holiday to Greece and as she smiled with glee, Michelle nudged her and said,

"You just better hope that Peter doesn't get you pregnant before then…." She grinned, "You'll ave to bring all that stuff back n exchange it for some of these." Michelle then picked up a pair of maternity jeans as she spoke and raised an eyebrow at Carla who shrugged.

"Not all of it…" She said, peering back into her basket. "I could still keep the bikinis, you always see pregnant celebs in the mags wearing em on the beach looking really glamours even though they are the size of a house, I reckon I could pull that look off don't you?"

"Annoyingly you probably could." Michelle nodded, she looked back into Carla's basket and then added, "So is that your holiday shopping done then?"

"Course not, no such thing as buying too many holiday clothes is there? A girl needs to ave options y'know." Carla replied.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure Peter's going to agree with that little statement, I think he'd prefer you not to bring any clothes at all." Michelle said with a raised eyebrow.

"Normally he would but don't forget Simon's coming on holiday with us as well." Carla said and at the sound of his name, Carla suddenly found her self, worrying about him again.

Of course, he'd been on her mind from the moment she had left the flat this morning but now as she and Michelle were in the queue to buy their clothes, she couldn't help but feel as if she needed to know that he was okay at school. She wondered if Santana had gone in today or not and she wondered if Santana had done, how Simon was coping with being around her and knowing such a big secret.

"Carla!" Michelle cried, giving her best friend a nudge as a sales assistant had been calling for the next customer three times.

"Oh god sorry!" Carla said, rushing towards the till with an apologetic look on her face. "I were miles away." She said as she handed the basket of clothes to the cashier. Michelle looked amused as she made her way to the till next to Carla and as the cashier took her basket from her hands, Michelle asked Carla,

"Honestly, what had you so deep in thought? Or who?"

"Simon." Carla replied without thinking, Michelle looked very intrigued, as their items were being scanned and looked at her best friend as she then asked,

"Simon? Is he okay?"

"Yeah… he's… alright, I spose." Carla began, she looked at the cashier who was almost finished scanning the items that she wanted to purchase and then said, "It's a long story… I'll explain when we get some lunch okay?"

"Alright." Michelle nodded, very curious because like Peter, she had noticed that Carla was in an odd mood today and whilst she hadn't been taking it out personally on her, Carla had definitely been a little short with some of the people they had come across today.

After leaving H&amp;M, Michelle and Carla went to a few more of the shops and it was about two o'clock in the afternoon when they settled into an Italian restaurant, they sat at a large table with their shopping bags at their feet and it was only after they had ordered their food that Michelle asked,

"Go on then… What's had you so distracted today?" Carla took a deep breath and bit her lip for a moment because even though she trusted Michelle one hundred per-cent, she still wasn't sure that she should be telling her about Leanne and Nick.

"I dunno…" Carla began, "It's not really something I should be talking about."

"You can't say that…" Michelle sighed, "I'm even more intrigued now… come on, I'm your best mate, if you can't tell me who can ya tell eh?"

"Alright…" Carla began, she quickly glanced around her and Michelle's table in the restaurant just to make sure they didn't know any one in there and then turned back to her and said, "But you cannot tell anyone n I mean that because if it gets back I'm gonna be in serious trouble not to mention it could cause serious havoc with some relationships on the street."

"I promise I won't say anything." Michelle nodded, clearly desperate to hear more. Carla took a quick breath before she leant forwards and said,

"Simon went home on Sunday night and found… Leanne… and Nick…" That was all she had to say really. Michelle's jaw dropped open even though she really wasn't that surprised, she had a million questions to ask Carla and didn't quite know where to begin, eventually she went with, "What actually happened?"

"Well he walked in on them kissing but I think it's pretty obvious what they were up to, Si reckons that's not the first time that's happened recently either." Carla explained, shaking her head and remembering the look Simon had on his face this morning and last night. "He's heartbroken though Chelle, all he can think about is Kal and Juliana, Santana's Mum… He's finding it hard to cope with, he reckons Santana might chuck him n all he can think about is how Leanne has asked him to keep a secret for them."

"Oh the poor kid." Michelle said, shaking her head along with Carla who sighed again.

"Me n Peter only found out yesterday night, Si kept it all to himself for the whole day. I picked him up from school n then he told me at my place last night whilst Peter was at his AA meeting…" Carla paused and then went into her bag saying, "Sorry Chelle, I just want to check something…" She pulled out her phone to check and see if she had any messages from Simon because he had promised to text her and Peter on his lunch break.

Peter, Carla and Simon were all part of one single message group on their phones and it was what they used when they wanted to talk together when they weren't actually in the presence of each other, Carla was thrilled when she saw that Simon and Peter had been exchanging messages since about one pm. It started when Peter sent a message in the chat, which said,

**_"Afternoon! Carla, I hope you're avin a nice shopping trip with Michelle n that you're not making you're self bankrupt in doing so and Simon? Where is that text you promised us eh? "_**

Simon's reply had come through at two pm and it said,

**_"Sorry! I meant to text you earlier but I was busy playing footie at lunch, in the toilets at the moment so I can chat for a bit..."_**

Peter's response to Simon had come only minutes later and it read,

**_"Great, How's your day going then? How's Santana?"_**

**_"Todays alright actually. The dreaded Mr Curtis wasn't in so we had this dead funny supply teacher for Science, he were doing these crazy experiments which Mr Curtis would never do it were mad. Santana is still ill so she didn't come in today. I'm gonna pop round hers after school to check on her though." _**

"Aww Si's having a good day at school…" Carla said as she read through the rest of the messages on her that were now appearing her phone, Michelle smiled like she always did when she saw or heard Carla showing affection for Simon and as she watched as Carla began to type out her own message, Simon and his Dad were still exchanging messages and they had even begun talking about the football match Simon had been playing on lunch.

"That's good to hear…" Michelle nodded as a waiter brought over their drinks.

"I'm just going to reply back okay." Carla said, not wanting Michelle to think she would be anti-social for the whole meal.

"Take your time babe, this is your family." Michelle said with a warm smile, Carla smiled back as she continued to write her message, her first one said,

**_"Where do I begin? Peter I've had a brilliant shopping trip so far… I won't talk about how much I've spent… hey maybe we should get that joint account back that we used to have ha ha!" _**

**_"Uh oh! Watch out Dad." _**

Said Simon's next message. One from Peter soon followed which said,

**_"Watch out indeed, I can just imagine the transactions that account would ave right now." _**

Carla sent her next message with intentions for this one to be the last one and smiled at the screen as it went through.

**_"I'm glad to hear that you've had a nice day at school Si, I know how much you hate that Mr Curtis, Poor Santana, wish her well from me when you pop over there later okay… Now stop skiving the pair of you n get back to work! I love you both n see you later xx"_**

**_"Carla's right, Your mates n teachers will think you've got a dodgy stomach problem if you stay in the loos any longer. Have a good rest of your day alright. I love you both as well x"_**

Simon's reply was short and it simply said,

**_"Ahahaha I better go back to class quick…. I love you two n all. xx"_**

Carla grinned from ear to eat as she put her phone back into her bag and looked back at Michelle.

"So what do ya think's gonna happen next?" Michelle asked, "Is Simon gonna tell Kal and Juliana?" Michelle asked. Carla shook her head again and tutted irately before she said,

"Nope… I don't think so, Leanne's brainwashed him into thinking he'll hurt them if he tells the truth…" Carla picked up the juice that she had ordered in a sisterly fashion as Michelle wasn't drinking and took a sip as Michelle said,

"I can't believe she's putting that pressure on her son like that."

"Me neither…" Carla said, "She's so lucky I didn't know about this yesterday when she came screeching into the factory asking for him. At the time I just thought maybe they'd had an argument… I had no idea how much she might ave ruined things for Simon… He's not seen her since then either."

"Was Simon with you in the factory then?" Michelle asked as Carla took another drink of juice.

"He were but when I turned around he was hiding in me office so it were clear to me that he didn't want to speak to Leanne… she were dead aggy though, she started demanding I let her check my office n bringing up me n Peter…" Carla rolled her eyes as she spoke, remembering the things that Leanne had shouted about in the factory. "The crazy thing, is that had she been honest about things from the start and not tried to get Si to cover for her I'd actually feel sorry for the woman."

"You feelin alright?" Michelle asked amused because she would never be able to get used to Carla saying that she felt sorry for Leanne.

"Yes." Carla nodded. "I mean I've had a feeling she's been pining for Nick for a while n I can't tell you how many times I've asked her about it as well, I were trying to be supportive after all I know what it's like to be madly in love with some one who's already in a relationship."

"Yeah… and that someone just so happened to be her ex husband." Michelle scoffed. Carla pulled a face at Michelle and just replied with,

"That's not the point… I were willing to help her but now seeing the effect it's had on Simon, I'm just mad at her… I'm more than mad… I'm fuming. I was so tempted to go n give her a peace of my mind this morning as well, n with the mood I'm in that would not ave been pretty."

"Definitely not... it's sweet seeing how much you care about Simon though." Michelle said, smiling again at Carla who nodded modestly.

"Peter said the same thing this morning…" Carla's own smile got wider as she then said, "He always refers to Simon as ours as well… I love it."

"Ahhh I love seeing happy Carla." Michelle said, resting both hands on her twin bump and smiling at her best friend.

"I'm glad some one thinks I'm happy, Peter kept on saying I were in a mood this morning." Carla replied as she rested her arms on the table, Michelle smirked and nodded before she said,

"Well I ave been thinking you've been a bit off today, like you've been alright towards me but… something's not been quite right."

"Yeah... I know... I don't what it is, I've just been in a right mood since I woke up... Maybe it's just this whole Leanne and Nick thing…" Carla began, "It's really taking its toll on Simon, I can't bear it when he's upset..." Carla looked down again in a concerned fashion and then shook her head as she said, "Y'know what, let's not talk about Nick and Leanne anymore, I'll just get annoyed again."

"Okay." Michelle nodded, then she raised an eyebrow as she said, "Although… last thing I'm gonna say on the matter is that given the mood you're in... I really hope you don't run into Leanne today…"

Carla did run into Leanne.

She and Michelle got out of a cab outside the Rover's Return at around five fifteen pm and sure enough Leanne had exited the pub at the very moment. She had dark circles under her eyes and as if she hadn't slept for days.

"Hi Carla…" Leanne said a little nervously, she watched as Carla shook her head and said,

"_Hi Carla_? Really?" This was all Carla had to say to show Leanne that she knew all about the Nick situation and even though Michelle was stood nearby, Leanne still swallowed hard and continued speaking,

"Look… I realise you probably think I'm a right cow." Leanne began but Carla interrupted her by saying,

"That's putting it a little lightly… Simon's in pieces right now… n it's all because of you."

"I tried to call him but he won't answer me..." Leanne said, looking at Michelle whose hands were full of shopping bags, She leant towards Carla and quietly said,

"Carla I'm knackered babe so I'm gonna put these inside and have a rest… I might call you later." Michelle had decided that she'd leave Carla and Leanne both to it and at almost six months pregnant with twins she really could do with a rest as well.

"Alright then Chelle." Carla nodded, giving her best friend a kiss on the cheek before looking back at Leanne with an eyebrow raised. As Michelle walked through the doors to the Rover's, Leanne took a deep breath and looked pleadingly at Carla as she said,

"I wanna see him… Simon… where is he?"

"Out." Carla blankly replied.

"Oh come on Carla… I really want to apologise to him about what happened with Nick." Leanne begged. Carla had a thousand things that she could say to Leanne right now but she decided it would be pointless to stand and argue. She turned her head and set about heading towards home, only Leanne followed her and said, "Carla please help me see him."

"Leanne give it up will ya?" Carla said, rolling her eyes because she wasn't in the mood right now, she'd spent a lovely few hours with Michelle in town and now the bad mood she'd been in this morning was very quickly coming back. She crossed the road to head towards her building but Leanne still followed her.

"Is he at yours? I know you lot didn't go back to Peter's last night... I was keeping an eye out..." Leanne said which caused Carla to stop and turn around. She had been biting her tongue for a while now but she soon decided that enough was enough.

"Okay... I'm gonna ignore the borderline stalker-ish comment that you just made about keeping an eye and tell you that Simon is not at my place, as I said he is out... Now just leave me alone please." Carla sighed, hoping that this would be enough for Leanne to back off... but it wasn't.

"Don't be like that Carla, I aven't done anything to you ave I?" Leanne began but she saw the unimpressed look on Carla's face and trailed off.

"Yknow it's not the Nick thing that's got me so wound up…" Carla started, "Do what ya like, with who ya like. I couldn't give a toss…" She added, shaking her head at Leanne, "It's how you've dealt with the situation that I can't get over…"

"Look I know that I didn't go about things in the best way…" Leanne began, "I just wasn't thinking right that's all…"

"Leanne it's sounds to me as if you weren't thinking at all, I mean ave you even thought about what this going to do to Kal… and Juliana when they find out." Carla said, she knew what she was saying was right but she also knew exactly what was going to come out of Leanne's mouth next.

"Oh please don't give me that Carla, given the way you got with Peter you're hardly one to talk are ya?" Leanne snapped predictably. Carla had been expecting a comment like this from her for a few minutes now so she just shook her head at her in pity. "Just get Simon to talk to me when you see him, okay?"

"Y'know I'm getting really tired of you thinking you can boss me about." Carla said, shaking her head at Leanne again before she then added, "Now I can't make Simon do anything… but don't worry about him, he's being looked after. By me n Peter… people who actually seem to care about his well being."

"How dare ya!" Leanne cried, attracting the attention of a few passers by who looked stunned, "I love Si to bits, don't you dare stand there n say otherwise."

"Hey… what's going on?" Said a voice behind Carla, she turned around to see Nick also walking out of Victoria court. He looked extremely concerned as he walked towards Leanne and then stared at Carla who sighed and said,

"Oh ere we go…" She rolled her eyes with her shopping bags still in her hands as Leanne sniffed and said,

"It's nothing Nick…"

"Well it's clearly not nothing is it?" Nick asked, looking at Carla with a furrowed eyebrow and in a way, which made her think that he was blaming her for this entire exchange. "What did you say to her?"

"The truth." Carla said bluntly, not at all caring for this situation that she had now found herself in. "It's not my fault you can't handle what I ave to say Leanne."

"You said I didn't love him." Leanne said, tears pouring down her cheeks. Nick looked slightly horrified as Carla shook her head and said,

"No I didn't, don't twist my words to make your self the victim ere." Nick looked at Leanne and then quietly said,

"Does she know?"

"Yes she does!" Carla said loudly, "Don't stand there n talk about me like I'm not ere Nick it's impolite." Nick nodded at Carla slowly as Leanne wiped her eyes and sniffed hard again.

"Okay…" He began, "Well… Carla…. What's happened with me and Leanne has nothing to do with you if I'm honest so if you could just mind your own business." Carla gave Nick a very dark look before she tutted loudly and irritatedly said,

"Right, I'm gonna lose it in a second... Let's just get a couple of things straight ere Nick." Nick went to interrupt but Carla continued talking angrily, "First of all, what on earth makes you think that I want to be involved in anything you n Leanne are doing, as I said to her a moment ago I couldn't care less who she screws. Second of all, the only reason I'm stood ere instead of in my flat is because she followed me ere, screeching like a banshee about making Simon speak to her again, which by the way is ridiculous because I won't make that kid do anything."

"Yeah well you n Peter would be glad if he never spoke to me again wouldn't ya!" Leanne cried, "You'd love it because you could pretend as if you were just one big happy family without me on the sidelines."

"Leanne… Don't cry." Nick said, looking at her sympathetically, Carla sighed at the way Nick was looking at Leanne and then said,

"Look… Leanne I can tell Si that I saw you but whether he decides that he's ready to talk to you is another issue."

"Okay..." Nick said trying to sound as if he was trying to keep the peace but then he added, "Although surely can see what this is doing to Leanne right?"

"What the hell do you think it's doing to Simon?" Carla exclaimed, shaking her head at Nick because it seems he too couldn't understand. "He's a twelve year old kid who has been told if he's honest about what he's seen he'll hurt a lot of people…" Carla took a deep breath as she watched Leanne and Nick stood together and then shook her head frustratedly, "You two need to come clean with your other halves… n soon… because if you don't, I will, I not having Simon go through this for much longer."

"You can't." Nick said desperately, shaking his head whilst Leanne just kept quiet.

"Oh I can n I will, You may ave convinced Si that telling the truth about your sordid little affair would be bad but unfortunately for you two I'm not that naive." Carla said and she went to turn around but then she heard Nick spitefully say,

"Oh n you're one to talk about sordid affairs."

"Oh change the flamin record will ya?" Carla cried turning around and walking back towards Nick, she was starting to get angry again and wasn't aware that a certain someone was walking towards the three of them. "Besides if you actually wanna go there, maybe you should think about the fact that it were you two who had the affair first."

"You're still being a hypocrite." Nick said rather pathetically.

"Yeah well…" Carla shrugged, "You know what they say, you're allowed to be a hypocrite when it comes to your kids n Si's practically my son these days anyway."

"He is not your son!" Leanne cried, actually throwing her self towards Carla in a state of rage. Carla quickly backed away from Leanne's clutches as a familiar voice suddenly shouted,

"Oi…"

Carla didn't have to turn and look to see who it was shouting. Peter was running towards them, fresh from arriving home from work, still in one of his suits as Nick took hold of Leanne who was still trying to get to Carla.

"Leanne stop it…" Nick said trying to hold her back.

"What the hell is going on?" Peter asked, staring at Leanne half in shock, half in disgust.

"I want to see Simon… Now!" Leanne said, her eyes were full of tears and she could barley control herself as Nick continued his hold on her.

"He's busy." Peter replied, "He's gone to a mates house." Peter turned to Carla who was standing with her shopping bags in one hand and the other on her hip. "You alright love?"

"Yeah fine." Carla nodded casually.

"He is not your son... Remember that Carla…" Leanne said again, shaking her head as if she really meant it. Peter on the other hand looked outraged at what Leanne had just said.

"Oh Simon is Carla's son... make no mistake." He said sternly, shaking his head slowly at Leanne who once again looked distraught. "Now I'm not saying that he's not your son too, I know how much you love Simon... but this woman behind me adores him too and he adores her… They love each other to pieces." Peter was pointing right at Carla as he spoke and she couldn't help but smile as he continued to speak so lovingly about her. "Carla has been a rock to Simon recently and whilst you may not like her right now or like what she has to say, you will respect her for taking such good care of our boy… do you hear me?"

As Carla couldn't refrain from smiling affectionately at Peter, Leanne had no other option but to nod at him slowly and as she did so, Nick cleared his throat and quietly said,

"I think we should take this conversation off the street… Maybe if we call Simon he can talk things through with us."

"No." Peter simply replied, "Simon needs time… All of this stuff is still fresh in his mind. He feels really betrayed by you two… He'll talk when he's ready."

"And what am I supposed to do until then?" Leanne sobbed, she sniffed as Nick finally let go of her gently.

"Oh I dunno… Maybe you could tell Kal the truth whilst you're waiting." Carla replied smartly, she knew she'd be winding Leanne up but she couldn't help it, she was also so touched by what Peter had just said about Simon being her son that she was still smiling thinly.

"I wasn't asking you." Leanne snapped back, looking at Peter as if he had all the answers in the world, unfortunately he didn't and he paused before he said,

"Carla's right. Maybe you should tell the truth?"

"Oh you would stick up for her wouldn't ya?" Leanne sighed, she frustratedly ran a hand through her blonde hair and sniffed whilst Nick shook his head and said,

"Look… It was just a mistake… me n Leanne… We were just reminiscing about the old days and as cliché as it sounds one thing led to another." Peter and Carla both nodded but Leanne looked even more dejected as Nick continued saying that what Simon had walked in on was just a horrible mistake. "Telling Kal and Juliana would just ruin everything."

"So you're quite happy to make Simon miserable by keeping quiet?" Carla said, watching Leanne who wiped her eyes again. Carla was sure that Leanne didn't quite agree that what had happened between her and Nick was a mistake but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to embarrass her even more.

"No of course not…" Nick said, shaking his head slowly. "But I care about Juliana and I don't want something this silly to end things between us…"

"So are you saying that you care more about Juliana then Simon?" Carla asked with a frown.

"No I'm not… stop jumping to conclusions all the time…" Nick began and his voice actually rose, which made Peter give him a dark look.

"I'm just calling it how I see it Nick. You're more concerned about your relationship with Juliana than your relationship with Si." Carla said with a hand rested on her hip once again.

"Oh for god sake Carla just stop will ya." Nick cried, frustratingly.

"Watch it…" Peter warned, stepping towards Nick for raising his voice to Carla again. "You're already skating on thin ice Tilsley." Nick really wanted to argue back with Peter but instead he took a deep breath and looked at Leanne.

"I'll talk to Simon…" He began.

"No you won't." Peter very quickly interrupted, "You'll leave him alone until he's ready to talk to you."

"Peter… I" Nick began but Peter shook his head adamantly and said,

"I mean it Nick. He's my son n I said he'll talk to you when he's ready… If I hear that you've been hassling him in anyway to talk to either of you then there will be trouble." Peter gave Nick a firm look of warning before he calmly turned around to Carla and said, "We're done ere love, you coming back to mine or what?" He asked, holding out his hand for Carla to reach out and take.

"Yes baby." She replied, using her free hand to take hold of Peter's and with that, The pair of them left Leanne and Nick alone whilst they headed towards Peter's flat.


	70. Fifty Fifty

Another Friday night had arrived in Weatherfield and Peter, Carla and Simon were sat in the flat waiting for some Chinese food to be delivered. After it was decided that no one in the Barlow household could be bothered to cook dinner, Peter, Carla and Simon had all decided that it'd been a while since they had ordered some Chinese food, so within minutes, the three of them were looking over a takeaway menu that was kept magnetised to the fridge.

Simon was already out of his school uniform and dressed in a pair of dark jeans with a black sweatshirt on top and he was sat on his grey sofa with his phone in his hand. He was going to a birthday party later on in the evening so he was especially eager for the food to arrive so he could eat and then leave to meet his friends at eight thirty pm.

"Is Santana going to this party then?" Carla asked. She was sat next to Simon on the sofa whilst Peter was sat an armchair close by. She and Peter were both in the outfits that they had worn to work, Carla's being a black pair of jeans with a fitted grey shirt and Peter's being a black shirt and tie with black trousers to go with it.

"No." Simon said, shaking his head. "She hates Junior and it's his party. He invited her because she's my girl n that but she said there's no way that she'd be caught dead at a party of his, so yeah..." Carla nodded understandably, looking half amused as Peter raised an eyebrow at Simon and said,

"_Your girl_ eh?"

Simon nodded back at his Dad with a rather pleased look on his face as he then said,

"She is my girl, although I haven't seen her for almost a week now…" Santana had ended up having a whole week off school because it turned out she had caught a virus. Simon had gone round to visit her on Tuesday night but Juliana, her mother wouldn't even let him through the front door because the virus was supposedly contagious and she didn't want him to catch it.

"How's she doing?" Carla asked, putting both feet underneath her on the sofa and making herself comfortable.

"Yeah, she's alright I think, I spoke to her earlier and she's stopped being sick n stuff, she just feels a bit weak cause she's been in bed all the time. Unfortunately Carmen's caught the bug now and she's having a really rough time of it too, Santana said she's been crying every time that she has been sick." Simon said.

"Awww the poor little thing." Carla said looking sad at the thought of Santana's adorable little sister now being ill as well.

"I know…" Simon said, nodding along with Carla. "I'm gonna meet up with Santana tomorrow though, maybe we'll go for a coffee or something, anything really. I've missed her loads."

"Oh come on Si, it's only been a week." Peter said, grinning at his son who truly seemed smitten, even at the age of almost thirteen.

"Yeah that's ages…" Simon said then he nodded towards Carla and said, "Imagine how you'd feel if you didn't see Carla for that long…"

"To be honest kid, I'd be glad for the peace n quiet…" Peter joked, although given the mood his wife had been in throughout the week, he did wonder if she had something on her mind that she wasn't quite telling him.

"Oi!" Carla cried, picking up a cushion from the sofa that she and Simon were sat on and launching it towards Peter. "You'd be so lost without me Peter Barlow!" Peter caught the cushion Carla had thrown at him expertly and chuckled before he said,

"I'm joking, darlin you know that even one minute without you would feel like seven years…"

"Oh no you don't, don't back track now… it's too late." Carla said shaking her head. Peter frowned in a jokey fashion before getting up off the chair he was sat on and moving towards her.

"I'm serious…" He said, getting right up and close to Carla's face which always made her grin… even if she didn't really want to, "You're right I would be totally and completely lost without you." Peter puckered up his lips for a kiss and of course, Carla just simply couldn't resist him.

As she leant into kiss Peter back, Simon just raised an eyebrow at them and then checked his phone for any messages to pass the time.

"Are you finished?" He asked when his Dad and Carla pulled away from each other.

They both nodded at him in a triumphant fashion and as Peter sat back down in the armchair he asked Simon,

"Are you nervous about seeing Santana tomorrow then?"

"Yes." Simon nodded, sighing and shaking his head in a way that made Carla tut loudly and say,

"I can't believe that they still haven't come clean yet."

"I can." Simon sighed again. Carla absolutely hated the look that her Stepson had on his face when thinking about the situation between his Mum and Nick and whenever she saw it, she always began to get angry again.

It had been three days since the rather heated exchange Carla, Peter, Leanne and Nick had had outside Victoria court and from what it had looked like, neither Leanne nor Nick had told the truth about what they had done.

Carla and Peter had both seen Kal at the gym during the week and whilst there, he showed no signs of knowing about a betrayal. Simon also knew that had Nick been honest to Juliana about things, he would receive a call from Santana within minutes of her finding out.

"Y'know I've a good mind to call Kal n Juliana up myself…" Carla said, shaking her head again. She looked at Peter who nodded and then at Simon who just shook his head and sighed.

"I think Leanne n Nick ave got it in their head that because it was a one time thing, they should just keep it a secret…" Peter began, "I reckon they think that it'll save Juliana n Kal from getting hurt if they don't say anything."

"Yes n that would be slightly more acceptable if Si weren't involved wouldn't it?" Carla said, "He knows about it so they need to rethink that stupid little plan, he's not happy keep it a secret are you Si?"

"No." Simon replied and then he looked between his Dad and Carla and asked, "Are… you two gonna keep it a secret?" Peter shrugged because he wasn't really sure about what he wanted to do whilst Carla looked more serious about the situation, She had wanted to come clean from the moment she had found out but she looked directly at Simon as she said,

"We'll do what ever you want us to Si…" She gave Simon a loving smile as she then said, "If you want us to get more involved then we will."

"We just want to keep you happy." Peter nodded in agreement, looking at Carla admiringly and then back at Simon who gave them both an appreciative smile.

"Thank you… but y'know what? I think right now… I just want to ave a good night."

"Fair enough." Peter nodded in agreement.

"Okay, well let's stop talking about them n talk about something else shall we?" Carla asked as Simon reached forwards and put his phone down on the table in front of them.

"Eh y'know what we could talk about…" Peter said with a rather gleeful smile on his face. It was a smile that had Carla curious for a moment and she waited for Peter's response which was, "That little vow renewal we've got coming up soon."

"Yeah…" Simon nodded, looking as if he was interested in talking about his Dad and Carla's wedding too but surprising them both, She just shrugged a little indifferently and responded with,

"It's in December… it's hardly coming up is it?"

"Are you kidding?" Peter asked, slightly taken aback by Carla's lack lustre response. She looked at him blankly as he then said, "It's only what… Six months away now."

"Yeah... I know." Carla nodded, folding her arms. Simon watched her curiously for a moment and then turned to his Dad who was clearly a little shocked by the way his wife had responded to the conversation about their vow renewal.

"So…" Simon began, "What ave you two organised so far? Ave you booked that posh venue in Cheshire that you were looking at in April?"

"No… we said we'd look around a bit more first didn't we Carla…" Peter said as he began thinking back. He very soon realised that he and Carla hadn't spoke properly about their vow renewal for weeks now.

"Yeah…" Carla nodded, staring at the television as if she really couldn't care less although she now had a finger in her mouth and she was chewing on a nail as if she was deep in thought.

Peter couldn't quite believe that they hadn't had more conversations about this by now and when he thought about things even more, he realised that whenever they did speak about the wedding, Either it was him or a friend who'd brought the subject up. This was the most strange thing about the situation to Peter because when they were engaged the first time around, he and Carla could barley have a conversation without her mentioning December fourth.

"Maybe we should just go with that hotel in Cheshire, love…" Peter said observing Carla who was still looking at the television and acting as if they had all the time in the world to sort their wedding out. "After all, we both loved it didn't we?"

"Yeah… but it'll probably be booked by now…" Carla said nodding coolly, something was off with her tone as she spoke, Simon didn't notice the difference in Carla's voice but Peter did and he was sure she was hiding something from him.

"Ave you got a dress in mind yet?" Simon asked Carla who finally took her eyes off the telly.

"Not really…" She said shaking her head again.

"Really?" Simon asked, "You've not seen one that you like yet?"

"Well I aven't really been looking if I'm honest with ya Si." Carla said, looking over at the clock and wishing that the Chinese food would arrive any moment now.

"Seriously?" Peter asked, even more stunned now than he was before.

"Yeah course, why would I say it otherwise?" Carla said half laughing and half nodding at Peter who genuinely looked flabbergasted.

"I gotta say I'm surprised…" He started, looking at Simon who also couldn't believe that Carla hadn't been spending what spare time she had googling wedding dresses when the last time, wedding dress talk was all that he and his Dad would hear. "I mean I'm sure the very night we got engaged the first time, I caught you on that pinterest thing looking at dresses n now…"

"Yes well I've not had time baby…" Carla replied knowing that Peter was beginning to think that something was obviously up, she shook her head and was just about to try and change the subject when the sound of Peter's buzzer interrupted her thoughts. "Finally…" She practically jumped off the sofa to get the food and as she walked over to his intercom Peter called out,

"Saved by the bell eh?"

"Give over." Carla scoffed, shaking her head as she picked up the intercom. Simon took this opportunity to turn to his Dad and ask,

"She's being weird, right?"

"Definitely." Peter nodded, watching Carla as she opened the door to wait for the delivery person to bring up the food. "Don't worry though… I'll find out what's wrong with her later..." He said to Simon who looked slightly concerned. "Trust me Si, I can get Carla to tell me anything, come on, let's get some plates ready."

Simon nodded at his Dad and got up to go to the kitchen as Carla paid the deliveryman. Him and his Dad got enough plates and cutlery together as Carla then closed the door and walked into the kitchen with the white bag full of delicious Chinese takeaway food in her hands.

"I'm so excited for this, I'm starvin… I didn't eat lunch today either, there were some cock up with an order at work…" Carla said, putting the food down on the counter in front of her. Peter smiled back at his wife, wondering if maybe he should re-start the conversation about their wedding when she was finished telling her story about work but then Simon began chatting about a programme they'd all just started watching on Netflix so Peter thought against it and decided he'd question Carla about how peculiar she was acting later on.

* * *

After practically stuffing themselves with Chinese food. Peter, Carla and Simon rested together on the sofa watching telly and talking until Simon had saw that time was getting on and that it was almost time for him to go.

At seven forty five, he offered to load the dishwasher with their empty plates and then he made sure that the kitchen was spic and span in an effort to try and keep his Dad and Carla sweet so that when he tried to negotiate with them in a little while they'd be more likely to say yes.

"Cheers for that Simon…" Peter said, nodding appreciatively from the sofa where he was now sat with Carla tucked neatly underneath his arm. After their meal, she had affectionately pulled Peter off his armchair and onto to the sofa with her and Simon.

She tenderly kissed him on the cheek every so often and had a tight grip on one of his hands and whilst Peter knew that Carla was still acting slightly strange, he was glad that whatever it was that seemed to be bothering her, hadn't affected her attitude towards him.

"No problem… I'm happy to help." Simon said as he left the kitchen and began to put on his best pair of trainers. Once he was done he walked over to the coffee table where he'd left his phone and as he picked it up, Peter looked at Carla and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Now… I hate to do this Si but I think we should just talk about this party for a sec." Peter said, his voice telling Simon that he was probably going to get a talking to about the party he was about to go to.

"Dad…" Simon began, sighing a little as his Dad sat up and actually let go of Carla so he could face him properly.

"Si I know that you're not stupid…" Peter began, "But I do know that you're growing up, So please… just make good choices tonight yeah?"

"Dad, Junior's Mum n Dad are going to be there… and his big sister." Simon explained with an eyebrow raised, "You spoke to them both on the phone last night, they told you everything is going to be fine."

"I know they did…" Peter nodded with Carla still sat behind him, she leant forwards and rested her chin on Peter's shoulder as he then said, "But still, they can't have eyes everywhere can they?"

"Honestly Dad, it's just a thirteen year old's birthday party… there's only a few of us from school going n then Junior's family… it's not some huge rave or out…" Simon said but when his Dad frowned at him he very quickly changed his approach and said, "I promise you n Carla that I will make good choices n keep safe okay."

"Now that's the answer I was looking for." Peter nodded, smiling at Simon. He then looked at the clock and saw how eager his son was to get going to this party and said, "Go on then, I'll pick you up at eleven."

"I was thinking…" Simon began, pulling a face as if this had just been a light bulb moment rather than something he'd had on mind for a few hours now.

"Oh ere we go." Peter nodded, he looked at Carla who laughed and then nodded towards the kitchen and said,

"I told you he was trying to butter us up with all that cleanin didn't I?"

"Hear me out…" Simon insisted, "How about if you pick me up at midnight Dad? All of Junior's family will be there at that time anyway, they like to party into the early hours so you know I'll be safe." Carla grinned at Peter who turned to look at her again with an eyebrow raised,

"What d'ya reckon?" Peter asked Carla, she acted as if she was actually thinking about it for a moment and then looked at Simon who looked even more optimistic and then said,

"There's gonna be loads of adults there, besides you let me stay out at that new years eve party till way past midnight that time, I'll behave meself I promise." Simon was looking so hopeful between both his parents that Peter just couldn't bare to say no.

"Alright… midnight it is." He said, giving in.

"Yes!" Simon said, punching the air before saying, "Thanks, Bye Dad… Bye Carla." He quickly waved excitingly at them both before heading towards the door just in case his Dad changed his mind.

"Text us when you get there won't ya?" Peter said to which Simon nodded back at him.

"Ave fun Si." Carla called from the sofa.

"I will." Simon said before he opened the door and let him self out. He was down the stairs and out the door in minutes, totally pleased to head towards his best friends birthday party and to share the news that he could stay later than planned.

Meanwhile back in the flat, Peter turned back around to face Carla, who was still smiling about Simon.

"I can't believe he's already off to his first house party..." Peter said, sounding sentimental but Carla read his slightly anxious expression and moved closer to him.

"You're worried aren't you?" She asked.

"I know he's a sensible kid… it's just… well so I was I once upon a time…" Peter nodded as Carla pulled him towards her by his tie.

"Once upon a very long time ago." Carla smirked as she put both arms around Peter's neck, she then expertly slid onto his lap without him even realising at first.

"Oh, I _so_ knew that was coming." Peter nodded, giving Carla a sideways look. She laughed as she gently rested her forehead against his and after a moment she said,

"Back to Si for a second, now I'm not saying that he's going to behave one hundred per cent how you'd like him to tonight but I honestly reckon he's going to be fine… He detests smoking we all know that after the way he acts around you when you smoke in front of him n as for drinking…" Peter swallowed hard and looked down at this point which made Carla gently lift up his chin and say, "He always says that he never wants to touch the stuff doesn't he?"

"I know he does…" Peter said quietly, "He seems really adamant about it too."

"Well there you go then." Carla nodded giving Peter an encouraging smile, "Simon needs this sort of opportunity to prove to us that he's responsible… going through this sort of thing is what being a parent is all about."

"You're right." Peter nodded, smiling at Carla appreciatively as he then said, "You're always right."

"Oh I know." Carla said, nodding smugly as she began stroking the back of Peter's neck in a way he'd felt her do many many times before. He leant in and gave a quick kiss on the lips before determining that maybe now would be a good time to mention their upcoming vow renewal again.

"Hey... ave you really not been looking at dresses?" He asked, which made Carla roll her green eyes at him.

"I said so didn't I?" She said, smiling at Peter who frowned at her slightly. "What you lookin at me like that for?" She asked, still sat on his lap as she began to fiddle with his tie.

"I just find it hard to believe that's all…" Peter said as Carla continued to undo with his black tie, she began pulling it off him as he said, "I mean… if I didn't know any better I'd say that you almost don't want to talk about the renewal at all…"

"You don't know any better..." Carla smiled, pulling Peter's tie off him gently. He silently chuckled as she threw his tie behind her and then turned her attention to his black shirt.

"Well… am I right?" Peter then asked, staring at Carla intently. She shook her head slowly and sighed as she continued un-buttoning Peter's shirt. "Something's not right love… I know it…" Peter said but then Carla leant forward and began kissing him on his neck so tenderly that he knew this conversation wasn't about to last for too long. "Especially when I think about how moody you've been this… past… week…" Peter trailed off as he was speaking because he was finding it categorically hard to concentrate with Carla's soft lips pressed against his bare neck.

"I'm always moody." She said, not actually taking her lips away from his neck as she spoke.

"Carla…" Peter said after finally getting some sort of strength and gently pulling Carla away from his body so he could look at her properly for a moment. "Talk to me love… Are you okay?"

"Peter… we've got the next three hours or so to our selves ere… there's plenty of time for… talking..." Carla whispered, smiling suggestively and pushing Peter's shirt of his shoulders in a hasty fashion.

"You… didn't answer my question." Peter said, breathing harshly whilst Carla moved her hands from his shoulders to somewhere else, somewhere further down his body.

"I'm fine." She replied, leaning in to kiss Peter once more, "We're fine… n we'll talk afterwards… I promise."

"After what?" Peter asked although with Carla perched his lap with both legs either side of his body, he knew exactly what she had in mind.

"You know what." Carla replied, licking her lips and running a hand through her hair.

"Honestly… You've got a one track mind these days Mrs Barlow." Peter responded, deciding that right now, them talking after what ever they were about to do next was probably the best he was going to get out of Carla on the vow renewal situation.

"Do I?" She asked huskily, as Peter started undoing the buttons on her grey shirt. "I hadn't noticed?"

"Really?" Peter chuckled after Carla had leant in for another passion-fuelled kiss. "I don't think there's been a night this week that you've not been sat in my lap like this… not that I blame you of course or that I'm complaining either."

"Good…" Carla replied, getting up off the sofa with her grey shirt half undone and then pulling a half dressed Peter up with her. "Come on…" She said and with that, she was already dragging Peter towards his bedroom.

* * *

"Alright…" Peter said, yawning and walking out of his bathroom towards the living room where Carla was sat on his sofa, she was wrapped in his big black dressing gown as he asked her, "Can we talk now?" It was now just gone ten o'clock and after spending the past few hours in the bedroom… doing a lot of things other than talking, Carla and Peter had ventured into the living room to do just that… talk.

"You better put some clothes on…" Carla smirked as a topless Peter walked towards her, "Otherwise I might get a little distracted."

"Yeah yeah." Peter said, sitting down next to Carla on the sofa who took a deep breath. "Come on then gorgeous, why don't you want to talk about our wedding?"

"I do." Carla said, nodding adamantly albeit a little slowly. "I really really do."

"So? Why did you completely shrug off the subject earlier? N how come you aven't been looking at dresses yet?"

"Why? Ave you got a suit in mind then?" Carla asked smartly, raising her eyebrow as she then said, "Ave you been searching the term _wedding suits_ on Pinterest on your lunch break then?"

"Actually I ave got a suit in mind." Peter said nodding at Carla in a rather pleased way. She looked as if she didn't believe him which made Peter nod again and say, "I ave… I saw one in a magazine the other day… ask Si if you don't believe me cause I showed it to him n I said that I'd look like a right sex god in that particular suit, he was mortified..." Carla laughed at Peter and shook her head as he winked at her flirtatiously and then said, "Anyway we're not talking about me are we? Back to you, why aven't you been dress shopping or even looking yet, when the last time it was all you could talk about?"

"That's exactly it Peter…" Carla began, she sighed a little and shook her head as Peter suddenly looked slightly uneasy and asked,

"You do want to do this right? You still want to renew our vows don't you?"

"Of course." Carla practically cried, reaching out and taking hold of one of Peter's hands because she desperately and completely wanted to renew her vows to him.

"Then what is it then?" He asked, moving up closer to Carla and watching her carefully.

"I just… Peter I don't want it to be like last time…" Carla began, she looked down guiltily as she then added, "I mean... I were a bit of a bridezilla the last time wasn't I?"

"A bit?" Peter grinned, earning a playful shove from Carla who looked up and said,

"See…" She shook her head as Peter looked apologetic and then she said, "Every time I think about planning it… I just remember how it were before y'know… how much we bickered about the most stupid things like wedding favours n the music... I remember how…"

"How un-interested I was?" Peter interrupted, looking even more sorry now as he realised that this was probably why Carla had been avoiding the situation. "How I were no help n how you did it all on your own."

"Don't look like that Peter." Carla said softly, "You had so much going on at the time with Simon… I should ave really had my priorities in order more… I should ave supported you with Si more when he was being bullied. I shouldn't have put some much pressure on you. I shouldn't have put so much into the wedding n more into our relationship… maybe if I had done then…"

"Don't you even dare." Peter said firmly, shaking his head because he knew exactly where Carla was going with this. "What I did with Tina had nothing to do with you or the wedding… you must know that…"

There was suddenly a moment of horrible silence and the silence came because Carla and Peter hardly ever talked about his cheating. It was a subject that had been buried in the past because it never really needed talking about. Peter felt his throat grow dry as Carla licked her lips nervously and said,

"Look, Baby I won't lie to you, I've been hesitant to bring up the vow renewal because… I were really worried I would get too caught up in it like last time… Don't get me wrong I'm dead eager to talk venues, flowers, music n all that other crap but I'm more eager to just focus on us… I'd really hate for anything to take us back to that place… y'know… the one where we argued non stop."

"We won't go back there..." Peter said, "We're different people now, especially me n I don't want you to think I'm not interested because I am… I'm _highly_ interested in marrying you again… hell I'd do it all again tomorrow if I could…" Carla smiled at how enthusiastic Peter voice had become and as he continued, she laughed silently. "I mean I've been looking at suits for god sake… me, Mr leave everything last minute…" Peter laughed lightly and shook his head as he said, "Oh Carla I wish you would ave talked to me about this sooner."

"I know…" Carla nodded, "N I was gonna bring it up I just didn't know when, we've been so happy n I just, I dunno I thought it would put a right downer on things. Plus you've been so busy at work, with your promotion n then all that stuff with Claire. Then we've had all the stuff with Si n Leanne n Nick… I just didn't know when would ave been the right time to say it." Peter nodded at Carla who moved towards him even more and said, "I'm so sorry baby."

"Don't apologise love… I'm just glad that we're at least talking about this now." Peter replied with a sigh. "N whilst you may ave been a tad on the Bridezilla side back then, I really could ave shown some more interest in our wedding, I mean you did such an amazing job in organising that whole day… it really was beautiful... Then I went n ruined it." Peter looked throughly miserable as he thought about their last wedding, hating how to blame he felt for Carla not wanting to plan their renewal.

"You see this is why I didn't know when to bring this up... It's awkward as hell." Carla said, nodding down at her and Peter's entwined fingers.

"It is awkward but it's a good thing… I think." Peter said as Carla looked up at him. "I can't believe you aint said anything before, didn't we promise to always be honest with each other, Carla?"

"Yeah we did say that…" Carla nodded, she bit her lip and then looked up at Peter. "And I am being honest… it's just delayed honesty that's all n just for the record, don't you ever sit ere n think that I don't want to re-marry you…" Carla gave Peter a soft kiss on the lips before she leant back a little and said, "I love you Peter Barlow… Of course I want to renew our vows."

"Well next time can you not delay the honestly?" Peter asked, smiling at Carla fondly.

"Yes." She nodded, staring at Peter earnestly and in a way that made him feel a lot better about the situation. "I promise I will."

"Good." Peter said. Carla watched him for a moment sideways and she had such a curious look on her face that it made him ask, "What?"

"Well I'm just wondering if you're worried about anything that's all…" She asked, moving towards Peter slowly.

"Me?" Peter replied, putting an arm around Carla and kissing her on the side of her head.

"Yes you." Carla nodded, sinking into Peter's body and leaning against his bare torso.

"No." Peter said shaking his head, Carla looked up at him with her eyebrows furrowed together. "I mean it… Obviously I worry about Simon n stuff but I'm honestly in such a great place right now… we're in a great place right now… we're going to be fine, I know it." Carla didn't answer him and clung onto his body tighter so Peter then said, "But if I do get worried about anything… I promise I'll tell you about it."

"Make sure you do." Carla said, kissing Peter on his bare chest tenderly, Peter moaned softly as she pressed her bare lips against his skin and when she raised her head, he said,

"Mmmm I love you too by the way." Carla smiled up at Peter and rested her head against his chest again.

"Is it really six months away?" Carla asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Yep." Peter nodded, "It really is… We better get organised really… Hey, I know…" Peter suddenly looked like he had a fabulous idea and grinned as Carla turned to look at him. "How about I take care of it all n you just find out what I've planned on the big day."

"What? n end up like those foolish women on Don't Tell The Bride? Errr I think not Peter." Carla said, shaking her head and poking him in his bare stomach."You'd ave us getting married on some muddy football pitch or something."

"Ow!" Peter chuckled although the poke he had received from Carla really didn't hurt. "Alright.. I ave another idea… how about sometime tomorrow me n you sit down n make some proper plans for this little shindig on December fourth, How does that sound eh?"

"What? Do it together? Fifty fifty?" Carla asked, sitting up right again and watching Peter who nodded.

"Yeah, Fifty Fifty. That's how it should ave been the last time." He said.

"That…" Carla began, smiling joyfully from ear to ear. "Sounds perfect…" She then jumped up from the sofa in an instant and began running.

"Eh? Where you going?" Peter asked amused as Carla headed towards the bedroom.

"To get the iPad!" Carla called, "If you've got a suit in mind, I better start sorting out me dress... Uh I can't believe I've left it so late!"

"Uh oh…" Peter laughed as Carla returned to the living room with his iPad in her hand. "I've created a monster."


	71. The Truth

_**Once again, I've been very busy recently, hence the lack of updates.**_

_**As always thanks to those who read and review... enjoy this chapter and let me know your thoughts!**_

* * *

Peter and Simon walked into Roy's Rolls café at one pm in the afternoon on Saturday and as Simon pointed at an empty table in the corner, Peter nodded at him and said,

"Sit there n I'll order breakfast." Simon nodded and went to sit down at the table whilst a cheery Peter walked up to the till and ordered two huge fry ups for their breakfast even though it was well past lunch time by the time they'd gone into Roy's Rolls. They were eating their breakfast so late because they hadn't actually been up for very long, due to a very unexpected but very pleasant late night.

Peter had gone to collect Simon from the party at midnight like he had promised and had taken Carla along with him even though she would have been pretty happy staying at home on her iPad looking at ideas for their vow renewal.

After her and Peter's talk, it was mighty clear that Carla was feeling much more at ease with the ideas for the ceremony and she genuinely smiled from ear to ear for the rest of the night.

Both Peter and Carla were slightly apprehensive upon arriving to Junior's house because they weren't sure exactly what they might find, they knew Simon was only almost thirteen and that he was sensible but they both still had a tiny worry that Simon might be up to no good at this big birthday party, espeically when they pulled up to the house in Peter's car at midnight and saw that the house seemed to still be full of people.

Junior's parents welcomed both Peter and Carla right into their family home and it was then they found Simon sat in the front room with a gang of his mates all playing a football game on the XBOX, he was laughing and joking about but most of all he was completely fine.

Carla and Peter gave each other a secretly relieved smile when they saw Simon, especially when they had realised how many of Junior's family members were actually at the party and supervising it.

Juniors Mum and Dad, who were called Adele and Theodore, introduced Peter and Carla to almost everyone, which included a lot of Aunties and Uncles and then they were pretty much force fed some birthday cake. After a lot of chit chat and drinks, it was almost one thirty am by the time Simon, Peter and Carla had left Juniors house but they had all left in good spirits, especially Simon.

They were home by one forty five am but Simon was insistent on filling in his parents on the "Totally epic" party he'd just been too so by the time they had all gone to bed it was almost three thirty am which meant that no one in the Barlow household was up until twelve pm. Carla had chosen to stay in bed because she was still tired and had a headache, whilst Peter and Simon had gotten up and fancied a cooked breakfast, which is why they were walking into the café without her and as Peter sat down opposite his son he said,

"Carla's really going to regret not coming out for breakfast when she wakes up."

"Yeah…" Simon nodded, looking amused, "Maybe we should take her a bacon sandwich back or something."

"Yeah… that sounds like a good idea." Peter nodded, he smiled at Simon happily and then decided he was going to tell him all about his chat with Carla last night. "So… I managed to find out why Carla was acting so off about our vow renewal…"

"Did ya?" Simon asked, he had guessed last night that his Dad must have gotten through to Carla because they were in one of their extremely touchy feely moods and he could tell by the pretty much ecstatic look on Carla's face last night, that her mood had definitely been changed.

"Yep…" Peter nodded at a curious Simon who waited patiently for an answer. "I don't know if you remember me and Carla planning our wedding the first time around… do you?"

"Errr… I remember... Carla planning it." Simon said, half grinning. "If I'm honest I don't remember you doing much to help. Dad." Simon stopped talking because he was worried he might offend his Dad but Peter nodded at him and said,

"Exactly. I was useless Si… I was distracted for a whole load of reasons that I won't get into right now. Me and Carla spent more time arguing about our wedding then actually being excited for it... Which isn't right."

"So... is that why she didn't want to talk about it this time?" Simon asked.

"Pretty much." Peter nodded, "She said that she was worried we'd end up like we did the first time around… I don't blame her to be honest... but we won't end up in that place... I'll make sure of it."

"Dad…" Simon said shaking his head sympathetically because he could see the amount of guilt his father was still carrying about his past and the way he treated Carla. "Don't blame your self."

"Well who else should I blame Si?" Peter asked as Roy Cropper brought over his coffee and Simon's coke. "Cheers Roy."

"You made mistakes, Dad." Simon began as Roy walked away. "But it's what you're doing now that's important."

"I know." Peter nodded slowly, "But still… I can't help how ashamed I feel… I don't think I'll ever get over what I did… I'll never forgive me self."

"But Carla has..." Simon said nodding adamantly, "I know that she's has forgiven you… one day you will too Dad, I'm sure of it. As I said, it was just a mistake wasn't it?"

"A bloody big mistake… the worst one I could ever of made." Peter sighed again.

"Yes well you can't go back in time can ya Dad?" Simon said, "Everyone has stuff they regret don't they… everyone makes mistakes but I think it's how you deal with em that makes you who you are."

Peter couldn't help but grin widely at his son's rather forgiving and mature attitude, which made Simon look slightly confused and in the end he had to ask,

"What?"

"Well… whilst I honestly appreciate everything that you've just said… where's this attitude when it comes to your Mum n Nick?" Peter replied, with an eyebrow raised.

"That's different." Simon immediately said, staring down at his glass of Apple juice.

"Is it?" Peter asked, "Or is it just that the situation with your Mum n Nick is still fresh in your mind?" Simon just shrugged at his Dad and didn't say anything for a while. He picked up his juice and took a sip whilst Peter cleared his throat and said, "It's been almost a week Simon n you haven't really spoken to your Mum about it yet."

"That's because I don't know what to say." Simon mumbled, "I've told her how it made me feel… I don't know what else to do… especially since it's pretty obvious that she n Nick haven't come clean yet… I mean how am I meant to face Santana after this, I'm meant to be meeting her in town at four pm… Dad I'm dreading it, I don't know what to do… whether to sit there n pretend I don't know that her Mum's boyfriend has cheated on her or just come out with it all…" Simon sighed and shook his head as he then said, "Should I just tell her, Dad?"

"I…" Peter began, shrugging himself this time and sighing at the depressed look on his child's face because only a few minutes or so ago he had looked a thousand times happier. "I think you should do what's right… and as hard as it is... what's right… is to tell the truth… take it from someone who knows kid, Lying cost me Carla… lying cost me a proper relationship with you because I had to leave just to sort meself out… I'll never get those years back Simon… never."

"So you're saying I should tell Santana the truth then?" Simon asked, watching his Dad carefully.

"Well I'm not saying that it should be you who does it? I don't mind speaking to Juliana myself, It would be awkward as hell and it's not my place but if it helps you I'll do anything but… ultimately… yes…" Peter nodded, "The truth needs to come out in the end."

"I know." Simon nodded dejectedly, he sighed again and took a sip of his Apple Juice before he heard his Dad say,

"So… what do you want to do then? I could pop round to Santana's place…"

"It shouldn't have to be us…" Simon began, but then he stopped talking when he saw who had just entered the café. It was Leanne. She had dark circles underneath her eyes but she looked a lot brighter when she saw that Simon was sat in the café with Peter. He took a breath as she slowly approached the table and wished that this wasn't happening.

"Hi…" Leanne nervously said, remembering the heated conversation that she'd had with Peter about only talking to Simon when he was ready and when he had initiated the conversation.

"Alright…" Peter said politely, nodding towards Leanne and then looking at Simon, who sniffed and bit his lip. Leanne smiled at him lovingly and gave him a awkward nudge as she said,

"I saw that picture of you n your mates on Instagram last night… looks like you had a lot of fun at that party."

"Yeah…" Simon said quietly, not even looking at his Mum and swallowing as Peter picked up his coffee cup for a sip. "We did."

"Good…" Leanne nodded, "I'm glad." She paused as Simon stared at his Dad as if he had nothing else to say and then said, "I've missed you Simon…" Leanne waited for Simon to respond but when he didn't and got out his phone to check if he had any messages, She nodded slowly at him in a defeated fashion and then she said, "Well… I'll leave you to it…" Peter gave her a sympathetic nod as she walked towards the tills and once she was out of earshot, he leant towards Simon and said,

"Well… at least you two ave spoken… some people would call that progress." Simon shook his head at his Dad and sighed again before he said,

"I hope our food comes soon… I'm dead starving." It was clear to Peter that Simon was trying to change the subject so he nodded and went along with it, knowing that his son still found the situation troubling but when Leanne had paid for her sandwich to go and walked towards the door, she turned to wave at Simon and surprisingly, he waved back. It wasn't an enthusiastic wave or even a wave with a smile but it was an acknowledgement all the same and it made Peter smile because he knew that his son was starting to weaken when it came to Leanne.

Soon enough, Roy brought their breakfast to the table and as they tucked into it, Peter and Simon kept their conversation light hearted and stayed well of the topic of Leanne and Nick but eventually as time went on, it was clear that Simon was beginning to get anxious about his meeting with Santana.

During the casual chit-chat, Peter had been racking his brains for ways to help Simon and he almost had an idea when Simon's phone began vibrating in his pocket. Simon delved into it and pulled out his phone whilst Peter finished his last piece of toast. He watched Simon read what was on screen and he saw the look of slight relief spread across his son's face as he read the message he had just received.

"Who is it?" Peter asked curiously, going back to his coffee which was nearly finished.

"Santana…" Simon replied, tapping his screen and typing out a reply. "We're not meeting up until tomorrow now, she's still feeling a bit rough."

"Ahhh, I see." Peter nodded, putting his cup down and smiling at Simon who took a quick breath. "Well… that gives us a little bit of time then doesn't it?"

"Time?" Simon said confused, "What for?"

"To sort all of this out." Peter explained, he pointed down at Simon's plate, which still had a few pieces of bacon on it and said, "Finish your breakfast." Simon nodded at his Dad, albeit in a slightly confused way and picked up a piece of bacon, intrigued to see what his Dad seemed to have planned.

* * *

Peter walked into The Rover's Return pub almost two hours after finishing his breakfast with Simon. They ordered Carla a bacon sandwich with lots of brown sauce and had taken it back to her at the flat. She was still in bed when they had arrived and was very grateful that Peter and Simon had thought of her.

They sat with her and chatted for a while and then Peter and Simon popped over to Number one Coronation Street and went to visit Ken whilst they left Carla in the flat to shower and wash her hair.

After a few hours of catching up with his Dad, Peter left Simon at number one and as he walked up to the bustling bar in the pub he had a smile on his face. He saw his best friend Steve stood with his very pregnant wife Michelle and they were laughing at something as Peter said,

"Afternoon you two."

"Hi Peter." Michelle said grinning, as Steve approached the bar where Peter was stood with both his arms rested on it.

"What can I get ya?" Steve asked, he then added, "Me n Chelle were just discussing baby names."

"Oh yeah?" Peter asked, "Oh n I'll ave an orange juice please."

"Yeah, n so far we can't agree on a single one." Michelle said with a sigh, "If you even heard some of the suggestions Steve were coming out with... Honestly it's as if he wants our kids to get bullied."

"Eh they weren't all bad." Steve said, smiling as he poured Peter's orange juice into a glass.

"Yes… they were... they really were." Michelle laughed as Peter was handed his glass of Juice.

"Cheers." Peter said, handing Steve the money his drink before saying, "Eh don't worry about names too much right now, I mean you've got a while longer to think about it aven't ya?"

"Not really." Michelle replied with one hand on her growing bump. "I mean it's already May that means we've got what? Four months tops… and we've not just got one name to decide on, we've got two… plus we don't know the types of twins we're avin yet because we want it to be a surprise so we need at least two boys names and two girls names that go together."

"Why don't you check out one of those baby name books?" Peter suggested, "If they even do those anymore… I guess you can just look online these days."

"Yeah we did that this morning… all we've agreed on is that we want the twins to have Irish names." Steve said, putting an arm around Michelle and kissing her on the cheek lightly.

"Well… I for one, can't wait to meet the little leprechauns." Peter joked, nodding down at Michelle's ever growing bump. "Neither can the wife, we're always talking about how excited we are about becoming god parents."

"Awww good, where is Carla anyway?" Michelle said, wondering why Carla hadn't walked into the pub with Peter seeing as it was a Saturday and they were normally joined at the hip on the weekends.

"On her way…" Peter nodded, taking a sip of orange juice. "We've got some business to take care of..."

"Sounds very official." Michelle said, watching Peter who looked over at the only empty booth in the pub and then said,

"I'm going to nab that table over there before some one else does." He picked up his glass of orange juice and took it with him over to the only empty booth in the pub. He sat down on his own and waited patiently for Carla to arrive, wondering how on earth what he had organised was about to go.

Carla walked into The Rover's ten minutes after Peter had initially sat down and was wearing a white blouse and black jeans as she breezed through the doors of the very busy pub on that Saturday afternoon.

"Ello gorgeous…" She said cheerily, walking right up to the booth that Peter was sat in. He smiled in a pleased fashion and stood up as Carla rested one knee on the sofa to lean in for a kiss.

"Hi love." Peter said, after their lips parted, he breathed in and then said, "Mmmm you smell so good." Carla just smiled at Peter alluringly and gave him another very quick kiss before she said,

"I know… I'm going to go n grab a drink n say Hi to Chelle alright."

"Be quick." Peter nodded and after another quick but passion fuelled kiss, She walked to the bar to see her best friend.

"Hello." Carla said, standing at the only empty space at the very busy bar.

As it was almost Saturday night, it was starting to get very busy as Eva and Sean just turned up for a shift. Michelle and Steve were both stood behind the bar and walked towards Carla to return her Hello. They chatted for a while whilst Steve poured Carla's drink and after she paid for it, she smiled at them both and said,

"Right well I'll be over there with the hubby..." Carla said, leaving Michelle and Steve at the bar as she picked up her glass and walked back over to Peter. "Budge up then." She said to him, he moved up the sofa for her as she sat down next to him and asked, "How was your Dad then?"

"Yeah he's doing alright." Peter nodded, "I think his angina's playing up though, he looked a bit peaky today. Si's still with him now and Amy, he's got them playing cards with him."

"Oh sounds like fun." Carla nodded, taking a sip of her wine.

"Yeah… although I'm not sure Amy feels that way... How's your head?" Peter asked, remembering how earlier on in the morning Carla had woken with a headache.

"Yeah, it's pretty much gone… I took some aspirin before I jumped in the shower." Carla said nodding and smiling at Peter, "So come on then, why did ya want me to meet you in ere then? What are you up to, Barlow?"

"What?" Peter grinned, although he was trying to look innocent, "Can't a guy ask his wife to meet him in the pub for a drink without him being up to anything?"

"Don't even try it Peter, Y'know I've known you long enough to know when you're up to something so come on, what is it?" said Carla. Peter smirked at her as she moved right up so that she was sat up against him and after she raised both eyebrows suspiciously he caved and said,

"Alright… I've asked Leanne n Nick to meet us in ere…" Peter then looked down at his watch before saying, "Any minute now so it happens."

"Leanne n Nick… why?" Carla exclaimed, shaking her head at the mere thought of spending their afternoon with Leanne and Nick, especially given the current situation.

"Because… we need to talk, we need to help them sort this out." Peter explained.

"Peter, Leanne n Nick are both fully grown adults… even if they don't act like it, they don't need our help." Carla said, rolling her light green eyes at her husband and taking another sip of wine.

"Oh I think they do." Peter replied, "It's been a week Carla, Si's miserable, Leanne's miserable… I mean I don't give a toss about Nick but something's got to be done." Carla smirked when Peter said he didn't give a toss about Nick and then she nodded because she knew that he was doing all of this for Simon's sake.

"I spose you're right." Carla said as she nodded again, she smiled at Peter lovingly and then added, "Look at you being a peace maker eh… hang on though, why are we meeting in ere n not back at your place or even at Leanne's?"

"Because I figured we'll be on neutral ground if we meet in ere, maybe if we're around so many people there won't be an argument… or worse." Peter explained as Carla put her glass down on the table.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure about that." Carla said with a slightly irate look on her face as she thought about sitting opposite Leanne at any moment now. "I still wanna give Leanne Battersby a right smacking if I'm honest…" Carla looked at Peter who was watching her slightly amused and then said, "I'm being serious, This whole situation really gets me going... It's so unfair to Simon and it honestly makes me angry."

"I know it does…" Peter nodded slowly, turning his body to face Carla and then gently stroking her cheek, "It makes me angry too but… I reckon if we manage to keep our cool whilst in ere…" Carla smiled as Peter's hand slid down the side of her cheek and gently around the back of her neck as he said, "Then we can put that adrenaline that kicks in… to much better use once we get home."

"And you said _I_ had a one track mind." Carla quietly whispered, leaning in slowly as Peter did too. They were just about to kiss when they both heard the sound of a familiar voice say,

"Oh god, If you asked us to come ere just to watch you both slobber all over each other, then I think we'll pass."

Peter and Carla both moved apart and looked ahead of them to see Nick and Leanne stood next to the booth that they were cosily sat in together.

"Do you both wanna take a seat?" Peter said, knowing this conversation was not going to pleasant judging by the look on Nick's face.

"Not really." Nick replied, "I mean if I'm honest, I don't even know why we've come ere… I mean as I said the other day none of this has got nothing to do with either of you." Carla let out an exasperated breath whilst Peter's expression remained indifferent, He looked at Leanne instead and said,

"Sit down Lea."

"I'll get us some drinks shall I?" Nick said looking slightly defeated as Leanne sighed and sat opposite both Carla and Peter.

"Yeah go on…" Leanne replied whilst Peter comically picked up his almost empty glass of juice and said,

"Yeah cheers Nick, I'll ave another one of these…" Nick gave Peter a blank stare for a few seconds and then headed towards the bar leaving a rather agitated Leanne sat opposite Peter and Carla. There was a rather awkward silence at first but eventually, Leanne cleared her throat and eventually said,

"Where's Si?"

"Next door with his Granddad." Peter replied whilst Carla just continued to sit in silence.

"Does he know that we're doing this?" Leanne asked to which Peter shook his head.

"Nope, I told him I'd speak to you both but he doesn't know that it's happening right now."

"Oh… right." Leanne nodded slowly.

There was another silence until Nick came to the table with two glasses of wine, he put one down in front of Carla which surprised her because she wasn't expecting it and then another glass down in front of Leanne, he then turned around and went back to bar and he came back with another orange juice for Peter and a drink for himself too.

"Thanks." Peter said civilly, as Nick sat down opposite Carla.

"Yeah… thanks Nick." She said, finishing the first glass of wine she had and nodding down at the second that Nick had bought for her.

"You're welcome." He said stiffly. Carla and Peter both turned to look at each other and as their eyes met, they tried their absolute hardest not to grin or smile at the situation that they were currently in. Leanne shook her head at the pair of them and sighed loudly before saying,

"So come on then… get on with it, what are we doing ere?"

"Well... this whole situation needs to be sorted out really." Peter said after he removed his gaze from Carla, "And I thought if we meet here… around people that is, that we wouldn't get ourselves into a position where we were shouting and screaming at each other, like we did the other day."

"Fair enough." Nick nodded, "That conversation didn't really get us nowhere so I see your point."

"So we're agreed, No arguing then?" Peter said, looking between both Nick and Leanne, which prompted Leanne to roll her eyes and say,

"I bet you're loving this aren't ya?" She looked between him and Carla as she spoke and then said, "Acting as if you're a pair of saints, as if you've never lost your temper in ya life."

"We're not actually." Peter replied plainly, "Do you really think me n Carla ave nothing better to do that to sit in ere with the likes of you two?"

"We've all got things we'd rather be doing, Peter." Nick replied, rolling his eyes as he then said, "And as I recall this whole thing was you're idea so why don't you just say what you want to say so we can be done with it."

"Fine." Peter nodded, "Eventually you n Simon are going to have to speak to each other again." Peter said and this time he was looking at Leanne.

"Errr did you not see me in café earlier? I tried n look what I got." Leanne said miserably.

"You didn't tell me you saw Simon." Nick said, looking at Leanne, "What happened then?"

"Nothing, I tried to speak to him and he just gave me one word answers… He didn't even look at me, did he Peter?" Leanne said with tears in her eyes.

"At least he spoke… that's progress." Peter said, "And he waved at you on your way out. He's still hurting over what happened, all he can think about is Santana and how this is going to affect their relationship."

"They're teenagers... I'm sure they'll get over it." Nick sighed almost as if he had meant to keep that thought in his head rather than say it out loud.

"And?" Carla snapped, speaking for the first time since Leanne and Nick had arrived, when Nick didn't reply, Carla then spoke again and said, "It doesn't matter how old they are, Santana is very important to Simon… n what you two did has got him worried about loosing her… So what are you two going to do about it?"

"We should tell the truth." Leanne nodded, "We know that… it's just…" She looked at Nick who was staring down at his glass and then said, "We don't know how." Carla and Peter both watched Leanne for a moment and then looked at Nick who sighed and said,

"I really… really care about Juliana… you ave to know that." Leanne bit her lip as Nick spoke and Carla didn't know why but she really couldn't help but feel sorry for her, especially when Nick said, "I don't want to lose her."

"You'd rather lose Simon instead is that it?" Peter asked, his tone of voice not as casual as it had been when he had first started this conversation.

"No!" Nick practically shouted, earning a lot of attention from the punters in the pub, including Steve and Michelle who were watching from the bar, more than intrigued to see the four people sat in the booth adjacent to them. "Look…" Nick said, lowering his voice considerably, "This is difficult for me…" He then looked at Leanne and added, "For us."

"You think we don't know that?" Carla said, "As you keep reminding us me n Peter ave been where you are right now, We know what it's like."

"So learn from us then." Peter said nodding, watching both Leanne and Nick as he continued. "Listen to us... Please." Nick and Leanne looked at each other and then after a moment, Nick looked at Peter and Carla.

"How's Simon been this week?" He asked, looking genuinely concerned as he thought about the impact his and Leanne's actions have had on Simon.

"How do you think he's been?" Carla asked dryly, picking up the glass of wine Nick had bought for her and taking a sip.

"Downright miserable..." Peter replied, wanting to say a lot more to Nick for asking such a stupid question but eventually going against it, he then looked at Leanne and said, "He might not admit it… but he misses you, he really does and after speaking to him in the café earlier on today, he's actually being quite mature about all of this… and I know that once the truth his out there he will forgive you for this."

"You sure?" Leanne asked and Peter nodded adamantly.

"I'm sure." He said, He and Carla watched Nick sigh as Leanne took a very large deep breath and said,

"I'm going to tell Kal tonight…" She turned to Nick who had kept quiet and bit his lip and then she said, "Nick? Are you going to tell Juliana?"

"I…" Nick began, he looked at Peter whose eyebrows were furrowed together and nodded, "Yes… Yes I'll tell her... it's not fair on Simon, we shouldn't have put him in this position."

"No you shouldn't ave..." Carla replied, nodding at the pair of people in front of her. She did want to sit and tell Nick and Leanne that she thought that they were doing the right thing but she didn't want to patronise them any more than she had done already so she didn't say anything else.

"So…" Peter said delicately after a few moments of silence, "What's going to happen next?"

"What… do you mean?" Leanne asked quietly.

"With you two?" Peter replied, knowing he was being far too nosy for his own good.

"What's it got to do with you?" Nick instantly replied, giving Peter a dark look whilst Carla watched Leanne.

"I'm just curious, that's all." Peter said, "I mean if you two get back together then what's that? The fourth time around? Fifth?"

"Just mind your business." Nick said, picking up his glass and downing the rest of his drink in a hasty fashion. He then stood up and sighed before he said, "I guess I better go and see Juliana then… wish me luck?"

Leanne, Peter and Carla all said nothing and looked blankly at Nick as he waited in front of them like he was expecting a response. When he realised that they weren't going to say something, he walked off and left the pub.

"Wish me luck?" Carla scoffed, "Prat." Peter smirked at what Carla had just said for a moment and then, he looked at Leanne who had gone slightly pale.

"Lea…" Peter said softly, after watching her for a while. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…" Leanne sniffed, with tears in her eyes. "I better go as well." She said, getting up quickly and then picking up her bag. "Tell Simon I'm sorry won't ya?"

"We will." Carla said as Leanne took a deep breath and then left the pub. Carla turned to Peter as soon as Leanne had walked away from the both of them and said, "Well that went better than I thought it would."

"Yeah… it did." Peter nodded triumphantly, "Let's hope that they really do come clean tonight so that this can all be over n done with soon... Leanne looked pretty upset didn't she?"

"Yeah… but I don't think those tears were for Kal's sake." Carla replied, raising an eyebrow and linking her arm with Peter's.

"Really?" He asked, looking at Carla who nodded at him.

"Yep, I think it's because she wants Nick." She said and it was Peter's turn to raise an eyebrow this time.

"Really?"

"Yes really. Did you see her face when Nick said he really cared about Juliana? When he said that he didn't want to lose her… Leanne looked devastated... I think that she still loves him."

"And… how do you think Nick feels about her?" Peter asked, reaching forwards for another sip of juice.

"Not sure… I can't read him as well as I can read Leanne… I don't think even he knows what he wants to be honest." Carla said, as Michelle slowly walked over to the booth.

"Well that looked interesting." She said once she'd reached Carla and Peter. "What did Nick n Leanne ave to say for themselves then?"

"Did you tell her?" Peter asked, looking at Carla suspiciously.

"Maybe…" Carla said with a grin as Michelle nodded and sat down on the sofa opposite them, although she sat sideways with her bump sticking out because there was no way she'd fit behind the table given the fact that she was almost six months pregnant with twins. "Careful… you might get stuck." Carla laughed watching Michelle as she sat down in front of her and Peter.

"Ha ha very funny." Michelle said with a smile, She then looked at Peter with a smug look on her face and said, "Don't ave a go at Carla for telling me… cause I know that you told Steve... He told me this morning."

"You told Steve?" Carla gasped, smiling and nudging Peter in the side.

"Yes." Peter admitted with a grin of his own.

"Don't worry, we've not told anyone else." Michelle said, holding onto her bump. "So what's happening then? They both looked in a right state when they left."

"They're going to tell the truth." Peter explained.

"Well… we hope they are anyway." Carla said.

"Wow." Michelle nodded, "What does Simon think about all this?"

"He doesn't know." Peter said, picking up his glass of juice and finishing it. "We're gonna tell him in a little bit."

"But he'll be relieved… I think." Carla said, wondering how Simon is going to take this news and how it would affect his relationship with Santana.

"I just hope things can get back to normal… eventually." Peter replied, pushing Carla's glass towards her. "Drink up Mrs Barlow, so we can pop next door n tell Si." Carla grinned as she picked up her glass and as she began to drink, Michelle looked at Peter and said,

"So are you excited for the big football match tomorrow?"

"Don't…" Carla sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's all he's been going on about." Peter and Steve along with some of their other friends had tickets to a local football match in town and had been talking about it almost all week much to Carla and Michelle's displeasure.

"I'm really looking forward to it after the drama of this week." Peter nodded as Carla finished her wine, "Is Steve ready?"

"Yeah, he's looking for his footie shirt as we speak." Michelle laughed, rubbing her stomach softly.

The three of them, sat in the booth together and continued to talk about the football match for a while and then they went onto some of other subjects, including one about baby names.

"So yeah…" Michelle nodded, after filling Carla in on her and Steve's conversation this morning, "We cannot agree on anything… not even one name, you two better get choosing now."

"As if." Carla scoffed, "Chelle I'm not even pregnant."

"Yet." Peter replied with a soft smile, nudging Carla in the side. She smiled at him affectionately as Michelle spoke.

"Even so, you don't want to end up like me n Steve do ya?" She replied, "Get some names in mind ASAP." Carla laughed but Peter looked serious for a moment and then said,

"It's alright, Don't worry about us, besides I've already got a few." Michelle nodded but Carla looked stunned and smiled at Peter admiringly as she said,

"Seriously?"

"Yeah…" Peter said looking a little sheepish.

"Well what are they?" Carla asked, watching Peter who licked his lips nervously and smiled.

"Err… I don't know if I should say… I mean Michelle n Steve might steal em If I do." Peter said although Carla was still smiling at him in a way that made him smile back at her even more. "Besides, haven't we got enough to organise with this vow renewal without worrying about baby names too."

"Oh yeah how's that coming along?" Michelle asked, as Carla knew Peter was trying to change the subject.

"Slowly… but surely." Carla eventually said with a soft smile, "Which reminds me, we were going to talk about it properly today weren't we?"

"Yes." Peter nodded, "N we still can, we've got the whole evening to talk weddings."

"Weddings and baby names." Michelle joked, before slowly heaving herself up and off the sofa."Right, well I'll let you two go n tell Simon shall I?" She smiled at Carla and Peter who also got up and off the sofa. "Let us know how you get on, yeah?"

"We will." Carla said, reaching forwards and giving Michelle a quick kiss and hug. She smiled down at the very large baby bump and gave it a rub before Peter smiled at the two of them and said,

"Bye Michelle."

"Bye you two." Michelle said, waving at Carla and Peter who made their way towards the door of the pub.

Once outside, Peter took hold of Carla's hand and give it a kiss as they walked the few steps towards Ken's house. Peter was just about to knock on the door to his Dad's when Carla pulled him away slightly and smirked suggestively as she said,

"Hey… what happened to us putting our angry adrenaline to good use?"

"There goes that one track mind again." Peter laughed as Carla put an arm around him and pulled him towards her. He glanced at his Dad's house and then over at Victoria court with a grin before looking back at Carla and said, "We can always pop over to your place."

"And leave Simon in there… not knowing the fate of his Mum n Nick?" Carla said with a hand pressed against his chest.

"Well…" Peter whispered, "A little while longer won't hurt will it?" Carla and Peter both smiled at each other and then Peter said, "Is that really bad of us as parents?"

"Not _really_ bad." Carla responded, leaning in and giving Peter a soft kiss, She breathed in peacefully after their lips had parted and she just couldn't help but ask him, "Are you going to tell me about these names then?"

"Maybe…" Peter said quietly.

"Maybe?" Carla groaned, "Come on baby, You've got me so curious..." She gave Peter a playful shove as the door to number one opened right in front of them.

"Simon…" Peter said, staring at his son who was stood on the doorstep with his phone in his hand.

"Hi." Simon said, as Carla and his Dad moved backwards, "I was just going to call you." Simon explained, "Me Mum just text… she said she's telling Kal about Nick… she said that she's telling him right now."

"I know." Peter nodded, still holding onto Carla's hand as Simon closed the door to his Granddad's house. "Nick's telling Juliana too... We talked them into it."

"How?" Simon asked, intrigued, staring at his Dad as he felt Carla put an arm around him.

"I tell you back at my place." Peter began, as he his son and wife, began walking in the direction of his flat.


	72. Dessert & Distractions

_**What can I say?**_

_**Yes it has been almost two months since I updated this and Yes I am sorry, Please forgive me and enjoy this chapter :)**_

* * *

"Simon sit down will ya, you're starting to make me dizzy over ere." Peter sighed, sitting on the sofa and watching his anxious son pace back and forth the living room.

It had been almost an hour since Simon had received a text message from his Mum. A text message, which had explained that she was going to tell her boyfriend Kal that she had cheated on him and it had also been an hour since Simon had found out that Nick was going to tell Juliana about it too.

Simon would have been lying if he said that he wasn't worried about what this whole situation might do to his relationship with his girlfriend Santana and for the past hour he had not been able to sit still because he'd been so eager to find out what was going on.

"I'm sorry… I just can't concentrate… I wonder what's happening right now?" Simon said, biting his lip and looking at the clock on his Dad's wall, "It's been a while now right… do you think they know yet?"

"I dunno Si…" Peter said sympathetically, shaking his head slowly at his son whilst Carla came back into the living room after using the toilet. She looked concerned as she sat down in the armchair nearby to the coffee table and as Simon continued to walk back and forth around his living room, she looked at Peter who thought it would be a good idea to say, "Eh I tell you what, why don't we order a pizza or something, I'm starvin, aren't you two?"

"Nah… I'm not hungry." Simon said, shaking his head and checking his phone for about the fiftieth time that evening. "You two go ahead though."

"Carla?" Peter said, sighing again at the sight of his worried son and then looking over at his also worried wife, "Pizza?"

"Oooh definitely, I'm famished." Carla nodded, also watching Simon, who let out a frustrated moan and said,

"This is proper torture y'know."

"I'm sure Santana will phone you when she eventually finds out." Peter said, reaching for his phone so he could set about ordering some Pizzas. "Which might not even be tonight because I doubt Nick is going to tell Juliana if her and Carmen are around."

"Why don't you give Santana a text?" Carla suggested as Simon looked at the clock again and rolled his eyes, "Just a casual one, ask her what she's up to or summat n see if you can work out how things are going from there?"

"That's an idea." Peter said, unlocking his phone and nodding towards Carla, Simon looked as if he had thought about the idea of texting Santana for a moment and then he shook his head at both his Dad and Carla before saying,

"No… I better not, what if she already knows, what if she knows that I know?"

"Simon, I doubt Nick's going to mention that you're involved." Carla said, shaking his head, "He wouldn't do that to you, Nick really cares about you…" Peter raised an eyebrow at this comment but he didn't say anything as he used his phone to go on the Pizza Hut app. Carla however, had seen the intial look on Peter's face and then the unsure look on Simon's face and she felt it necessary to add, "Doesn't he Peter."

The stern tone in Carla's voice as she spoke was enough for Peter to change his expression and look up from his phone encouragingly as he said,

"Yes, yes Nick does. I'm sure that you're going to ave nothing to do with any of this, so please… don't worry son."

"I can't help it Dad, you said so yourself, What's right is to tell the truth, I should ave just done this days ago n then right now I wouldn't be stood ere feelin like this." Simon sighed, he had stopped pacing back and forth now and looked at his Dad and Carla as he said, "I don't wanna lie, Dad. If she asks me if I knew… I'm gonna ave to say yes."

"Santana will understand Si, if she does find out you knew I'm sure she'll get why you didn't say anything." Carla said with a encouraging nod.

"Do ya think she'll chuck us?" Simon said, looking worried as he walked towards his Dad and Carla.

"No." said Carla and Peter simultaneously, Simon took a deep breath and then bit his lip as he looked at the clock. It was almost six twenty pm and as Peter and Carla began discussing which pizza they were going to get, Simon started pacing back and forth again.

"You sure you don't want to join us in ordering some comfort food?" Carla asked Simon as he checked his phone again.

"Comfort food?" Simon said, almost chuckling for the first time in many many hours. "What do you two need comforting for?"

"Si, seeing you so worried about this has really got me n Carla on edge." Peter said, double-checking his and Carla's order, "We definitely need some junk food right now n so do you."

"Nah…" Simon sniffed, "I said I'm not hungry."

"Fair enough." Carla said, although she gave Peter a knowing look and he decided to make a few changes to his current order before clicking on checkout.

"Uh I just can't sit out ere any more." Simon said after a few more minutes and after his Dad had put the order through for the pizza. Simon had been wandering around the room the whole time and had only just stopped doing so as his Dad smirked at him in an amused fashion and said,

"But you're not sitting, you're standing."

"Ha ha." Simon said dryly, rolling his eyes at his Dad, "I'm going to go in my room n play the Xbox, maybe that'll keep my mind of it."

"Alright." Peter nodded, still sat on the sofa. "N yes I know that you said you're not hungry but we'll call you when the pizza comes alright."

"Alright." Simon nodded reluctantly, giving his Dad and Carla a nervous smile as he trudged towards his bedroom, he closed the door behind him and left his Dad and Carla sat in the living room on their own.

"Poor kid." Carla said, shaking her head and looking over at Simon's bedroom door.

"I wish we could help more..." Peter began, reaching over to his coffee table and putting his phone down onto it. "He's right it is torture." Peter sighed as he leant backwards and then said, "Our Simon's strong, he's been through a lot worse than this."

"I know he has… n I also know that he's going to be okay…" Carla nodded, still sat on the armchair nearby to the sofa, "But still, he shouldn't ave to deal with even half the stuff he's already been through."

"Yeah..." Peter nodded guiltily. Carla saw the rather ashamed look on her husband's face and she shook her head at him in an apologetic fashion as she said,

"Oh don't look like that, I so wasn't trying to make you feel bad, baby."

"I know, I know." Peter nodded, "But still, I can't help but feel to blame for all this… I mean it is my fault that Simon's been through so much before he's even turned thirteen… I was a terrible father to that kid."

"First of all none of this stuff with Leanne n Nick is down to you so you should definitely not feel to blame for that…" Carla began, shaking her head at him adamantly, "N as for the whole terrible father thing…"

"Oh come on Carla..." Peter interrupted, "I know you love me n all but even you know I was a useless Dad to that kid."

"Well what ever _you_ think, You're more than making up for it now…" Carla said, looking at Peter sympathetically and then smiling at him admiringly, "You're an amazing Dad to Simon, your relationship is better than ever, stronger than ever… I say it all the time but that kid worships the ground you walk on, anyone can see that…" Peter gave Carla a slightly proud smile as she nodded again and then softly said, "That's how I know Si's going to be okay… cause of you… and me of course but mostly you..." Carla paused for a moment as she watched Peter intently and continued to smile at him, "I know I don't say it enough Peter but… you, you're incredible."

"Get over ere." Peter said, his heart warmed at Carla's kind words and he waved her over to him as he spoke. She laughed silently as she quickly climbed out of the armchair. She was sat with Peter in the next second and as they joined lips, her arms went around his neck, Peter held her close. "Thanks." He said as they parted a little.

"For what?" Carla asked, keeping her arms wrapped around Peter's neck.

"Y'know… for sayin such lovely things about me." Peter replied, licking his lips and shrugging. "I don't deserve it."

"Yes you do... I could ave said a lot more about you." Carla said quietly, watching Peter endearingly, "N you're right, I do love you." Peter leant in again and kissed Carla gently on the lips before smiling at her affectionately and saying,

"I love you too."

* * *

It was a good thirty more minutes before the Pizza had arrived at Peter's flat, not that either he or Carla minded of course, they kept themselves occupied sitting in a more than comfortable embrace on his sofa and when they heard the buzzer, Peter called out,

"Si… the pizza's here!" Carla stood up off the sofa and walked towards the door to answer it as Simon slowly came out of his bedroom sighing. "You heard anything?" Peter asked Simon who walked towards him with his hands in his pocket.

"Santana's with her Dad tonight… her and Carmen who is still sick by the way, also her big sister is there cause she is back from Uni… They are all staying the night at his new place for the first time." Simon explained as Carla stood at the door and paid the pizza deliveryman. "I won't find out what's happened until tomorrow I guess." Carla smiled and said goodbye to the delivery man as Peter nodded at Simon and said,

"Well… I know it's going to be torture waiting to hear what happened but maybe… maybe you should at least try n enjoy the rest of tonight eh?" Peter pointed to the pizza that Carla was holding and as Simon looked at it, he saw that his Dad and Carla had obviously ordered him his own pizza as she had three boxes piled boxes in her hands.

"What happened?" She asked, walking to the kitchen counter with the pizzas, she was watching Simon in a concerned way as she did so and he smiled at her bravely as he said,

"Nothing… yet anyway, Santana's at her Dad's tonight so I guess that she'll find out tomorrow."

"Oh…" Carla replied as Peter walked around her and into his kitchen properly to get glasses down from his kitchen cupboard. "Well as horrible as it's going to be playin the waiting game, you should stay out ere with me n your Dad, try n enjoy yourself."

"Yeah…" Simon said, letting out a small chuckle as he looked at his Dad who went into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of coke. "That's what me Dad just said, you're like two peas in a pod sometimes." Simon couldn't help but grin at how alike his Dad and Carla could be.

"That's been said many times before." Carla smiled, "Although, at the same time there are many, many things that we don't agree on." Carla looked at Peter adoringly before she then went back to Simon and said, "Like Pizza toppings for example, so what's it gonna be? Are you gonna join us for some pizza then? We got your favourite."

"I guess… I could eat some…" Simon said nodding, deciding that both his Dad and Carla were right and he needed to try and have a good time tonight.

"That's the spirit." Carla smiled, reaching and pulling Simon into a quick hug as Peter began pouring drinks, "N we are not going to talk about your Mum or Nick for the rest of the evening, agreed?"

"Agreed." Simon nodded slowly.

"Come on then, let's take these over to the sofa eh?" Carla said as she picked up the pizza boxes and nodded towards the sofa and as Simon followed her, he decided that he really would try to have as much fun as he could tonight.

"So what are we watching then?" Simon asked as he walked over to the armchair near the sofa where Carla had sat down.

"I dunno, we should rent a movie." Carla said, putting the pizza boxes down onto the table in front of her, she turned back to Peter and said, "Anything you wanna watch in particular, Peter?"

"Not sure." Peter called from the kitchen as he put the coke back into the fridge, he brought over two of the drinks he had poured and as he returned to the kitchen he said, "There's that new superhero one out, y'know the one about the guy that gets diagnosed with cancer."

"Boring." Carla called back, making Simon laugh as she handed a box of pizza over to him, He opened the box to find that his Dad and Carla had ordered him a ham and pineapple pizza which was definitely an old favourite. "And I'm not watching another one of those fast and furious movies either, I've had my fill of Vin Diesel wrecking perfectly good cars for no apparent reason."

"You pick then." Peter chuckled from the kitchen as he picked up his glass of coke, he brought it over to the sofa where Carla was sat and as he sat down next to her, Simon and Carla began discussing what other new movies might be out for them to watch tonight.

After much deliberation and friendly bickering about what movie they should watch, Peter finished his second slice of Pepperoni pizza and said,

"Okay, how about this, we go out instead?"

"Where?" Simon asked, with a mouthful of pizza.

"Cinema?" Peter suggested.

"If we can't decide on a movie to watch ere then what makes you think that we're going to be able to decide at the cinema?" Carla asked with a raised eyebrow as she started on her second slice of a extra spicy pizza.

"Well at least I'm making suggestions, smarty pants." Peter replied, Carla poked her tongue out at Peter and nudged him in the side whilst Simon pondered for a moment. He was still feeling nervous about what was currently happening with his Mum and Nick but he desperately wanted to try and have a good evening with his Dad and Carla, so he thought for some more and then said,

"We could go out n get a pudding in that dessert place in town, they do really sick milkshakes n waffles, it's dead nice, me n Zeedan went last week."

"Now that sounds like a plan." Peter said, nodding at Simon and then turning back to face Carla, "You up for it, love?"

"Sure why not." Carla nodded, halfway through a pizza slice, she smiled at Simon to show him that she thought getting a delicious dessert was a good idea.

"Alright then, well after we've eaten this we'll get ready." Peter said.

* * *

It was eight thirty pm by the time Peter, Carla and Simon left Peter's flat to get some much needed pudding. The three of them walked together and headed towards Victoria court where Carla kept her car parked as she had insisted on driving tonight and as they turned the corner onto Coronation Street, they saw that Tim Metcalfe was stood outside his house looking as if he was waiting for someone.

"Alright mate." Tim called, waving over at Peter who had Carla on one side and Simon on the other. "Carla, Simon, you alright?"

"Yeah we're good, how are you?" Peter said, stopping in front of Tim who was stood dressed a hell of a lot smarter then he usually was, he had on a blue shirt and black jeans and he looked down at his watched before saying,

"Yeah… just waiting for Sal… we're supposed to be going out to eat… She's changing her outfit again…" Tim rolled his eyes and then added, "Just in case anyone recognises her again… She has a rep to keep up now she's a counsellor n all that…."

"You better watch out." Peter said, "Now Sally's practically famous you might start getting followed by the paps, they'll be hiding in bushes n stuff, you just won't be able to get away from em."

"Paparazzi?" Tim replied, not understanding that Peter was kidding, Simon laughed silently at this comment whilst Carla raised an eyebrow at Tim and said,

"I think you'll be fine Tim." She felt Peter take hold off her hand and as she turned to look at him, he grinned and said to Tim,

"So you all ready for the match tomorrow?"

"You bet I am." Tim nodded enthusiastically, "I've counting down the hours n minutes as we speak, I can't wait for a proper lads day out, can you?"

"Yeah me neither, it's been way too long, I can't wait to get out there on those stands n cheer on our local team." Peter nodded.

"I didn't know you were going to the match as well Tim." Carla said, having thought it was just going to be Peter and Steve.

"Yeah… course he is, Tim's one of the gang, aren't ya Tim?" Peter replied, actually going as far as high-fiving Tim just as his wife, Sally came out of her front door wearing a slightly garish pink dress, white kitten heels and a matching white jacket.

"Oh hello Carla…" Sally almost cried, clearly thrilled to see her boss stood outside her house.

"Hi Sal." Carla said, not looking quite as thrilled as Sally was because most of their exchanges were truly unbearable, especially since Sally had become a local counsellor. Peter smirked as he knew exactly what Carla was thinking and as her grip on his tightened, he wickedly said,

"Eh I tell you what, whilst all of us boys are at the football match, maybe all the wives should get together n do something."

"What?" Carla said and this time it was her that had practically cried out loud.

"Oh that is such a good idea, Don't you think so Tim?" Sally nodded eagerly, she didn't notice the dark look that Carla gave both Peter and Simon who were doing their best to hold in their laughs.

"Yeah, you, Carla n Michelle could ave a really great time together, wining and dining like the classy ladies that you are." Tim said nodding at Sally in a manner that made Peter grin even more.

"We really would." Sally nodded, smiling at Carla who tried to remain friendly even though she wanted to scream out loud, "_hell no."_

"Well that's settled then, you lot should really organise a meet up for tomorrow." Peter said and only Carla and Simon could hear the pure joy and sarcasm in his voice.

"Yeah, except I'm already busy tomorrow so no can do I'm afraid." Carla said rapidly, she gave Peter's hand a hard squeeze before yanking it hard and saying, "Come on, we ave to go or we're going to be late."

"Late?" Sally asked, whilst Simon watched in amusement, "You off out somewhere?"

"Yeah we've got somewhere we need to be at nine so…" Carla started walking and pulled Peter with her before Sally could ask any more questions or raise the subject of meeting up again, "Come on Si… Sally, Tim ave a good night."

"Oh… well we'll ave to reschedule!" Sally called after Carla who was still dragging a very amused Peter and Simon away with her. "Bye have a good night, Barlows"

"Yeah you too." Carla said, although she didn't even turn around to say it, she just kept walking until they reached Victoria court. Once there, she let go of Peter's hand and as he and Simon burst into peels of laughter, Carla gave him a shove, "Uh I could kick you, Peter."

"What?" He said in between laughs, "I was only trying to help you bond with your staff, especially with your P.A, it's good for morale... Makes everyone feel comfortable… n safe, y'know."

"I'll give you safe…" Carla said giving Peter another light shove. Simon laughed again as Peter gave Carla a half apologetic look whilst she took her car keys out of her bag.

"I'm sorry, love." Peter said, moving towards his wife whilst Simon took the opportunity to quickly check his phone.

"You will be sorry, if you ever mention me hanging out with Sally Metcalfe for non work related purposes again, I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your days… Uh imagine…" Carla replied to Peter who moved towards her and gave her a little kiss on the cheek whilst Simon saw that he had no new text messages from Santana.

"Do you forgive me?" Peter asked with his hands on Carla's waist, Simon stared down at his phone, paying no attention as his Father and Step Mother doted on each other in front of Carla's car.

"I always do." Carla smiled, shaking her head at Peter after their soft kiss, "So since when was Tim one of the actual gang eh? I mean I know you've always been matey but he ridiculously called himself one of the lads… even though the combined age of the three of you is about a hundred and sixty years old."

"It is not a hundred and sixty…" Peter began as Carla smirked at him, whilst Simon was still preoccupied with his phone, "But yeah Tim is one of the gang especially since we lost Lloyd, me n Steve need a new wing man."

"Wing man?" Carla scoffed, "You're all happily married men, well you n Steve are anyway."

"Oh I am definitely a happily married man." Peter chuckled as Carla looked over at Simon who was still on his phone, She bit her lip whilst Peter kept his hands rested on her hips. "Alright that's it… hand it over, Si." Carla said, raising her voice so that he could hear her.

"What?" he said, looking over at Carla and his Dad.

"Your phone, I want it, I'll keep it in the glove compartment until we get home, otherwise you're just going to be on it the whole night torturing yourself." Carla said, wiggling her hand in the direction of Simon as Peter let go of her.

"It's alright… Santana's at the cinema with her Dad, she's not gonna text." Simon said, although he knew he'd still be checking his phone even though he knew that his girlfriend was busy.

"All the more reason to hand it over then eh." Carla said, walking towards Simon with a smile. "Tell you what, we'll all keep our phones in the car, so we're all equal."

"Alright." Simon said, smiling back at his Step Mother and handing over his phone, as much as he didn't want to give up his phone for the night, he knew that Carla's idea was a good one. Simon had also been trying to make sure that he listened to Carla because he wanted to make sure that she knew he respected her just as much as he respected his Dad.

"Thank you." Carla nodded, taking Simon's phone and pulling her own one out of his pocket, "Come on Peter, gimme yours so you're not tempted to text your new bezzie mate Tim all night." Peter laughed as he handed over his mobile to Carla and as she took it off him, she said, "Right, let's get this show on the road."

"Hey… what if we run into Sally n Tim in town?" Simon asked as Carla unlocked her car door.

"Don't." She cringed, opening the door of her black car whilst Peter chuckled out loud, he walked around the front of the car and as he did so, he smirked and said,

"Oh we're so rude, we should ave offered them a lift really."

"It's not too late to call them back, should I run n get them?" Simon said, his eyes wide as he grinned at Carla.

"Do you pair wanna walk?" She said, practically throwing her self down into the driver's seat, "Keep it up n that's what's going to happen." Simon and Peter spluttered with laughter one more time before they climbed into Carla's car.

* * *

It wasn't too long before Carla had driven them all to Manchester central, she parked in an almost full car park close to the dessert parlour and within ten minutes or so they were inside.

As it was Saturday night, there was quite a wait to be seated because every table was full but eventually Peter, Carla and Simon sat down at a shiny black table in the back of the restaurant with menus in hand.

"How ave we never been ere before?" Peter asked, staring at the menu in awe, "All of these look delicious."

There were dozens of delicious desserts to choose from and the three Barlows took their time choosing which one they wanted. In the end Carla chose a banoffee sundae whilst Simon chose a waffle with lots of chocolate sauce and sprinkles and Peter chose one of the biggest desserts on the menu, a giant mint chocolate chip sundae.

Simon found it easier than he thought to stay distracted from all the current drama in his life, especially since he was sat next to Carla who made sure that she kept the conversation steered well away from Leanne and Nick. However, when they were only a quarter of the way through their puddings, Simon took a deep breath and said,

"I'll be back, I'm going to the toilet…" He gave his Dad a narrow look before he left the table and said, "Don't touch my waffle, d'ya hear?"

"Me?" Peter exclaimed, with a silver spoon in hand as Carla picked a banana out of her sundae glass and ate it.

"Yeah… I've seen you eyeing it up…" Simon grinned, pointing at his plate, "You too Carla, leave it alone." Carla nodded with her eyebrows raised as Simon began making his way to the toilet and when he was far enough away not to hear, she looked back at Peter who was sat opposite her and said,

"What d'ya reckons going on with Leanne n Nick right now then?"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about it for the rest of the night?" Peter asked, sliding his spoon into his sundae for another bite.

"I said Simon weren't to talk about it… not us." Carla replied, taking her spoon and putting it straight into some of Peter's ice cream.

"Oi." He cried, half laughing as Carla quickly and cheekily put her spoon into her mouth.

"Sharing is caring, Peter." Carla smiled, swallowing the minty ice cream before speaking.

"Well in that case…" Peter said, but Carla was faster than him and snatched her sundae glass away before he could get some.

"Oh no ya don't." She said, shaking her head and playfully pushing Peter's hand away, "Stop getting me distracted, back to Leanne n Nick."

"Carla don't be a gossip." Peter said, shaking his head at his wife as he put his spoon into his glass.

"I am not gossiping, I'm showing concern…" Carla replied.

"Really? You're concerned about Leanne and Nick?" said Peter, raising an eyebrow at Carla who nodded.

"I am… not so much for Nick but Leanne… I actually feel sorry for the silly woman." Carla said.

"You? Feel sorry for Leanne?" Peter said with wide eyes, "Well there's a new one."

"I know… n don't you dare tell her out either… this goes no further than this table." Carla nodded, placing her spoon down onto a napkin, "But I do feel really bad for her… as I said earlier on I think she likes Nick a hell of a lot more than he likes her… all he seemed to care about was Juliana, it's kinda heartbreakin when you think about it."

"It is…" Peter nodded, "But surely Leanne should know better than to go back to that place with Nick."

"It's not that easy baby, when you love someone you love em… besides I'm not sure me n you are anyone to talk about how people shouldn't get back with their ex's…" Carla said with her head on one side, "I mean sometimes it can work out…" Carla then smiled at Peter and said, "Beautifully so."

"It can…" Peter nodded, gazing back at Carla with a smile, "However I'm not entirely sure if Leanne n Nick could ever work out, it's also a shame because as much as they deserve to know the truth, Kal and Juliana are both lovely people n their relationships are going to get trashed because of a silly mistake." Carla nodded at Peter slowly, thinking about how things were going to be different for the couples in question and whilst she was distracted, Peter saw this as the perfect opportunity to sneak some of Carla's banana and toffee ice cream.

"Hey!" She cried when she spotted Peter delve his spoon into her glass,

"Oh go on… you had some of mine…" Peter said as Carla pulled her ice cream away from him again.

"So?" Carla replied smugly, "It's not my fault you're not as fast as me."

"Let me have some or I tell Leanne that you feel sorry for her." Peter threatened, smirking at Carla as she sat opposite him with her glass in her hands.

"Oh you're a crafty man Barlow." Carla said, edging her sundae back towards him. Peter smiled triumphantly as he took some of Carla's ice cream and as he raised the spoon to his mouth, Simon had returned and sat down next to Carla.

"You alright?" Carla asked him.

"Yeah course." Simon nodded, picking up his knife and fork again to cut into his waffle, he then looked closely at it and made sure that neither Carla or his Dad had taken a sneaky piece.

"Don't worry, your waffle is still all there, me n your Dad ave been stealing each other's food instead of yours." Carla said, playfully kicking Peter under the table.

"Good." Simon nodded again as he took a mouthful of waffle, "What are we doing after this? I don't want to go home just yet." Simon was thinking about how much fun he'd had since being out with his Dad and Carla and he knew that he didn't want to go home because he'd only be checking his phone all night and be worrying about what was happening with his Mum, Kal, Nick and Juliana.

"Me neither." Carla said, nodding at Simon and then looking at Peter. "What do you think?"

"Yeah we could stay out…" Peter said, "Maybe we should see what's on at the cinema?"

"I'm not sure there's much…" Simon began, cutting another piece of his chocolaty waffle, "And by much I mean something that we'd all wanna equally see." Simon put some more food in his mouth before he had a brain wave and said, "We could go to the bowling alley n just mess around there for a while? They've got arcade games and pool tables, we haven't played a game of pool in ages Dad." Simon knew his Dad couldn't resist a bit of competition and as he saw his Dad nod enthusiastically, Simon then turned to Carla and said, "How about it Carla?"

"Sure…" She nodded slowly, "I'm dead good at pool."

"Are ya?" Simon asked with a sceptical look on his face.

"Course." Carla said, giving him a nudge, "I grew up with the Connors, we spent half our life playing pool as teenagers, Chelle's Dad had his own table, I could beat you pair with me eyes closed."

"Ohhhh that's fighting talk." Peter said, rubbing his hands together.

"It sure is." Carla said, nodding at him and then taking some more of her ice cream, "Hurry up and finish these ice creams n I'll show ya my skills." Both Peter and Simon nodded at Carla and began eating again, making sure they finished quickly so that they could make their way to the bowling alley.

The night went from good to even better and the three Barlows stayed out until almost one am, playing pool and the arcade games until they'd used up all the change in Peter's pocket and Carla's purse.

Peter had won both games of pool that he had played whilst Carla had beaten Simon in the one that they played together but Simon truly didn't mind losing both games, he was just thrilled to have had such a fun night out and to have had distractions from all the drama with his Mum and Nick.

* * *

The next morning he woke at half past ten and having got his phone back from Carla when they had arrived back in the early hours of the morning, he'd still received no messages.

"No news is good news… right." Simon said to himself sighing, as he lay awake in bed, he lounged around for a bit and played his Xbox and as he finally ventured out of his bedroom, he found his Dad sat on the sofa with Carla laying there also with her head in his lap, they were watching something on TV so Simon didn't want to interrupted their quite time so he silently walked to the bathroom and had a shower without bothering them.

"Eh… where you going?" Peter asked quietly, turning to look at Simon who walked out of his bedroom almost an hour later, wearing a blue tracksuit and matching sweatshirt, Carla was asleep on his chest so Peter couldn't move too much as he didn't want to wake her, "We ave to leave for the football match at about two thirty if we want to be there on time."

"I know." Simon said, "I'm just going to pop over to Santana's quickly, she should be home now…"

"Oh… okay." Peter nodded slowly, knowing that Simon was probably feeling nervous about seeing his girlfriend again since all the drama that had happened recently, "Well… good luck."

"Thanks." Simon said, putting on a pair of black trainers, "I'll make sure I'm back in time for the footie, I promise."

Simon tried his best to remain positive as he headed towards Santana's house which was only twenty minutes or so away but once he had reached her front door, he started to feel his heart pound beneath his blue sweatshirt.

He knocked on Santana's red door gingerly and prayed that it would be her that answered rather than Juliana but it was neither. Gabrielle, Santana's older sister answered and she did not look impressed when she saw that Simon was on the doorstep.

"Oh… Hi Gabrielle." Simon said, smiling at Santana's older and much taller sister, Gabrielle had shoulder length hair and a sliver hoop through her right nostril but other than that she looked pretty identical to her younger sisters, she had the same colour hair and she also had the same bright green eyes. "It's good to see you back…" Simon began, knowing that Gabrielle was clearly not pleased to see that he had made a visit. "Is Santana home?"

"Yeah… she's here…" Gabrielle said, wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of ripped light blue jeans, "But it's really not a good time."

"Really?" Simon asked, gulping and biting his lip, "Erm… well I just wanted to see her, it's been a week." Gabrielle looked at Simon as if she was going to say no but eventually she sighed and called out, "Tan… it's Simon… he wants to see you."

"Thanks." Simon nodded gratefully, Gabrielle raised an eyebrow at him as he heard Santana's footprints.

As Gabrielle left the doorway shaking her head, Santana appeared and she did not look happy at all.

"What do ya want Si?"

"I errr… wanted to see you." Simon began although he knew by the look on Santana's face that she clearly knew about his Mum and Nick. Santana sighed and shook her head at Simon as she said,

"Look Simon, I have to go, Carmen isn't much better and my Mum… well I'm sure you know about that."

"Santana… I…" Simon began, feeling flustered because he honestly had no idea of what to say to make this situation better.

"Don't apologise." Santana said, shaking her head again.

"But I'm sorry." Simon quickly said, "I know I should ave told you sooner but I didn't know how and it's been drivin me mad all week." Simon spoke so quickly that he didn't register what he was saying until he had seen the stunned look on Santana's face.

"Told me... what…" She said slowly, staring at Simon who swallowed hard. "Did you know? Did you know about your Mum and Nick."

"Oh…" Simon breathed, his heart dropping because he finally realised that his part in the situation had been left out.

"Simon?" Santana almost shouted, "Did you know? Did you know n not tell me?"

"Yeah… I did." Simon nodded ashamedly, "I wanted to tell I just didn't know how… it's difficult… it's My Mum y'know… N Nick he's like me Step Dad."

"Yeah I know…" Santana said, breathing harshly, she then heard the sound of her name being called from the kitchen.

"How's your Mum?" Simon asked after hearing Juliana call out for her daughter.

"How do ya think she is?" Santana asked, almost in awe, she looked at Simon and then shook her head with tears in her eyes. "My Mum really really liked Nick."

"Please let me explain a bit more." Simon begged but it was too late, Santana had already taken hold of her front door.

"I haven't got time for this… just go Simon." Santana exclaimed.

"No, please Tan…" Simon cried but with that, the bright red door in front of him slammed shut.


End file.
